4.5 stars

This was a wonderful story about a period of history that I’m sad to admit I don’t know much about. But Luisa’s and Bob’s experiences opened up my eyes and my heart to the pain and suffering endured by both the military and civilians during the Cold War in Germany.

Luisa is a newly graduated nurse with a penchant for helping others. When an East German patient asks Luisa to deliver a note to a family member, she has no idea that she will soon be joining a secret network that illegally helps East Germans escape into West Germany. She risks her life to get them safely across the Berlin Wall, but at what cost to her and her family?

During that time, she meets an American soldier named Bob who is stationed in West Germany. Bob is fluent in German and quickly develops a friendship with Luisa. It’s not long before he receives orders for a secret mission in East Germany where he must identify possible targets for the US military. It’s a dangerous assignment, and if his true identity is revealed, the entire mission will be compromised or worse…he could be held captive and killed.

This story was the perfect mix of heart-wrenching and heart-warming. I thought Luisa and Bob were equally fantastic characters, and I enjoyed getting to know them, despite the circumstances and time period under which they met. This story definitely threw my emotions through a loop, but it also filled me with hope. Despite everything these characters went through, they never gave up. They continued to fight and look for the good even in the darkest of time.

Highly recommending this book!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4203345256

Thank you to the author, Shadow Mountain Publishing and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is classified as historical fiction, but is based on real life events and is a re-telling of the personal (true) story of a young US serviceman who served in Germany after WWII and was recruited to work undercover in Eastern Germany after the Berlin wall went up. He is caught, imprisoned and brutally interrogated over months, and is finally freed in a prisoner exchange. The story is compelling, and I loved the juxtaposition of the POVs of the US serviceman and a young German woman he meets, who separately begins to help Eastern Germans escape to the West. As their paths have separated, neither knows what the other is doing, and as usual the author's meticulous research helps ground the story in lived history. I found it a fascinatingly personal read about these early years of the Cold War.

#TheSlowMarchOfLight. #NetGalley

The story takes place post WWII, during the cold war.
I've read quite a few fictional books on WWII, but not one during the cold war.
The author did a good job explaining what life was like in West Germany. People still had to watch what they said, there were many spies.
Bob is given an assignment to go into East Germany, to take pictures of military bases and government buildings. While there in East Germany, he is turned in and sent to prison.
Luisa Voigt, is a nurse, residing in West Germany, she gets caught up in smuggling people into West Germany.
At times this novel was a little slow, but the story, which is based on a true account, held my interest.

The Slow March of Light is a very informative story about something I didn't know a whole lot about. Focusing on the time that the wall went up in Berlin, we learn about that time from the point of view of a US serviceman called upon to do some espionage work and the women he befriends in Germany.

Both Bob and Luisa are put in danger as they try to get though life and fulfill their missions. What a scary time that was and I admire what the people did and sacrificed for others. I learned so much about this time period and am in awe of the stamina and determination that they had.

Heather had done an amazing job of taking such a hard, disturbing time in history and personalizing it so that we can understand and empathize with what people went though. The fact that this story is based on true events and a real person, Bob Inama, makes it even more astonishing.

I highly recommend The Slow March of Light if you are at all interested in German history and the fall-out from the war on the country and it's people.

This book was hard for me to get through. I felt like it moved slowly and the writing was more "tell" than "show." That said, the characters were rich and the book was meticulously researched.

I was provided this book in exchange for an honest review by NetGalley and the author.

Wow! This story was so engrossing! I haven't read much Cold War fiction, so it was fascinating to see things both from the perspective of an American soldier/spy through Bob's character and from a West German citizen who gets involved in helping East Germans escape through Luisa's character. Both perspectives were so well written, drawing me right into the characters' thoughts and emotions. Bob's character was made all the more captivating with the knowledge that he was a real person and his experiences really happened. Although this book covers dark situations, it was also hopeful, as we get to see Bob persevering through an extremely nerve-wracking military assignment and the fallout of that assignment. Bob is just so inspiring!
This book was thoroughly enjoyable and one I highly recommend to anyone looking for a great historical novel.
5 stars.
I read an ARC provided by the author/publisher. All opinions are my own.

I didn't even read the synopsis before requesting this one. All I knew was 1. Heather B Moore was writing it and 2. If its HF based on true events I know she's going to go all out on her research to make sure its done well. Spoiler Alert: It was.

The Slow March of Light is a historical fiction retelling of true events. It is the story of Bob Inama's time serving in the Cold War during the rising of the Berlin Wall. I honestly haven't read many books during this time period so it was very enlightening for me to become more educated about this time. My husbands Grandmother is full German so all the German cultural references were so nostalgic for me and it felt like I was getting a little bit of her history as well.

Bob is an extraordinary man. He survives the unspeakable but has the utmost trust and faith in God while he does it. Bob puts his trust in God from the moment his draft papers came in to the moment he was released. If any of us had half the mindset of this heroic man, the world would be a better place. It was incredible that he has this story and lived to tell it.

There was a fictional character thrown in to help the readers understand the dangers that people went through to help East Germans escape under the wall. It was inspiring to read about and these moments had me on the edge of my seat BECAUSE they were based on true heroical events orchestrated by regular every day people.

A wonderful, faith filled read of friendship, history, endurance, hardship and love. If you are even a tiny bit interested in reading it, I highly recommend it.

4.5 Stars

Drafted into the army during the Cold War, not long before the erection of the Berlin Wall, Bob excels at his work - so much that he gets asked to spy for his country in East Germany. Based on a true story, this story provides a glimpse of life in Berlin around the Berlin Wall was built, from the perspectives of both an undercover American soldier and a West German girl who got involved in efforts to help East Germans escape to West Berlin.

This would have been a poignant story anyway, but knowing that it's based on a true story (with a note at the end as to what what true and what poetic license) made it even more so. I did find bits of the story a little slow, but I found Bob's expressions of gratitude in the face of suffering inspiring, and I really loved the ending - it was just perfect. It was also interesting from a historical perspective, because it's not a period that I know much about at all. All in all, a good read, interesting and thought-provoking. Recommended.

Note that I received a complimentary copy of the book from NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review and this is my considered opinion of the book.

This story is set in Germany post WWll, and follows a real American soldier, Bob Inama, and fictional character Louisa Voight, a West German nurse. Bob’s story is as inspiring as it is riveting, and was quite emotional for me.
It’s remarkable that I’ve never read a historical novel portraying these fact-detailed bits of Germany’s history before. It’s an incredible book, inspired by real events, that I feel all readers of historical fiction should read.

A special thanks to Shadow Mountain Publishing via NetGalley for the ARC of this beautiful story!

The Slow March of Light is a historical novel based on the experiences of Bob Inama as a soldier and spy and prisoner during the Cold War. Heather B. Moore does an excellent job of telling Bob’s story and experiences and crafting it into fine historical fiction. Several lessons emerge about hope and the resilience of the human spirit. We see the good and bad of humanity, no matter which side of the Berlin Wall one finds oneself. Fans of Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken will find similar Christian messages in this story. While I found The Slow March of Light powerful and with good messages and insightful glimpses into a formidable slice of history, the rising action built up to a mediocre climax and resolution. I was also surprised at the final love interest. The potential of the story could have been even greater with what the author was building up to, so I was a bit let down when the story came to an end. But overall, Heather paid respectful tribute to Bob’s ordeal and contributions

I always love a story that is set in a period of history that I am not as familiar with and this definitely fit that bill. This book is set in Berlin in 1960-61. We follow Bob, an American soldier, and Luisa, a German nurse, during the cold war as the tensions between east and west rise. This story was an enjoyable, quick read, but also a bit predictable. My biggest complaint is that it ended way too quickly. I honestly did not even realize I was at the end when I got there. I wanted more follow up and more details about what comes after.

This was another job well done by Heather Moore. She has a talent for retelling true stories, and bringing them to life for the reader. Such a story of heroism, and history.

When you read a book that is “based on a true story”, reviewing and rating it becomes a tricky business. Do you rate the book for its writing? Do you rate the person for his/her heroics? (And heroics would obviously be present in the story. Who would write a book about a dull life?!?) More often than not, I find reviewers rating the person and his/her experiences than the book/writing quality. And that leads to hyped-up ratings and a distorted expectation level. But I’m jumping the gun. Let me begin with the story first.

Story:
This book brings to us the story of a US soldier named Bob Inama and his experiences in Berlin during 1960-1962, the period just before and at the start of the Berlin Wall coming up. The content covers Bob’s life from when he receives his draft order, his training at the military academy, his posting to West Germany, and his secret appointment as a spy reporting on Soviet-controlled East Germany and what happens as a result thereafter.
We also meet Luisa Voight, a young nurse living with her father in West Germany but worried about her grandmother in East Germany. Her policeman father’s posting to Berlin, the epicentre of the East-West standoff, soon brings unforeseen changes in her life and she finds herself going beyond the law to help fellow citizens.

As I said, the book is based on a true story. Bob Inama was 85 when Shadow Publishing proposed the idea of penning his inspiring life story to author Heather Moore. The result was many meetings and a lot of conversations between Inama and Moore, their rapport clearly coming out in this book. It is sad that Inama passed away just a few weeks before this book is due to be out. (He expired on August 9th 2021.) But I am glad he got to read it and gave it his seal of approval.

From the book, Inama comes out to be an intelligent and brave officer with a strong faith in God. His life story is indeed inspiring to read. The way he faced his difficulties with calm, how he never allowed anything to shatter his faith, his dedicated approach towards learning German to perform better at his spying work,… All indicate a man who had a great mind and a greater heart. Luisa’s character is also interestingly written and you will feel her sense of hopelessness and determination through her experiences in Berlin. So in terms of characters and story, this book gets a big thumbs up from me. (Though of course it broke my heart to see that Luisa is a fictional character and not a real one. This isn’t a spoiler; it is revealed right at the start of the book through a detailed character chart. Of course she is an amalgamation of many true characters, so that helps.)

Another strong positive of the book is how it covers the historical details and weaves them within the main fabric of the story. At the start of the book, there is a detailed timeline starting from WWII and ending with the demolition of the Berlin Wall. There is a map of Germany showing the occupation of the three Allied Forces and the Soviets. Towards the end of the book is a detailed section providing chapter notes for every single chapter and how far they are true. Every chapter in the book begins with an actual historical quote that correlates to the events in that particular chapter. I have read a couple of fictional books on the Berlin Wall and the events around it. This is the only book that told me why things happened/did not happen instead of only stopping at the whats.

Now for the other side of the story. Sometimes the writing tends to get a bit too ‘fangirlish’. Heather Moore tries very hard to make Inama sound like a hero but she needn’t have. His story is inspiring enough and didn’t need buttressing with extra descriptions or justifications. Another thing is that the story gets too dragged because of this. Both of these are relatively minor issues but they spoil my reading experience by slowing me down too much.

Regardless of this slow pace, the book is definitely an interesting and insightful read and it celebrates a common soldier who went beyond his duty to his motherland.

3.75 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Two main characters make up this story - Bob Inama, a true person who gave the author hours of interviews in order to create his story and then gave the inspiration for Louis Voigt the other main character who had a little more fiction involved in her story. Bob was a solider with the US Army stationed in West Germany during the very hard time as the Berlin Wall was being constructed and the borders were affecting the people of both Berlin and Germany. Louisa was a German resident, a daughter of a police officer and a recent graduate of nursing school who was watching her home country fall apart.

Switching back and forth between Bob and Louisa's point of view, this book focused on a time and place that isn't often represented in books - post World War II as countries are occupying Germany and the country is trying to heal from a war that split the population into several pieces. Before reading this book, I was more familiar with the news of the Berlin wall coming down, while I was young when it happened, I have been more aware of the anniversaries and the news of those events, so to read about the people before it went up and the months after it was built was educational.

While the events were interesting to me while reading this book, the characters were built a way that it was hard to put this down as you follow both of them through the ups and downs of the volatile events of the day. Louisa's parts were my favorite, maybe because I am married to a police officer or maybe because I hope I would react like she did and step up and risk my life to help people, but her parts were riveting. I appreciated that Bob's story was so close to fact, but that also made reading his part of the story hard because I knew that his story wasn't far from fiction and there were moments where his story was hard to read.

This was my second book I have read by Heather B Moore and I have loved both, so I want to dive into her backlist and anticipate what she has coming next.

The Slow March of Light is truly an inspirational tale about Bob Inama, an American soldier in Germany in the early 1960’s whose experiences included the overnight building of the Berlin Wall and the Cold War. Never knowing much about the Berlin Wall I was fascinated to read of it through the eyes of Germans living on both sides of the wall. I cannot imagine the fear and frustration encountered by those in East Berlin, struggling to get food, heat, and most importantly visits with their own families. Bob’s fortitude and perseverance helped him survive a horrific experience in a German prison camp.
Louisa, a young fictitious German nurse met Bob and they instantly had a connection. Thoughts of her helped him survive the torture he endured. She was brave, working to help those left behind in East Berlin.
Even though Bob would never live the life he dreamed about nor experience the career he aspired to he approached life with a positive attitude. I thank him and many others for their service.
Although I was a young child during this time frame and was vaguely aware of the events, this book opened my eyes to their importance. I remember having drills in school, hiding under small desks, but never understanding why. I so appreciated the quotes included, especially those by President Kennedy.
Many thanks to Heather Moore, Shadow Mountain, and NetGalley for affording me the pleasure of reading an arc of this book, to be published on September 7th. Four and a half stars.

This is not a subject I would usually pick up to read about regarding historical fiction but it definitely did not disappoint. While a bit of a slow burn, it kept my interest going and really feel for the situation in the Cold War and Cold War era Berlin.

The author clearly put in a lot of time and research into this book. However, the deep history dive detracted from the story. It was missing the emotional piece that allowed me to get invested in the characters. I learned a lot about the Berlin Wall and what it was like during that time period but the romance storyline was missing something for me. My thanks to the publisher for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

Heather B. Moore is one of the biggest reasons I love historical fiction. With all of her research, dedication, and beautiful writing, the stories come to life for me, and I get to learn something in the process.

Reading about the Berlin Wall from the perspective of Bob Inama was truly eye-opening for me — as was his incredible faith. My favorite line: "Sometimes we can only have faith. We can only pray in our helplessness. And as we share our burdens with others, we can make it through together." This is from someone who had every reason to be so angry at having everything taken away from him, yet he never lost sight of his blessings and was kind to everyone he met.

I loved this book, and would truly recommend it to anyone.

Often what the reader brings to a book makes it either better or worse in the reading. I expected this to be the case when I requested a Net Galley advance reading copy of The Slow March of Light by Heather B. Moore, to be published on September 7. Her story is based on a true happening of an American soldier who worked as a spy during 1961 as tensions escalated between the East and West and ultimately culminated in the overnight erection of the Berlin Wall. My husband’s draft notice that began a military career was instigated by an increased need for soldiers when the Berlin Wall went up, and we had visited East Berlin, traveling as a military family during the time he was stationed in West Germany. I knew I would be picky about details in the book.

Heather bases about half of her story on interviews with the protagonist Bob Inama. His plans to enter the university law school are interrupted by a draft notice. With enough German language lessons behind him to be fairly fluent, he becomes an ideal person to train by polishing his pronunciation and understanding so that he can attach himself to a professor who travels between East and West. The pictures he takes of possible East German military sites are invaluable.

The other half of Heather’s story is largely fiction, based on a girl, Luisa Voight, who gets a small mention as Bob tells the social side of his story. Heather weaves a tale around her grandmother in the East side of Berlin who refuses to leave to come to the West until it appears to be too late. Meanwhile, Luisa joins a risky spy network herself to help those who want to cross into freedom.

Bob gets caught and sent to prison where he forms an odd relationship with one of the guards. The wall goes up before Luisa can convince her grandmother to come to the West side. Tension for both the factual tale and the fictional one keep the reader in high suspense. Both rang true all the way through to this reader who passed through Checkpoint Charlie while the Berlin Wall was still in place which means that what I brought to the book made it all the better. I will not spoil the ending, but will say that the truth in the ending is even stranger than fiction. Which means you need to be sure to read the author’s note.

The Slow March of Light is one of those epic stories that will stay with you long after reading it. “Come what may and love it,” is a quote by Joseph B. Wirthlin used near the end of the story and perfectly encapsulates the message and life of Bob Inama. He was an incredible man and his story is a must read. I went into this book only knowing that it was about the Cold War and a young man from Idaho who was drafted and sent to Germany. It is so much more than that.

The beginning of the book briefly shares Bob’s early history and his experience in being drafted into the military. Bob’s observations about Germany, his meeting of a local girl Luisa, and his assignment to spy for America all lead up to the core experience that changes Bob’s life forever. It is a little over the halfway mark where the story takes a surprising twist. Bob is betrayed and sent to prison in East Germany. The beatings, fear, and loneliness are palpable as Bob’s prison experience unfolds. He’s aided by a guard he names “Adolf” whom he develops a friendship with. His resilience in the face of evil and his desire to endure his treatment well are a testament to the power of prayer, fasting, and the human spirit. How he copes with this ordeal is inspiring.

While Bob’s story is a fairly accurate portrayal, Heather B. Moore cleverly uses the fictionalized character of Luisa to represent real people and their experiences in West and East Germany. Luisa is based mostly off of a woman Bob met in Germany at church functions. In the book, as she witnesses the increasing control and brutality of East Germany, she finds herself in a position to help. She joins an underground organization dedicated to rescuing as many East Germans as possible and bringing them to the West. She experiences several heart pounding situations as she willingly puts herself in danger. Luisa’s and Bob’s stories intersect from time to time, but it is near the end when Luisa embodies what every reader will wish they could do for Bob.

This is a well researched, well crafted, emotionally powerful tribute to a man who is the epitome of bravery, kindness, and quiet strength. The author uses quotes and stories from the 1960’s at the beginning of each chapter to give the reader a brief understanding of the time period. She also gives a detailed explanation at the end of what is real and where she has taken artistic liberties. It’s definitely a top read for 2021 and I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction based on real experiences. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. I was not required to give a positive review. All opinions are my own.