I have read many, many historical fiction novels in my many, many years of reading. But Hold Strong, by authors Robert Dugoni, Jeff Langholz, and Chris Crabtree, is unlike any other. It’s the story of a young man, Sam, and a young woman, Sarah, who are very committed to each other and who live in a very small town in Minnesota. When the United States enters WWII, Sam joins the army. A large part of the story is the years of captivity for Sam in the Philippines under Japanese rule. At the same time, Sarah joins the WAVES and becomes a code breaker. This is her story too.
Both storylines are fascinating. But what Sam has to endure is mind-blowing. Some of it is so unbelievable that you might think the authors made it up. If you ever think that, then just go to the Afterword and the 90(!) pages of footnotes, and you will see that only the characters are fictional. My hat goes off to the three authors of Hold Strong. They researched the heck out of events from 80+ years ago. We readers definitely did not “enjoy” a lot of what we read. But we were never sorry we read it.
If you are into history like I am, then I know you will be glad you read Hold Strong. If you aren’t…you will still be very glad you read this amazing book.
