Of spies and tides

Baptist minister Charles F. Aked said, “For evil men to accomplish their purpose it is only necessary that good men should do nothing.” These four World War II novels inspired by true events illustrate that point. They shed light on lesser-­known activities that occurred on both U.S. coastlines and in the tiny country of Denmark and reveal how ordinary people stepped up to help their Jewish neighbors and stop the spread of evil.

A lawyer named Leon Lewis inspired Stephanie Landsem’s novel, Code Name Edelweiss (Tyndale 2023). Prior to war, in 1933, Adolf Hitler was rising to power in Germany. His far-reaching influence touched America, where he planned to infiltrate Hollywood by taking over the movie studios. Lewis gathered a small band of citizens to work as spies against the Nazis. That’s all true.

Here’s the fictional part: After being fired from MGM studios, Liesl Weiss—code name Edelweiss—needs a job to support her two children. Lewis recruits her to spy while working as a secretary for a group called the Friends of New Germany. Sadly, this pits her against her closest neighbors, a Jewish family who thinks she’s allied with the Nazis.

In The Blackout Book Club (Bethany House 2022), Amy Lynn Green transports readers to the fictional coastal town of Derby, Maine. It’s 1942 and German U-boats patrol Atlantic waters, trying to sink Allied ships. Complying with government-­imposed blackout orders, residents cover their windows to block any light.

This story focuses mostly on four diverse women who form the core of the title group. However, Green includes a plotline about real civilian boaters dubbed the Hooligan Navy who joined the effort to defend against the enemy lurking beneath the surface.

Roseanna M. White’s novel, Yesterday’s Tides (Bethany House 2023) is set farther south, on the Atlantic coast island of Ocracoke, N.C. It opens as a barely alive British spy washes ashore, after a German U-boat sinks his ship. While he recuperates in a local innkeeper’s home, the two discover mutual connections in Europe, dating back to World War I. Two plotlines toggle between wars. Keeping them straight is a challenge, but as they begin to merge, the conclusion satisfies.

The Sound of Light (Revell 2023), set in Denmark, is Sarah Sundin’s 15th World War II novel. Physicist Else Jensen joins the Danish resistance against the Nazis by printing and distributing illegal newspapers. Meanwhile, Baron Henrik Ahlefeldt forfeits his title and status to live as a common laborer and work for the resistance, rowing messages to and from Sweden. When the Nazis occupy their country, Else and Henrik team up to help their Jewish friends evade arrest. A compelling read hampered slightly by an abundance of unfamiliar words.