From Sand and Ash (Harmon)

From Sand and Ash 
Amy Harmon, 2017
Amazon Publishing
372pp.
ISBN-13: 9781503939325


Summary
Italy, 1943—Germany occupies much of the country, placing the Jewish population in grave danger during World War II.

As children, Eva Rosselli and Angelo Bianco were raised like family but divided by circumstance and religion. As the years go by, the two find themselves falling in love.

But the church calls to Angelo and, despite his deep feelings for Eva, he chooses the priesthood.

Now, more than a decade later, Angelo is a Catholic priest and Eva is a woman with nowhere to turn. With the Gestapo closing in, Angelo hides Eva within the walls of a convent, where Eva discovers she is just one of many Jews being sheltered by the Catholic Church.

But Eva can’t quietly hide, waiting for deliverance, while Angelo risks everything to keep her safe. With the world at war and so many in need, Angelo and Eva face trial after trial, choice after agonizing choice, until fate and fortune finally collide, leaving them with the most difficult decision of all. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
Amy Harmon is an American author of more than 10 best selling novels. She has also been a motivational speaker, a singer (with the Emmy Award winning Saints Unified Voices Choir directed by Gladys Knight), a teacher, and a mother of four.

Harmon grew up in a small town in the state of Nevada, the daughter of two school teachers. She and her siblings had no television (but plenty of wheat fields) so they entertained one another. Amy also turned to her own imagination — reading books (Jane Eyre at 12!) and writing songs and stories.

As an adult, Harmon spent 10 years in Las Vegas, singing, teaching, and raising her family. She taught in a small private school, both elementary and middle school grades. Later she home-schooled her children. Eventually, Harmon moved from writing songs and poetry to writing novels. She ended up self-publishing her first two books in 2012: Running Barefoot (in April) and Slow Dance in Purgatory (in August). Both became bestsellers, as have most of her books. They have been sold in 12 countries around the globe. (From various online sources. Retrieved 5/26/2017.)

Book Reviews
See additional reviews from Amazon customers and on Goodreads.

I just finished and I can't stop crying. From Sand and Ash was phenomenal. The writing was brilliant, the love story was epic, and the depiction of events, gut-wrenching. I had to stop throughout to catch my breath.
Schmexy Girl Book Blog

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, please use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for Sand and Ash … then take off on your own:

1. Describe the personalities of Eva and Angelo. We see them first as children: what brings them together and forges their years-long bond?

2. How do the new laws change Eva's life and change her relationship with Angelo?

3. Eva's Uncle Felix tells Eva:

They can take our homes, our possessions. Our families. Our lives.… They can humiliate us and dehumanize us. But they cannot take our thoughts. They cannot take our talents. They cannot take our knowledge, or our memories, or our minds.

Those are inspiring words, but do spiritual and intellectual freedom truly compensate for loss of physical freedom? What do you think? If you had to make a choice…?

4. Death and mourning are major themes in the book: what is the significance of the number seven?

5. Talk about Camillo's decision to go to Austria. What is his reasoning?

6. When Angelo returns to Florence, intending to take Eva back to Rome, why does she greet him the way she does?

7. When Nonna Fabia tells Eva that God sees both her and Angelo, Eva thinks to herself, "Either God sees everyone or he sees no one." Talk about that statement—what does Eve mean and why. How do you view her thinking?

8. When the raids begin in Rome, discuss the bravery shown by many of the individuals.

9. How are Angelo's beliefs in God changing, and how does that alter his position as a priesthood, on the inside or outside?

10. What is the significance of dragons in the novel? In Chapter 18, Angelo is warned that he will slay dragons, but not before they slay him. Dragons come up again in the next chapter when Angelo rejoins Eva at the hotel.

11. It takes Greta three days to tell her husband. What would you do in her shoes?

12. In chapter 21, why does no one try to escape? What role does hope play in that decision: do you think hope is powerful enough to make someone cooperate to the very end?

13. In the epilogue, Eva says that she is still a Jew and Angelo still a priest. What does she mean?

14. (Follow-up to Question 13) "There are two things I know for sure. I love you, and no one knows the nature of God." What are your thoughts about Eva's statement?

(Questions adapted from the author's reading guide. See the full guide on the author's website.)

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