Safe Passage

This reissue of Ida Cook's "We Followed Our Stars," retitled "Safe Passge", reminds us that heroes and heroines can exist in the unlikeliest of persons, and that hope is never a lost cause. This autobiographical tale follows sisters Ida and Louise cook, two eccentric opera enthusiasts whose passion leads them to rescue 29 Jewish refugees before the start of the Second World War.

At its heart, the book is uplifting and quixotically charming, just like the Cook sisters themselves. One can't help but appreciate the lengths to which Ida and Louise go just to hear the singers they so adore. (Opera fans will love the stories Ida tells about their friendships with the idols of the time.) Ultimately, their determination and inability to take no for an answer is what allows them to accomplish the amazing things they did.  As a former Harlequin romance author, Ida Cook (aka Mary Burchell) paints a dark time in the twentieth century in much brighter colors than others would be tempted to; but this is what makes her account of living in a bomb shelter, or seeing her injured friends lying broken in the hospital, or dealing with desperate refugees unique. Her unwavering hope ultimately drives us to a happy ending. Coming November 2008 from Harlequin Books. --review by Vicki So, proofreader