A MEMORY BETWEEN US BY SARAH SUNDIN

A MEMORY BETWEEN US
by SARAH SUNDIN
The second romance novel in the Wings of Glory series takes place during the second world war.  Walt's older brother Jack meets his match when he meets nurse Ruth Doherty.  Major Jack Novak is different to his brother Walt in that he is very sure of himself, ambitious and rather full of pride.   He has trained as a pastor but his heart is not in it and he  would love to make the air force his career.  He is an ace pilot and loves being in command.  He is a strong Christian but feels he hasn't been called to follow in his father's footsteps pastoring a church.  He has never had to struggle at anything, but he struggled at seminary for three years and only just passed.
He meets Lieutenant Ruth Doherty when he is hospitalized after getting shrapnel in his behind during a mission over enemy territory.  She is beautiful, but because of her past  
she refuses to date and makes a point of keeping to herself.  She is a good nurse and takes her job seriously. She grew up in the slums of Chicago, and after the death of her parents she spends every cent she earns on her four underage brothers and sisters.  She has no friends except May, who makes a point of befriending her.  She finds out that May is also an orphan and has known rejection and poverty and has lost her husband in the war.  She gets on well with Jack as a friend, but because of her past she feels that she will never be able to have a real relationship with him. She is very fond of him and relies on his friendship.  
Charlie de Groot is Jack's best friend in the air force and they have been flying together for three years.  Charlie and May become friendly and fall in love.  Charlie sees that Jack is overly ambitious and full of pride and he says that Jack sees winning Ruth's love as a contest.  Jack doesn't listen to Charlie and Charlie moves to another flight for his last two missions as he feels that Jack's pride will be his downfall.  When Charlie's plane is shot down and he is missing in action May never gives up on him.  She trusts God implicitly and knows that He is in control.  Jack is devastated as he feels responsible for Charlie's death (he feels he could not possibly have survived) and finally realizes where he is going wrong.  He has a secret fear which led him to make the decision that led to unnecessary loss of men and planes.  He realizes he is not such a hero after all!
Ruth and May become flight nurses and they both love flying.  The training is strenuous but they both get through it.  It is when she is flying back in a cargo plane after dropping off patients that Ruth faces her worst fear and overcomes it with God's help.  She realizes that she needs to rely totally on God and not man for her family's provision and for her safety - in fact for everything.
Jack also faces his worst fear when on D-day he is forced to ditch his plane at sea.  He realizes that he can no longer rely on his own strength, which leads to pride, but must give his whole life to the Lord.  There is a strong theme of forgiveness in the novel.  
Their love story follows closely the story of Ruth and Boaz.  I really enjoyed this book and have ordered the third book in the series.