Home and Away

October 15, 2015

It's 1944, and teenager Dennis Hayes longs to join his older brother Glen, who is fighting in Europe. In the meantime, he works after school to earn enough money to buy a new suit so he can bring his date to a dance and also get presents for his parents and little sisters. When his family receives word that Glen has been wounded, Dennis realizes that going to war is not so glamorous. Christmas isn't the same without Glen, but the Hayes family members hope and pray that they'll be reunited soon. VERDICT Hughes's ("Children of the Promise" series) faith-filled, old-fashioned story feels like it could have been written during the period in which it takes place.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 14, 2015
In Hughes’s tense, emotional novel, members of a Utah family try to summon Christmas joy as they worry about their son and brother, Glen, who is on the front lines in 1944 Europe, and face financial pressures at home. Sixteen-year-old Dennis knows how hard his mother works to make the holidays bright, even if his gruff father doesn’t appreciate her efforts, so he works extra shifts at his part-time job in order to buy her something special. Hughes’s portrait of a family on edge and exploration of Glen’s brutal experiences in the trenches make for some dark reading, though he frequently cites characters’ sustaining faith and reliance on prayer and highlights some tender moments, too. A hopeful ending and a father’s emerging change of heart signal a brighter future for the entire clan. Ages 15–up.