by Sarah Sundin
Thank you to my writer friend Jennifer Zarifeh Major, and her botanist husband, John E. Major, for your help with tree identification and information (I told you I’d put you in here!). And thanks to Terry and Liliane Wasmund for alerting me to Battleship Cove, which I would have missed without you.
While researching this novel, I benefitted immensely from touring restored destroyer USS Cassin Young (Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, MA), destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. and battleship USS Massachusetts (Battleship Cove, Fall River, MA), and battleship USS Iowa (Long Beach, CA). And deep thanks to the staff at the National Archives at Boston for the privilege of viewing primary documents and photographs.
Once again, thanks go to my agent, Rachel Kent at Books & Such Literary Management, for her keen insight and calm presence. And to my editor, Vicki Crumpton, for making the edits a fun learning experience. Really, they are! And thanks to Cheryl Van Andel and her team for the most gorgeous book cover ever.
And how I love my reader friends! You make it all worthwhile. Please visit me at www.sarahsundin.com to leave a message, sign up for my quarterly newsletter, or read about the history behind the story. I hope to hear from you.
Discussion Questions
Do you know anyone who served in the Navy during World War II? Do you have any stories to share? Have you ever been on board a WWII-era ship? What did you think?
Were you surprised at the divisiveness in America in 1941, given how united the nation was after the attack on Pearl Harbor? Do you see any parallels in today’s world?
The involvement of the United States in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1941 was minor yet significant, given the country’s neutrality. What did you find most interesting about this?
Mary suffers from a fear of attention. How does this hold her back? How has she sabotaged herself because of it? And how does she learn to overcome? Do you have past or present fears that have held you back? How can—or did—you overcome?
Mary tries to reconcile the godly principles of humility and letting your candle shine. How does she do so? Do you find yourself drawn more to the humble extreme or to the shining extreme? How can you find balance?
Jim has always floated with the current, and he struggles to be bold when necessary. How does he change throughout the story? Do you tend to be bold or “go with the flow”? Have you learned to temper your natural inclination? Do you want to?
What did you think of the various sabotage suspects? Who was highest on your list?
Mary loved reading Nancy Drew mysteries as a girl and is thrilled to have her own mystery to solve. Is there anything you’ve always longed to do because of a book or movie?
Both Mary and Jim are deeply affected by childhood events. How did those events shape their characters? Their fears? Why do childhood events seem to have a greater impact on us than similar events later in life?
Mary and Quintessa have been friends since childhood. What strengths do you see in their friendship? What weaknesses? How about with Jim and Arch?
Agent Sheffield wants the cold hard facts and scoffs at Mary’s notebooks at first. Do you think the information she gathered would have been useful? What do you think about the role of intuition versus facts?
Jim has always been attracted to a certain type of woman and is surprised when he begins to fall for Mary. Have you ever been surprised by a friendship or romance with someone you never would have imagined?
Sailing is symbolic in this story. How do you see this?
The second novel in the Waves of Freedom series follows Ens. Arch Vandenberg and Lillian Avery, while the third novel will feature Lt. Dan Avery and Quintessa Beaumont. From what you’ve seen or heard of these characters, what might you expect?
Sarah Sundin is the author of With Every Letter, On Distant Shores, A Distant Melody, A Memory Between Us, and Blue Skies Tomorrow. In 2011, A Memory Between Us was a finalist in the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Awards and Sarah received the Writer of the Year Award at the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. A graduate of UC San Francisco School of Pharmacy, she works on-call as a hospital pharmacist. During WWII, her grandfather served as a pharmacist’s mate (medic) in the Navy and her great-uncle flew with the US Eighth Air Force in England. Sarah lives in California with her husband and three children.
sarahsundin.com
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