WINNER: INDIE B.R.AG. Medallion
Here are comments from the detailed Indie B.R.A.G. evaluation of Islands of Deception: Lying with the Enemy.
“Adapting historically accurate material to the skills of the fiction writer brings history to life and enables exploration of the motives and consequences of documented events. For this reader, this is the very best use of historical fiction. It often achieves a truth that academic histories cannot reach. Islands of Deception is a model of this type of historical fiction. And what a family story Constance Hood has to tell! We follow her father, Hans, from a life of family wealth and prestige to near penniless immigrant. Intent upon assimilating in New York, he eventually becomes a spy for the U.S. Army.
Despite disappointments at every seeming opportunity, Hans, with his inherited ingenuity, makes a modest success. In each new situation he seems to stumble upon the very action that will bring the next challenge and the next small success until they add up to exceptional honor in service of his adopted country, but an honor that he has sworn not to reveal for fifty years.”