Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

Let me be honest. I am not a romance novel kind of guy but whenever Ellen Gable asks me if I would like a review copy of her most recent effort, I never hesitate to answer in the affirmative. Ellen is a superb storyteller, whose unique story lines and compelling characters, keep her readers riveted to the pages of her tales. Her most recent gem,  Julia’s Gift , is no exception. When was the last time you read a love story that unfolds in the midst of the brutality and death of World War I?  How is it that an author who is some 100 years removed from the times and war she uses as the setting of her novel and who herself has never actually seen the destruction war wrought, do so, so skillfully that her readers feel they are there in France, witnessing Julia and Major Winslow navigate the dangers of war and the improbable twists and turns that their relationship takes? - only someone who has taken the time to do painstakingly detailed research.