Character Spotlight ~ Bodie & Brock Thoene's Lorelai Bittick & Eben Golah

Lorelai & Eben

Readers of the Thoene Zion Chronicles and Covenant books (myself included) have been dying to find out what happened in the period between the series. Bodie & Brock Thoene return to the 1940s and revist old friends and introduce new ones. Enjoy this insight into the main characters for their newly released The Gathering Storm.

Over to you, Bodie:~


Lorelai Bittick

Loralei is 18 when we first meet her and 22 during her escape from the German Blitzkrieg in 1940. Over the course of the story she progresses from immature and self-centered to courageous and self- assured.

Texan by birth, she has lived abroad most of her life as the child of missionary parents. Through the time period of the novel she experiences loss and sorrow, as well as love and hope.

In appearance and quick-wittedness think Kate Hudson.

Eben Golah

Eben is ruggedly handsome. Visualize Clive Owen.

Eben is thirty-ish and appears to never change, but the gravity of his nature sometimes makes him seem older. He has a mysterious past, operating in the clandestine German resistance to Hitler, and trying to spirit Jews out of harm's way.

Eben has great compassion for the victims of tyranny and oppression and is not afraid to put his life on the line. But he is clearly holding something back....what secret is beneath his surface?

Background to the story

The Gathering Storm, told as Loralei's first person account, follows the turmoil in Europe from before WWII, through the explosive drama of the Nazi sweep westward and the flood tide of desperate refugees, on into the Battle of Britain. Loralei must learn to set aside personal grief and loss in order to battle evil by saving one life at a time.

Synopsis

As Nazi forces tighten the noose, Loralei must flee her beloved Germany.

But is anywhere safe from Adolf Hitler’s evil grasp? When her father, a German opposition leader, is imprisoned by the Nazis, Loralei is forced into hiding and then on a harrowing flight that will eventually lead her to London. In the midst of grief and deep losses of her own, Loralei finds meaning in helping the overwhelming flood of refugees, including thousands of children, who escaped Hitler’s reach and made their way to freedom, yet sacrificed everything in exchange for their lives.

While in London, Loralei meets a friend of her father’s from her pre-war life in Germany…and falls deeply, passionately in love. Yet he’s a man she can never marry - a mysterious figure who closely guards an age-old secret. As air-raid sirens now wail over blacked-out London and Luftwaffe fighters fill the British skies, Loralei looks for a new reason to live in hope, even amidst the debris of so much brokenness.

Thanks for sharing, Bodie. My 1980s copies of both the Zion Covenant and Zion Chronicles are very well read and I'm really looking forward to adding The Zion Diaries to my collection.



On Monday, the spotlight shines on Lisa Samson's May Seymour from Resurrection in May

Relz Reviewz Extras

Visit Brock & Bodie's website

Buy their books at Amazon or Koorong

Coming soon from Bodie & Brock Thoene and Summerside Press

With my love of history, especially during the 1930s to 1940s, I was enthralled by Bodie Thoene's Zion Chronicles, Zion Covenant and Zion Legacy series when they first started releasing back in 1989. In fact I have their entire fiction backlist of their original releases, with the exception of their Galway Chronicles!

Known for their historical accuracy and in depth characterisation, I'm sure the Zion Diaries, releasing from Summerside Press, will be no different.

Any of you read their earlier series? Any of you keen to start?

The Gathering Storm by Bodie & Brock Thoene

As Nazi forces tighten the noose, Loralei must flee her beloved Germany.

But is anywhere safe from Adolf Hitler’s evil grasp? When her father, a German opposition leader, is imprisoned by the Nazis, Loralei is forced into hiding and then on a harrowing flight that will eventually lead her to London. In the midst of grief and deep losses of her own, Loralei finds meaning in helping the overwhelming flood of refugees, including thousands of children, who escaped Hitler’s reach and made their way to freedom, yet sacrificed everything in exchange for their lives.

While in London, Loralei meets a friend of her father’s from her pre-war life in Germany…and falls deeply, passionately in love. Yet he’s a man she can never marry - a mysterious figure who closely guards an age-old secret. As air-raid sirens now wail over blacked-out London and Luftwaffe fighters fill the British skies, Loralei looks for a new reason to live in hope, even amidst the debris of so much brokenness.

Releasing August, 2010

Here's what their new publisher has to say about the Thoenes:~

Bodie and Brock Thoene (pronounced Tay-nee) have written over 50 works of historical fiction. That these best sellers have sold more than 20 million copies and won eight ECPA Gold Medallion Awards affirms what millions of readers have already discovered—the Thoenes are not only master stylists but experts at capturing readers’ minds and hearts.

Coming in 2010 from Brock & Bodie Thoene and Harvest House

I am delighted to discover this new series from Bodie & Brock Thoene that will fill in the gap between their brilliant Zion Covenant and Zion Chronicles series, which they wrote from 1986 to 1991.

The Zion Memoirs will be published by Harvest House and the first book, Evensong, will release in April, 2010.

I'd love to hear from those who have read the first two series ~ which character are you wanting to find out about the most?

Enjoy:~

Evensong by Bodie & Brock Thoene

At last! Cushioned between the beloved Zion Covenant and Zion Chronicles is a brand-new series for first-time readers and the millions who loved the first two series by Bodie and Brock Thoene. In Evensong, the first book in The Zion Memoirs Series, the Thoenes again share the drama and passion of love and hope during World War II.

Lori Kalner, the daughter of a German evangelical pastor, barely escapes Nazi Germany and sails to England on the last refugee ship with the baby of another woman in her arms. But is she really safer there once Nazi bombers cross the Channel and begin to drop their deadly cargo on London? Will she and Jacob be reunited?

Filled with faith and courage, Lori’s personal stories during a time when England withstood one of its most serious tests will inspire and renew hope in the heart of every reader.