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A Distant Melody (Wings of Glory) Paperback – March 1, 2010

by Sarah Sundin (Author)

4.5 3,421 ratings

Book 1 of 3: Wings of Glory

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Never pretty enough to please her gorgeous mother, Allie will do anything to gain her approval--even marry a man she doesn't love. Lt. Walter Novak--fearless in the cockpit but hopeless with women--takes his last furlough at home in California before being shipped overseas. Walt and Allie meet at a wedding and their love of music draws them together, prompting them to begin a correspondence that will change their lives. As letters fly between Walt's muddy bomber base in England and Allie's mansion in an orange grove, their friendship binds them together. But can they untangle the secrets, commitments, and expectations that keep them apart?
A Distant Melody is the first book in the WINGS OF GLORY series, which follows the three Novak brothers, B-17 bomber pilots with the US Eighth Air Force stationed in England during World War II.

Book 1 of 3

Wings of Glory
Length

422
Pages
Language

EN
English
Publisher

Revell
Publication date

2010
March 1
Dimensions

5.5 x 1.1 x 8.5
inches
ISBN-10

0800734211
ISBN-13

978-0800734213
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Plain, reserved, Los Angeles ball-bearing heiress Allie Miller abandons propriety to flirt with Lt. Walter Novak of the Army Air Force during the idyllic week following her best friend’s small-town wedding. When Walt is posted overseas, they correspond, drawn together by a shared faith and their mutual, if unspoken, attraction. Walt, however, has a propensity to lie, and Allie is torn between her own call to actively serve God and her filial responsibility to obey her parents’ wishes in the matter of her marriage to her father’s ambitious but undemonstrative second-in-charge, who is neither a Christian nor (rumor has it) heterosexual. While their pride puts Sundin’s protagonists at cross-purposes, Walt serves in the European aerial theater. Sundin’s debut Christian historical romance featuring the youngest of the Novak brothers introduces an emotionally gripping, detail-rich but fast-paced trilogy set against the backdrop of WWII at home and abroad. Romance readers and military history buffs will find much of interest here. --Lynne Welch

From the Inside Flap

EXCERPT FROM CATALOG
"That pilot has a little crush on you."
"Nonsense." Her hand went in circles, but her mind fixed on an impossible truth. A crush would explain his attentiveness and also his awkwardness during the ceremony--he'd be embarrassed to have a crush on a woman who was spoken for.
"I think it's sweet he has a crush on you."
"Don't be silly. No one's ever had a crush on me."
"No one? What about Baxter?"
"Baxter?" Allie divided the last bit of cake. "That's different. We've been together so long." Yet four and a half years with Baxter Hicks had never generated a fraction of the emotions she'd experienced in one week with Walter Novak.
Walter Novak, who crossed the room, his gaze and smile locked on Allie. Walter Novak, who took her hand, led her away from Louise and the cake and Allie's own good reason, and drew her into his strong arms.
Walter Novak, who looked at her as if she were lovely and special.
All her life Allie had longed for the look in his hazel eyes, but she never guessed how splendid it was to truly feel lovely and special. His attraction sank deep in her soul, exhilarating and dangerous and enriching.

From the Back Cover

Will a chance meeting in a time of war change her life forever?

Never pretty enough to please her gorgeous mother, Allie will do anything to gain her approval--even marry a man she doesn't love. While Allie has nearly resigned herself to that fate, Lt. Walter Novak--fearless in the cockpit but hopeless with women--takes his last furlough at home in California before being shipped overseas.

Walt and Allie meet and begin a correspondence that will change their lives. As letters fly between Walt's muddy bomber base in England and Allie's mansion in an orange grove, their friendship binds them together. But can they untangle the secrets, commitments, and expectations that keep them apart?

Book 1 in the Wings of Glory series, A Distant Melody is an exciting and tender story of love, courage, and sacrifice during World War II.

"Sarah Sundin is an extraordinarily gifted storyteller who puts the reader in the cockpit of B-17 bombers as easily as she crafts an achingly emotional World War II romance. This is not only the best World War II love story I've ever read, but it may be the best book I've ever read."--Cheryl Bolen, Holt Medallion Winner, Best Historical

Sarah Sundin is an on-call hospital pharmacist and holds a BS in chemistry from UCLA and a doctorate in pharmacy from UC San Francisco. Her great-uncle flew with the US Eighth Air Force in England during WWII. Sarah lives in California with her husband and three children. This is her debut novel.

About the Author

Sarah Sundin is the bestselling author of When Twilight Breaks, Until Leaves Fall in Paris, The Sound of Light,and the popular WWII series Sunrise at Normandy, among others. She is a Christy Award winner and a Carol Award winner, and her novels have received starred reviews from Booklist, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly, and have appeared on Booklist's "101 Best Romance Novels of the Last 10 Years." Sarah lives in California. Visit www.SarahSundin.com for more information.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Revell; Reprinted edition (March 1, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 422 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0800734211
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0800734213
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.7 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.08 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #645,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,669 in Christian Historical Fiction (Books)
- #8,378 in Military Romance (Books)
- #29,020 in American Literature (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 3,421 ratings

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Sarah Sundin

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Sarah Sundin enjoys writing about the drama and romance of the World War II era. She is the bestselling and Christy Award-winning author of Embers in the London Sky (coming February 2024), The Sound of Light (2023), Until Leaves Fall in Paris (2022), When Twilight Breaks (2021), and several World War II series.

Sarah's novels have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. Until Leaves Fall in Paris received the 2022 Christy Award and was a semi-finalist for the 2023 Carol Award, The Sound of Light, When Twilight Breaks, and The Land Beneath Us were finalists for the Christy Award, and The Sky Above Us won the 2020 Carol Award.

A mother of three, Sundin lives in Southern California and enjoys speaking to community, church, and writers' groups. Sarah serves as Co-Director for the West Coast Christian Writers Conference.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

3,421 global ratings

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pulls your heart strings

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2023

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This book pulls the heart strings. Readers will fall in love with the two main characters, Walt and Allie. Walt and his crew fly through danger and endure the horrors of WWII in the air. Allie realizes God’s call on her life and faces difficult decisions on the home front. Simple deception and little white lies turn their friendship more complicated, and each one has lessons to learn from a great God. Full of details about flying missions, readers will enjoy this well researched and well written historical fiction story. I highly recommend it.

Helpful

Noelle the Dreamer

We all fly under His wings!

Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2011

Verified Purchase

From everything I had heard The Wings of Glory promised to be an excellent series and I could not resist the first title!
I first read A Distant Melody's resume online and its appeal was such I entered a contest for the book (I was not a winner unfortunately) but I wrote a line to the author who graciously offered me bookmarks and postcards for our local library! Sarah Sundin introduced me then to her blog Under His Wings and it has been a pleasure to "visit" many times over!
The setting for the books in the series sounded perfect for me since I am an avid reader of WWII homefront stories, on both sides of the pond I might add! Anyone familiar with Hope and Glory will know how my husband grew up and being married for the last 36 years to this Ex RAF lad means I love reading about flying as well.
In A Distant Melody, Sarah Sundin describes both the homefront and the combat zones with such minutious details you almost feel there! Here you will read about rationing and buying War Bonds as well as the not so well known challenges many of our mothers and grandmothers experienced in war time.
But Sarah Sundin goes much further by introducing us in startling details to the lives of the flyboys who for love of Country and Freedom put their lives on the line and flew B17 and B24 on countless dangerous missions, some never to return home!
However this is the story of people who do not shy away from their Christian beliefs despite the challenging times that makes this book truly special.

In the first book of the series you will enjoy discovering shy Allie who will do everything to please her parents including marrying someone she does not love only to discover God has another plan for her.
Lt. Walter Novak loves flying and trusts the Lord to keep him safe. During his last furlough he meets Allie and finds in her a kindred spirit. But all too soon he must fly his B17 crew overseas to fight the ennemy. Through their correspondence across a world entangled in ugly conflict he soon discovers his heart is hers only!
However commitments and secrets are unavoidable and only through their understanding of the grace of God will they learn to trust each other enough to share their true feelings.
This wonderful story was written in such a way that men and women will relate to it in some aspect and it will captivate readers, young and old alike. This is not just another romantic historical novel for us ladies and much has to be said about Sarah Sundin's research of the Bombers she describes so vivedly in her stories.
In this first book of the series, A Distant Melody is certain to strike a chord and no one will deny Allie's and Walter's feelings reflects the certainty we are all flying under His Wings.

Many thanks to Sarah Sundin for bringing back countless memories and wonderful tales of bravery! I am very much looking forward to read Book # 2 in the series, A Memory Between Us and Book # 3 coming out in August 2011, Blue Skies Tomorrow!
Her new series Wings of the Nightingale will come out in 2012!

Note: As always, a reminder: I was not asked to review this book and this post reflects only my opinion!

Helpful

reviewsbyerin

Debut novel a hit with this reader

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2014

Verified Purchase

Having heard good things about this author, I was excited to read this book. Sundin's writing style drew me in immediately. She found ways to insert musical references seamlessly into the text, tying in with the title of the story, which I found to be a nice touch. I thought her an engaging author, and I look forward to reading more of her books in the future.

Our story opens when Allie Miller takes a trip away from home to be a part of her best friend's wedding. Allie feels very little control over her life. She's been raised by wealthy, homebody parents, and is in a long-term relationship with the young man who will one day take over her father's company. Having recently become a Christian, Allie feels that there is more out there than the staid life she's always known, but is uncertain of herself and her ability to pursue it. On the train ride she meets a young lieutenant and they are able to have an enjoyable conversation, each thinking they will never see each other again. But when they reach their destination, Allie and Walter Novak discover that they are both in the same wedding party, and are thrown together often over the course of the week.

Walter falls hard for Allie. Allie doesn't like to talk about the unpleasantness of her home life, and she feels sure that their mutual friends will fill Walt in on the fact that she's almost an engaged woman. Besides, she's enjoying the very real connection between them. At the end of the week Allie returns home and Walt prepares to ship out, and they agree to write each other.

Throughout the following long months, their friendship and prayers for each other are a sustaining force in both Allie and Walt's lives. She is bolstered by his encouragement to begin attending church and making decisions for herself, and he appreciates the way Allie listens and understands like no one else. Each of them fight their own inner battles even as Walt battles the Axis forces. Allie craves her parents' approval and knows she has it if she accepts her boyfriend's proposal and takes the place already assigned to her, but she doesn't know if she can live with herself if she follows through with it.

Overall, I highly enjoyed this book. The spiritual aspect of the friendship between Walt and Allie was nicely done. At times the plot got a little convoluted, but thankfully I had a good stretch of time so I could read through most of the story at once and therefore wasn't bothered by that. There was realism about the death of friends and personal danger that Walt faced as a fighter pilot that fit the WWII setting. It wasn't a perfect novel, but it kept me wrapped up wonderfully. I hope I have opportunity to read the rest of the books in this series.

4 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Marion Davidson

wonderful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 12, 2023

Verified Purchase

Really good read. Kept me thrilled to the very end. Will certainly look for another tale from the same family

Carole in Canada

Strongly faith based...

Reviewed in Canada on February 9, 2019

Verified Purchase

In trying to get through my large TBR pile on my Kindle, I came across this book. Taking place during World War II and a love story to boot, the premise had appealed to me. The book description says it all. The story was good except, for me, it is strongly faith based. I have nothing against that, and maybe I should have been more diligent in finding this out, but this kept me from loving the story. But to be fair, the faith of the characters was at the heart of this story.

Ray Burston

superb story-telling by an amazingly gifted author.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 3, 2016

Verified Purchase

I confess that, having read the 'Wings of the Nightingale' trilogy, I am hooked on Sarah Sundin's stories. Hugely credibly characters and meticulously researched background give each of them the potency they need to keep the reader glued to the plot. "A Distant Melody" is no different, chronicling two people in love, yet who wrestle with the fear events are conspiring to ensure their love will never be consumated. Even towards the end, when you can see all the elements of the tale slotting together, Sarah has one last twist in it that will have you gripping the edge of your Kindle so tightly as to almost crack the screen.

She is an amazingly gifted author - a purveyor of wartime romance with a Christian theme who never needs to resort to the fantastical to remain true to the belief that 'all things' will work together for good for those who place God at the centre of their lives and endeavour to live those lives accordingly.

2 people found this helpful

TamiR

Brilliant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2019

Verified Purchase

This is such a brilliant story. I've just read the last page and didn't want it to end. Everything about it is great. The writing, the characters. Everything. I will say, however, *spoiler* that just as one of the other reviewers mentioned, I did find the reactions of his crew when the girlfriend lie was uncovered a bit unbelievable. I can't imagine a group of men realistically reacting that way, but then I've never known fighter pilots - maybe their emotions run deeper than normal.

Hats off to Ms Sundin though. I've just recently discovered her books starting with the Sunrise at Normandy series and have kind of worked backwards from there. I generally used to shy away from war fiction, but this book, like the others I've read, is simply great - spirituality, romance and history all combined to make lovely stories. Her writing is sublime, so enjoyable and meaningful. I definitely recommend.

One person found this helpful

Mrs. A. L. Maddocks

Brilliant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 14, 2013

Verified Purchase

A brand new author for me and certainly one I shall be reading again. Allie goes to a friends wedding much against the wishes of her family and fiancé Baxter. Whilst there she meets Walter Novak who is from a very religious family and is hopeless with women. Before Allie goes home she and Walter form a friendship and agree to correspond with eachother. Walter flies over to England with his crew B17 Bomber Flossie and whilst they are corresponding with eachother Allie starts to question her life and its meaning prompting her to look at itand gradually make subtle changes and then bigger ones.

Walter and Allie are eeventually reunited, but under a cloud of misunderstandings. Can they overcome those misunderstandings or do they go their seperate ways?

A very good book that you find yourself taken along for the ride to find out what happens. Would recommend.

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