Women of Courage

A stranger's life hangs in the balance. But to save him is to risk everything. The war is drawing to a close, but the Nazis still occupy part of the Netherlands. After the losses she's endured, war widow Cornelia is only a shadow of the woman she once was. She fights now to protect her younger brother, Johan, who lives in hiding. When Johan brings Gerrit Laninga, a wounded Dutch Resistance member, to Cornelia's doorstep, their  ives are forever altered. Although scared of the consequences of harboring a wanted man, Cornelia's faith won't let her turn him out.  As she nurses Gerrit back to health, she is drawn to his fierce passion and ideals, and notices a shift within herself. Gerrit's intensity challenges her, making her want to live fully, despite the fear that constrains her. When the opportunity to join him in the Resistance presents itself, Cornelia must summon every ounce of courage imaginable. She is as terrified of loving Gerrit as she is of losing him. But as the winter landscape thaws, so too does her heart. Will she get a second chance at true love? She fears their story will end before it even begins.

In the final days of Nazi Germany, the strength of one woman's heart will determine the fate of a family. Prussia, 1945 The fall of the Third Reich is imminent. As the merciless Red Army advances from the East, the German people of Prussia await the worst. Among them is twenty-year-old Gisela Cramer, an American living in Heiligenbeil with her cousin Ella and their ailing grandfather. When word arrives that the Russians will invade overnight, Ella urges Gisela to escape to Berlin-and take Ella's two small daughters with her. The journey is miserable and relentless. But when Gisela hears the British accent of a phony SS officer, she poses as his wife to keep him safe among the indignant German refugees. In the blink of an eye, Mitch Edwards and Gisela are Herr and Frau Josep Cramer. Through their tragic and difficult journey, the fabricated couple strives to protect Ella's daughters, hoping against hope for a reunion. But even as Gisela and Mitch develop feelings beyond the make—believe, the reality of war terrorizes their makeshift family. With the world at its darkest, and the lives of two children at stake, the counterfeit couple finds in each other a source of faith, hope, and the love they need to survive.

How will two very different people find love-and survive the impossible circumstances of war? In 1941 Rand Sterling was a wealthy, womanizing club owner and an American of note among ex-pats and locals alike. Now two years later, Rand is just another civilian prisoner of war-one whose planned escape from the Santo Tomas Internment Camp could put him and others in grave danger. Irene Reynolds grew up as a missionary kid in the Philippine jungle. Now she works for the paranoid Japanese authorities, delivering censored messages to the other American prisoners in Santo Tomas. When Irene's negligence leads to Rand's failed escape attempt, Rand is sent to the torture chambers of Fort Santiago-and Irene suffers under the weight of her guilt. Yet when she crosses paths with Rand again after his unexpected return to the camp, something more than mere survival draws the unlikely pair together. As life in Manila becomes more and more desperate, and another threatening letter finds its way from Irene's hands to Rand's, the reluctant couple struggles to find a way to stay alive... and to keep their growing feelings for each other from compromising the safety of everyone around them.