Flame of Resistance [Kindle Edition]

Tracy Groot (Author)

Book Description

Years of Nazi occupation have stolen much from Brigitte Durand. Family. Freedom. Hope for a future, especially for a woman with a past like hers. But that changes the day American fighter pilot Tom Jaeger is shot down over occupied France. Picked up by the Resistance, Tom becomes the linchpin in their plan to infiltrate a Germans-only brothel and get critical intel out through Brigitte, a prostitute rumored to be sympathetic to the Allied cause.

D-day looms and everyone knows that invasion is imminent. But so is treachery, and the life of one American pilot unexpectedly jeopardizes everything. He becomes more important than the mission to a man who cannot bear to lose another agent and to a woman who is more than just a prostitute, who finally realizes that her actions could change the course of history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Christy winner Groot (Madman) sets her WWII-era tale in Normandy in spring 1944. American pilot Tom Jaeger is shot down, and saved and recruited by local French resistance fighters. He will impersonate a German officer to collect intelligence from a local prostitute, Brigitte Durand, whose brothel serves German officers. But when the stakes are high and the French are exhausted by occupation and mistrust, it is easy to slip. Groot cleverly reworks the biblical story of the prostitute Rahab, who helps the forces of Joshua take Jericho. She also does good historical work with details and subtle psychological work with her characters. The Germans aren’t all villains, and not all the resistance fighters are squeaky-clean heroes. She even manages comic relief in spite of the overwhelmingly grim circumstances of occupied France after four years of war. WWII-era novels are popular; this is a superior, page-turning entry in that niche. (Publishers Weekly)

Groot's latest release is set to coincidewith D-Day, June 6. Based on real people and events, it is clearly historically accurate and well researched, but the large cast of characters makes it hard to track at times and slows the pace for the first part of the book.

SUMMARY: American pilot Tom Jaeger is shot down in Normandy and taken in by the Resistance. He becomes a key part in their plan to get information on the Germans and their plans for the Caen Canal Bridge. Brigitte Durand, a prostitute at a Germans-only brothel, passes on information to Tom, since she wants to help the Allies. Their window of opportunity is closing, as the invasion looms. ls the Resistance being foolhardy by placing their faith in a pilot and a prostitute? (Romantic Times)

Product Details

• File Size: 812 KB
• Print Length: 415 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1414359470
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (May 18, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007V69DKY
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #342,572 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Flame of Resistance August 10, 2012

By Ma Ingalls

Format:Paperback

Cutting edge... Flame of Resistance moves fast, tears at the heart, cries for freedom, and yearns for hope.
Well-researched and accurate.
I read other books in this genre: Brokaw's The Greatest Generation, The Diary of Anne Frank, Schindler's List, The Hiding Place: The Story of Corrie ten Boom, and Bodie Thoene's Zion Coventant series, but this book made me cry as I thought of the characters in danger, tortured, and killed.

To summarize, Flame of Resistance is the story of Joshua and Rahab told during World War II. Their (Tom and Brigitte's) work together supports the secret mission/resistance and leads to D-Day June 6, 1944. Flame of Resistance is the story of survival.

Ms. Groot knits together words, dialogue, and themes seamlessly. Her writing helps the reader understand the history of the world in which one lives. On p. 123, referring to one of the characters reading Mein Kampf, Ms. Groot revels how when one sits down to read a book the reader makes a pact with author and latches onto ideas. This 'pact' explains how a civilization of people could get caught up in such evil/Nazism.

Ms. Grott's words speak to the heart. On p. 286, in a heartbreaking text, Ms. Groot writes a lovely prayer. The character is reminded Love your neighbor. Be kind. Be gentle. Help people. Be Christ as she records prisoner's testimony:

"Oh God, if I can do not more than witness the atrocities that I may testify one day, then make me strong; and if I can do more than witness, then give me a chance to help."

On p. 321, the communion imagery over Red Cross crackers stirred my heart.

"Communion, Community, Every plot of God, always about [His] people. a swell of love. felt caught in God's plot for humanity."

Flame of Resistance is not a quick read blending French and German phrases throughout. Again, it is well-written and not to be taken lightly.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Freedom always comes with a price August 14, 2012

By Katie McCurdy

Format:Paperback

I've never heard of Tracy Groot's writing before, but when I saw the cover for Flame of Resistance and read the synopsis, I knew I was going to have to give it a try. A retelling of the story of Rahab, set during the World War II, sounded interesting. And it turned out to be just that.

Tom and Brigitte made for great main characters. Neither was perfect, yet they strove to do what was right. There were a lot of characters woven into Flame of Resistance, and I admit I had trouble keeping them all in order. Not only that, but the point-of-view kept switching between characters as well--especially towards the end. To some people, this might not be a problem, but I found it a bit distracting and confusing.

The research and story plotting that went into Flame of Resistance was very well done. Groot seems to know her history very well and brings it out in the book. I found it very cool when I read how she visits the places that she used in the book--a very thoroughly researched writer!

There is a bit of torture in this book. While some methods of torture are merely mentioned, the reader gets an up-close-and-personal look at one unfortunate prisoner's torture session. Some might find this disturbing, as I did to some extent, so I just want to forewarn you. And, of course, Brigitte is a prostitute and works in a brothel--so you shouldn't be surprised that you get a look into this lifestyle, though I commend the author on keeping the description of it to a minimal.

All in all, I found this an enjoyable read. It was kind of difficult to follow the plot in some areas, but I kept pushing onward and soon came to understand, roughly, what had happened. If you are a history buff who enjoys this time period and this war, I recommend you give Flame of Resistance a try. Chances are very high that you will love this beautiful story of a heroic man and woman who step outside of the safeties of their life to fight for bigger cause.

I reviewed this book for Tyndale House Publishing. It was not required that I give a positive review, but solely to express my own thoughts and opinions of this book, which I have done.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Too many characters and a slow start July 11, 2012

By Laura A. Jackson

Format:Paperback

When Tom Jaeger's plane is shot down in Normandy in the spring of 1944, he becomes part of the Resistance's plan to fight the Nazis because of his German looks. Tom is to visit prostitute Brigitte, who will find out secrets from her customers and relay them to Tom to take back to the Resistance leaders. Knowing an invasion draws near, the two have little time to uncover the enemy's secrets. Will it be enough?

I love the idea for this book: an American flyer and a prostitute working together as spies. There's a lot of room to explore the character's motivations and to weave an action-packed novel. Instead, there are so many characters and cover names that it took me a good 1/3 of the book to figure everyone out. While I liked the characters of Tom and Brigitte, especially Brigitte, they sometimes seemed lost in the muddle of figuring out who is who. Cutting out some of the excess characters would have strengthened the plot's pacing and made for a less-confusing read.

Fans of historical fiction will enjoy this book, perhaps a little more if they make notes of who everyone is. Once you get halfway through, it becomes a beautiful story of courage and loyalty, much like a WWII version of the Biblical story of Rahab.
I was given this book in exchange for my review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

More About the Author

Tracy began her writing career at age 8 by starting stories and never finishing them. She finished them only under duress for school. In school, she wrote stories and collected a few writing awards and had an idea she'd be a writer when she grew up, but funny thing happened on the way to college: she became a Christian. She then had a misguided notion she had to swap writing for this new life she was grateful for, so she threw out the stories and went on with Life.

One day, our hero (Tracy) was working as an accounts payable clerk in a big corporation. She wrote and circulated office memos because they were more interesting than data entry. She had an epiphany: she'd rather write. She finally got it into her brain that God was not a sicko meanie-head and gave her the desire to write for a reason. She got the heck out of Dodge, and landed a job writing radio commercials.

Tracy wrote commercials for a year, quit to have a baby, and didn't return to the writing job because by then she'd gone past fetching back into the kind of writing she really wanted to do: books. She didn't buy it when a famous writer said to her face that she'd first have to write magazine articles to pay the price for writing books. She lied politely and said she'd get right on it, but once the famous writer was gone she took to her computer and wrote what she wanted, not stupid articles.

Tracy heard of a writing conference nearby, the Calvin College Festival of Faith and Writing. Without a clue for what she was doing-and she's discovered since then that clueless works if you're persistent-she threw together 3 chapters and a synopsis, signed up to talk to a few editors, and sold her first books, two young adult novels in a series called, Casey and the Classifieds. The books did okay for a few years. Then they went out of print, a stupefying notion that never occurred to Tracy. But Tracy wants to think she's like a particular Rich Mullins lyric, shaken forward and shaken free, so she didn't let it get her down and went looking for other stuff to write.

Tracy was then asked to write a play about James, one of the brothers of Jesus, named Consider It All Joy. She liked the play so much she turned it into a novel. She got an agent (long story) and her agent sold the book as "The Brother's Keeper". It got a starred Booklist review. She thought, "This is fun, I'll try again" and wrote "Stones of My Accusers". It also received a starred Booklist review. After that came a book called "Madman", a story about the Gerasene demoniac. It got a starred Booklist review, a starred Publishers Weekly review and was awarded the Christy Award for historical fiction (2007). After Madman, she worked on a couple of story projects, did some ghost writing and picked up some interesting freelance work.

Tracy's soon-to-be-released (June '12) book "Flame of Resistance", published by Tyndale, tells the story of the Old Testament character Rahab the harlot in a WWII, D-Day and Normandy setting - Fighter pilot gets shot down, infiltrates a brothel and plans to get intel out of the country through Brigitte, a prostitute rumored to be sympathetic to the Allied cause.

Tracy's current project has a working title of "Jonah Girl" and should be a whale of a story.

On a personal note, Tracy's favorite place is the Mackinaw Bridge - cause it leads to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Mackinaw Island, Whitefish Point, Pictured Rocks, the Porcupine Mountains, pasties, fudge and immense beauty. On the homefront, her predominantly male household includes her husband Jack, three sons, Evan, Grayson, and Riley, and a manipulative Jack Russell named Murphy.

Tracy's character flaws include anger when beaten at chess (she says John Huss, one of the forerunners of the Reformation, had the same problem so she doesn't feel so bad), procrastination, and jumping to conclusions. She'd like to visit Australia someday and hang with her friend Sharon. And then New Zealand, too, so she can find some Lord of the Rings woods and run through them like Frodo on a mission.