‘Mist over the Channel Islands’ Book Review

Sarah Sundin has written another thoughtful WWII novel, this time from the perspective of Ivy Picot, a fictional doctor serving a small-town community on the Jersey Island in the English Channel. Ivy is born with an artistic gift to see past the obvious and spot the goodness in every situation, but when Germans invade her homeland, she starts to lose hope. Without access to enough medical supplies, she isn’t able to provide the right care to her patients, and when drawing outside is banned, she loses the only activity that brings her peace. As family tensions start to impact her practice, she fears she’ll become an outcast in her own home and village.

Main Themes

This is a beautiful but tragic story about the difficulties that impact even the smallest towns when the world is at war. From learning how to live under strict curfews and with only the barest of supplies, communities and hospitals founds themselves in terrible circumstances. Ivy wrestles with how can God still be good when so many people are dying at home and on the frontlines.

The book’s other main character, Gerrit van der Zee, struggles with his own set of doubts. He was a member of the Dutch resistance until his network was disbanded when their work became too risky to continue. When a close friend approaches him with another strategy for resisting the Germans, Gerrit hesitates. The new plan involved volunteering for Organisation Todt, a German group that oversaw the construction of military fortifications, with the intent to copy maps of military based and smuggle them to the Allied forces. The plan could be deadly if either man was discovered, but Gerrit knows he can’t stand idle while the world is at war.

It doesn’t go as planned. As one thing after another goes wrong, Gerrit finds himself in a crisis of faith. He thought he was being faithful to God, but the results weren’t coming the way he had expected. Was God still faithful, even when Gerrit felt like his work wasn’t stopping the Germans at all? And when he seeing the lovely Ivy Picot in church one Sunday, he finds himself falling in love with a woman who completely despises the uniform he is forced to wear. And when he unwillingly involved Ivy’s younger brother in his resistance work, he finds himself unable to control anything in life. Does he trust God enough to surrender his need for control and to see immediate results from his work?

Themes of loyalty to country, God’s goodness and faithfulness, and the responsibility of everyday people in times of trial were prominent in Mist of the Channel Islands. The book is full of historical references, as well as Sundin’s personal take on how resistance rings might have functioned on small islands with no easy hiding spots and where everyone knows each other.

Faith Elements

This is definitely a Christian novel, with short yet deep conversations about what faith looks like when God seems distant and when the world is unkind. An ugly world is not a reflection of God’s character, and the people in Mists over the Channel Islands learn that the beauty of God can be observed at all times if they have the eyes to see.

Family Friendly Considerations

Mist of the Channel Islands is a mild read for the most part, especially for being set during a world war. Sundin does not shirk away from difficult situations, but she does present them in a calm and non-graphic manner.

There are a few deaths described, as well as the brutal conditions of the German workcamps. One of Ivy’s family members sides with the Germans, which creates an unfortunate level of interpersonal tension in the family. She is a masterfully written character, even if the reader can be justifiably furious at how she treats her family and community.

The romance takes up a small portion of the book and is kept very clean. This book is appropriate for teens and adults looking for a clean, non-graphic novel about WWII.

Interested in Similar Reads?

If you love historical fiction, you might want to check out these other novels as well!

• Midnight on the Scottish Shore by Sarah Sundin
• The Collector of Burned Books by Roseanna M. White
• The Foxhole Victory Tour by Amy Lynn Green
• A Song in the Dark by Kimberly Woodhouse