A Fire Sparkling: a family secret buried in the story of World War II

 A Fire Sparkling by Julianne MacLean is a story of love, loss, and courage in war time. After a crushing betrayal by her boyfriend, Gillian Gibbons flees to her family home in Connecticut. While she is there, her father, Edward, finds old photographs of his mother, Vivian, in the arms of a Nazi officer. Confused and possibly wounded that his mother could have been in love with a Nazi, he and Gillian confront Vivian with the pictures. The story that Vivian reveals will send Gillian and her father into a journey to the past. In 1939 England, the country is on the verge of war when Vivian Hughes meets and falls in love with Theodore Gibbons, the son of an earl and deputy minister at the new Ministry of Supply. The bombs fall and the London Blitz destroys everything she holds dear, Vivian decides to do whatever she can to protect those she loves. As Gillian learns more of her grandmother’s story, the answers only bring more questions. She decides to go to Europe to find out more information. Will the mysteries of her grandmother’s past help answer her own questions about her own future? 

A Fire Sparkling is my first book by Julianne MacLean and came highly recommended by other readers. I was intrigued by the mystery of the photos and the links to Vivian. Unfortunately, the twists and turns in the mystery were predictable and easily deciphered very early on, even the ending was predictable. The characters were hard to like especially Gillian as she deals with “the betrayal.” Her indecision whether to forgive her boyfriend was annoying and her “final straw” felt straight from a soap opera. It felt more like a romance than a historical fiction. Overall, I did enjoy the story as it was an easy read but when compared to other World War II stories that feature the London Blitz and the spy activity in France, I feel it missed the mark. It lacked the depth and intrigue that I would expect from a World War II story. A Fire Sparkling has been compared to Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, which is why I picked it up. However, in my opinion, the books don’t even compare. I would recommend A Fire Sparkling as a quick, weekend read but not as an in depth story of World War II. 

 

A Fire Sparkling is available in hardcover, paperback, eBook and audiobook.