The Road Home - Kristin Harmel - ★★★★

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AUTHOR: Kristin Harmel
SERIES: Good Intentions Collection, #4
GENRE: Short Story, Historical Fiction
PUBLICATION DATE: April 27, 2023
RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: A beautiful story about a mother’s love and sacrifice. Thought-provoking, sentimental and bittersweet. The ending didn’t work for me, though I am sure many readers will love it. Finally, this collection is swinging upwards!


Plot Preview:
WWII-era France. Marie Vachon has been taking care of a little Jewish refugee named Josiane. After the death of her only son during the war, Marie immerses herself fully in taking care of the new child in her life. After three years, both Marie and Josiane love each other in a parental bond. Then comes the end of the war, and the news that Josiane’s mother is safe, and wants her child back. But is it that easy to give up on a piece of your heart?
The story comes to us in Marie’s third person perspective.


This is the fourth standalone story in the 'Good Intentions’ series, described on Amazon as “a riveting collection of stories about the instincts, fears, and fierce love inherent in motherhood.”

Finally, I found a beautiful story in this collection, befitting the theme of motherhood and the sacrifices that are an inherent part of this role. Josiane and Marie’s strong bond comes out beautifully through the writing, as does the uncertainty Marie feels when she learns that Josiane’s mom is back. The story tackles the emotions of the characters well. I loved this line: “It isn't brave when it is the only thing to do.”

The author’s note reveals how Jewish children were parted from their parents during WWII to keep them safe. As she has already written historical fiction novels focussing on the downside of such incidents, she deliberately chose to write a happy-ish story about a child who was lucky enough to end up with a loving foster family and to focus on the foster mother for a change, as most such stories focus more on the child and the troubles they face away from their parents.

This would have rated higher for me had the ending been different. I don’t want to go into spoilers, so I can’t reveal much about why I was a bit disgruntled with it. But it felt too good to be true, and didn’t suit the realistic tone of the story. I know many readers will love it, so don’t be dissuaded by my downvote.

This is my first work by Kristin Harmel, and seeing how she presents her characters and their feelings, I am not surprised at her popularity among historical fiction readers. I’d love to read her full-length works.

Definitely recommended to short fiction and historical fiction fans, as long as you like sentimental stories.

This standalone story is a part of the ‘Good Intentions’ collection, and is currently available free to Amazon Prime subscribers.

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