Book recommendation: The Sound of Light by Sarah Sundin

The Sound of Light

The Sound of Light is set in World War II Denmark. In the opening pages, as the Germans invade Denmark, our hero Baron Henrik Ahlfeldt has to make a desperate choice. Does he flee to Sweden, or does he go into hiding, concealing his aristocratic identity so he can put his skills as an Olympic rowers to use, couriering information across the sound between Sweden and Denmark?

The action quickly moves to 1943 where we meet Dr Else Jensen, a Danish-American physicist working at the Institute headed by Niels Bohr (a real life character Sundin worked into her story). While Else makes her own choices that defy the Nazis, she is unaware that her quiet, seemingly uneducated neighbour at her boarding house, Hemming Anderson, is actually Henrik. In the intervening years, he has become known as the Hauman (The Merman) for his critical resistance work. The romance unfolds achingly slowly as these two characters come to know, understand and then love each other with all the secrets and complications that working with the resistance naturally throws up.

Three things I loved

Normally, I try to write reviews where I focus on three things I love about a book. In the case of The Sound of Light, it’s hard to narrow it down to just three! However, I tried.

1) The Danish setting: Like the Ocracoke islands in Roseanna White’s Yesterday’s Tides, WWII Denmark is not a setting I know much about. Sarah makes it come to life. As always, her author’s note at the end shed light on the facts behind the fiction. I was interested to learn that, though occupied by the Nazis, the Danish people at first enjoyed freedoms that other occupied nations didn’t. Of course, that didn’t last but as the events of the story unfolded, I was moved by the courage of the Danish people who rose up to protect their Jewish communities.

2) Gritty reality: As I mentioned when I reviewed Within These Walls of Sorrow, life is harrowing and I don’t need my reading to be. But that doesn’t mean I want my reading to be all rainbows and unicorns! I appreciate Sarah’s deft hand when writing the grittier elements of this story (spoiler: the hero is tortured), so that they never dwell in depravity. Instead they add to the journey of the character and ultimately add depth to the romance. 

3) Henrik and Else: The protagonists in this story are memorable. I thought about them long after I had finished the book. I loved Henrik’s complexity, his nobility, and the delicate way their love developed. And I loved that Else was a physicist (Women in STEM for the Win!)

You can get this book on Amazon US, Amazon Australia or visit Sarah’s Website for more. I also loved hearing the Danish pronunciations in audiobook narration, which you can get on Audible as I did or wherever you get good audiobooks!

Reviews of other books in this series:

• When Twilight Breaks 
• Until Leaves Fall in Paris