ON DISTANT SHORES by SARAH SUNDIN

ON DISTANT SHORES by SARAH SUNDIN is the second book in the WINGS OF THE NIGHTINGALE series.  I have recently re-read both books (I reviewed WITH EVERY LETTER on 7th September 2012) and am looking forward to the third novel which is yet to be released.  In enjoy reading books in sequence, but of course each can be read as a stand alone novel.
Georgie Taylor joined the flight nurse programme because of her best friend Rose.  Georgie has been pampered and loved all her life by her family and boyfriend, Ward, and is called "baby" by them all! She battles with fear and is afraid she will not be able to cope in an emergency, causing danger to the soldiers in her care.  When she goes through tragedy and also shows fear in an evacuation, she feels that maybe the Lord is telling her that she should go home to the farm and live safely with her family and Ward.
John "Hutch" Hutchinson is a qualified pharmacist who is unable to become an officer, much to his chagrin, and who becomes bitter and resentful due to the lack of respect he is shown by some of the officers. He also loses his fiancee to another man.  He thinks that things would go better for him if pharmacists were treated the same as doctors in the army. It is only when he humbles himself and realizes that he is obsessed with wanting to become an officer, instead of accepting the situation and doing the best job he can, and chooses to please God instead of man, that he finds peace.
Hutch and Georgie become friends, and we see how they encourage each other. Their relationship is difficult as she is an officer and he isn't allowed to fraternize with her.
When Georgie is faced with tragedy and also with a frightening evacuation where she nearly fell apart, she feels that the Lord must be telling her to go home to the farm, her family and Ward.   When she goes home on leave she knows that she has started to grow as a person through all she has experienced and is no longer prepared to allow others to make decisions for her or to"baby" her. 
It is in the midst of the horrors of World War II that the characters live out their lives, showing bravery and faith in the face of death and disaster. The story is well told and exciting, the characters are very real and there is a strong Christian message.  I can highly recommend this novel.



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