A DISTANT MELODY BY SARAH SUNDIN

A DISTANT MELODY by Sarah Sundin is a love story that takes place during the second world war.  Both Allie and Walt play the piano, and there is a music theme right through the novel.  
Allie, who was named Allegra by her mother, has never been able to meet her mother's standards and always feels she has disappointed her by not being beautiful like she is.  She is close to her father who she feels is on her side.  Her parents are very wealthy and she is expected to take over Miller's Ball Bearings one day and to marry Baxter Hicks who is her father's right hand man in the business.  Her mother has made it quite clear that Allie is fortunate to find someone who is prepared to marry her seeing she is so homely, and her father wants her to marry Baxter to carry on the family business with him.  She is an only child, and apart from a brief spell at college where she was very happy and made friends, she has always lived at home.  
Her parents are very snobbish and feel that their attendance at the rather stuffy St Timothy's church makes them Christians.  When Allie hears about Jesus from her friend Betty at college she realizes what true Christianity is and makes a commitment to the Lord.  She longs to serve Him and to belong to a church that preaches the truth and honours Him, but she is afraid of being disobedient to her parents.  She also longs to do something more useful than staying at home with her mother to clean the silver and longs to do something worthwhile to help in the war effort.  Underlying everything is the desire to obtain her mother's approval.  She doesn't love Baxter but feels that she may be the instrument the Lord will use to lead him to the truth, and  she also feels that she will be honouring her parents by marrying him and in this way she will be pleasing to the Lord.  Baxter is very cold and condescending towards her, and is more a friend of her parents than hers.  
Things change for Allie when she goes to her friend Betty's wedding and meets Walt, an airman, in the train.  Walt is a friend of Betty's and the two of them have a wonderful time during the week they are together over the wedding.  Walt is shy and has never had a girlfriend, but he finds Allie very easy to get on with and he thinks she is lovely.  She feels so special with him that she doesn't tell him about Baxter.  She makes the excuse to herself that she is sure that Betty, who talks a lot, must have told him she had a boyfriend.
Walt's father is a pastor and is not impressed that Walt chose engineering rather than following in his footsteps.  Walt is the youngest of three sons - all of whom are in the air force.  Whilst his mother is equally loving and supportive of all of her sons, and his grandfather encourages him, his father is always comparing him unfavourably with his brothers.  He is also not goodlooking like his brothers.
There is a strong theme of truth running through the book.  Walt, whilst being a very committed Christian, is inclined to tell the odd white lie and even to make up a story when he feels it will help a situation.  Allie hasn't been honest with Walt or with her parents or even with Baxter.
There is a theme of obedience and sacrifice running through the book.  In his letters Walt helps Allie to break away from her parents' stranglehold and become the person that God has made her to be.  He is very caring and understanding and becomes her very best friend.  They become very close, and Allie even wakes up at times to pray at exactly the same time that Walt is in danger.
We see Allie standing up for herself and getting involved in the war effort and also in her new church and with her new friends.
We see how they each deal with the situation they are in, how they encourage one another in adversity, and how they each learn to trust in the Lord instead of trying to do things in their own strength.
It is a lovely story, full of real people trying to make sense of life at a very difficult time in history.