A Refuge at Highland Hall

By Carrie Turansky

Description:

Penny Ramsey has always considered Highland Hall her home, but when Britain becomes involved in World War One she travels to London to help her sister Kate manage eight orphan children she and her husband Jon have taken into their home. Doing her part for the war effort takes priority over Penny’s dreams of romance until she meets Alex Goodwin, a Royal Naval Air Service pilot in training.

Alex is determined to prove his worth and do his part to defend his country. Knowing he is heading off for the dangerous assignment of chasing Zeppelins across the front line in France, he feels it’s unwise to form any romantic attachments. But he can’t help admiring the pretty, warmhearted Penny and wondering what it would be like to find her waiting for him when he returns home from the war.

Penny writes to Alex, their friendship blossoms, and she becomes his tie to home and normalcy as he faces the hardships war. But being an RNAS pilot means confronting the enemy, and the fallout from those experiences push Alex beyond Penny’s reach. Can God mend the brokenness left by the losses of war? Will faith and forgiveness bring them together again?

Book Takeaway:

I hope readers will be touched by all Alex and Penny's story and they will be encouraged to trust God through challenging times in their own lives.

Why the author wrote this book:

I enjoyed watching Downton Abbey and was intrigued by the lifestyle, time period, and the upstairs – downstairs aspects of that TV series. I met with an editor at a conference, and she encouraged me to research the time period and submit a proposal that had a similar feeling, but was unique. At first I thought the research would be too difficult. But Cathy Gohlke, a friend and fellow author, had recently published a wonderful story set in 1912 titled Promise Me This. Cathy encouraged me to accept the editor’s challenge, and she offered me several research books. So I jumped in and discovered I loved the research and enjoyed learning more about this time period in England. This third book in the series takes the Ramsey and Foster families and their staff into World War One in England and France. I enjoyed learning more about how the war impacted the people and country.