I have to admit I picked out HOPE AT DAWN because of a bit of curiosity. I knew almost nothing about that time in American history: how German-Americans were affected at home during World War I. The year is 1918, in rural Iowa.

Olivia Campbell, Livy, just turned 20. Her boyfriend, Robert Drake, is back from Europe injured and has taken to the bottle, to Livy's dismay. The evening of her birthday, Robert was supposed to join her at a local dance, but Livy has to spend the evening alone again, waiting for him in vain. A good-looking blond young man notices her loneliness and asks her to dance but refuses to tell her his name, although while chatting, he tells Livy about a schoolteacher's vacant position in his town of Hilden, and teaching is what Livy was hoping to do before her schooling was interrupted by the war.

Hilden's schoolteacher has been recently fired, Livy is immediately hired. Hilden is home to many German-Americans, and it's considered a plus by the townspeople that Livy is not of German heritage. In dire need of money to help his family, due to his father being very ill, Livy's mystery man is hired as a handyman to do some repairs to the school where Livy will be teaching.

Livy has two older brothers fighting overseas against the Germans, and Friedrick Wagner, is of German parentage. In view of the political situation, they try to fight their attraction to each other, but they can't deny it.

I very much enjoyed how the love story unfolded, slowly and realistically. Only towards the end did it occur to me that it was an inspirational historical romance, and even if it's not your cup of tea, HOPE AT DAWN should not be ignored because of that; it's thoroughly researched and I was very pleased that the author remained true to the sensibilities of the time: you never get the impression that those are 21st century characters catapulted into the early 1900s.

The author magnificently captures the Zeitgeist, the spirit of the time, how people really thought and behaved in that era, and how prejudice affects every life it touches. Ms. Henrie writes simply but so effectively that HOPE AT DAWN is a very quick read. It features a rather large cast of secondary characters, everyone serving a purpose in the storyline.

HOPE AT DAWN was a wonderful discovery for me, as I had not read anything by Stacy Henrie before, and I highly recommend it. An extremely pleasant surprise indeed!