"Long Way Home" is a split story following Peggy in 1946 in New York City and Gisela in 1938 to 1946 in Europe and elsewhere. The whole story was well-written, so the characters seemed like real people, I cared about them, and the historical details immersed me in the story. But it's a heavy read. Gisela's family is Jewish, and they manage to escape Germany only for their ship to be denied refuge in Cuba, America, Canada. They ended up in a country that was soon invaded by Germany. Her story was full of sadness and tragedy, and she was rather helpless as her choices were mainly decided by others (parents, Germans, etc.).

Peggy's story was also filled with sadness. At least she kept trying to make things better even when the critical choices had to be made by others (Jimmy's parents, his friends, etc.). Through her efforts, not only did Jimmy slowly find healing but so did several of his war buddies. She also found people that appreciated her talents and caring personality when her own family didn't.

Those involved in the war struggled with how a loving, good, all-powerful God would allow such horrible things to happen. Throughout the story, different people commented on how they dealt with this. Peggy even used the words that Jimmy once spoke to her to help him to better understand God's character. She helped him see the light in the world brought by God's people. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this book but understand that parts are very sad.

I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.