Rhonda Dragomir brings us the second installment of the A Day to Remember series with “When the Flames Ravaged,” a telling of the horrific 1944 circus fire in Hartford, Conn.
Having lost her husband in World War II’s Bataan Death March, Evelyn Benson works as a waitress while living with her brother Bill, his wife Helen and their children Lily and Jamie. They can’t wait to attend the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus that has pulled into town, looking forward to a day of fun and entertainment.
Hank Webb works as a circus clown known as Fraidy Freddie, but he has a secret he’s keeping and a past he’s running from.
But Evelyn’s and Hank’s worlds quickly collide when, on July 6, 1944, a horrific fire occurs at the circus — a performance Evelyn missed due to work but her family attended. Their lives become forever intermingled as they work to search for her loved ones, all while finding love, forgiveness and redemption on their journey.
Dragomir does an incredible job of fictionalizing a real and horrific occurrence, basing characters and events on reality, to create a lovely yet emotional story. She develops incredible characters, all while filling the book with a number of great themes, like how to deal with times we feel God has abandoned us (“Was God with her? Faith chimed, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. But doubt quoted Jesus in His darkest hour. My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?”); blame; sacrifice; no one is responsible for another’s actions; and God’s power and goodness.
Fans of historical fiction and inspirational stories will love “When the Flames Ravaged.”
Five stars out of five.
Barbour Fiction provided this complimentary copy through NetGalley for my honest, unbiased review.
“When the Flames Ravaged” (A Day to Remember series, #2) by Rhonda Dragomir