“A Time for Tears” is a beautiful historical fiction middle-grade novel about three people whose lives change during WWII.

I enjoyed the author’s style of writing. She describes the scenes realistically and with a lot of detail, that you know she did a lot of research for the novel. Moreover, even though the author wrote the story for a younger audience, she does not ‘dumb’ down the information. It is a book that a reader of any age would enjoy reading. We learn about snipers and combats, coded messages and assignments, and how the troops prepared to fight the War. The author gives a concise yet comprehensive account of the events that transpired during World War II.

All three characters are distinctive and shine in the way. Out of all of them, I enjoyed Rachel’s storyline and how she took in little Marie and raised her for Benjamin and Esther. The scenes where she confronts the officials to get through were gripping. Similarly, I felt Andre had the most action in the tale as he went on a Normandy mission. Lastly, Daniel is terrific in keeping in touch with Ida and maggie while he embarks on his mission. The tale is heartwarming because the author interprets how even their characters’ families suffered because of the situation. The author also nicely weaves the storylines amongst the three characters. It was interesting to see how they connected throughout the book.

Overall, “A Time for Tears” is a beautiful historical novel to pick up if you want a glimpse of how life was like for people during World War II, with three strong protagonists.

Jerilynn Jones Henrickson takes her research on the French Resistance and turns it into a short historical fiction in A Time For Tears. There are parts of it that reads more like a documentary than fiction, but other sections are more conversational. She takes the stories of real people (Daniel Hagelman from Kansas, Rachel Ropfogel from Paris, Andre Jabot from Soissons, France) and tells how each journeyed into the world of war. It centers around the village of Le Chambon-sur-Ligon, which was noted for helping the Resistance fight and helping Jewish children escape concentration camps. There are definitely bad guys and good guys in the story.

It was a short read and gives insight into what these people endured during the Hitler regime. It is scheduled to be released December 1.