In Far Side of the Sea by Kate Breslin, Lieutenant Colin Mabry had been on the front in WWI. After recovering from a serious accident and the loss of his hand, he’s assigned to MI8, decoding messages sent by carrier pigeon. He’s troubled by the sounds of battle he hears across the channel as well as any loud, sudden noises.

One day he finds a carrier message to himself from a woman he thought dead, Jewel Reyer. She had taken him in, at great risk and cost to herself, when he was injured in France. He had promised to return for her. But then he had his accident and recovery, and afterward heard her entire village had been attacked with no survivors.

He obtains permission to travel to France. He is stunned to find that the message was sent not by Jewel, but by her half-sister Johanna, who works with doves for the French Army Intelligence. Johanna found Jewel’s diary, where she mentioned Colin. Johanna has reason to think her sister is alive and in the custody of a German agent who had been in charge of her village. Johanna wants Colin to help her find Jewel.

Colin is angry at the deception and wary of Johanna. But if there is a chance Jewel is alive and needs his help, he must look for her. He owes her that. Plus, the two were just beginning to develop feelings for each other, and he must know if she still feels the same way.

So he sets aside his anger at Johanna, and they travel to Jewel’s last known location with more questions than answers.

But they find themselves in danger, not knowing whom to trust.

This is the first book I’ve ever read by Kate Breslin, and it definitely reeled me in after the first few chapters. Johanna has several secrets she has not shared with Colin, and bits of her story and background are revealed through the book, as well as her reasons for not sharing all. It takes a while to decide whether she is trustworthy and someone we should be pulling for.

Then they meet an array of iffy characters and situations and face multiple twists and turns.

The story also deals with Colin and Johanna’s inner issues as well. Colin not only suffers from what we now know as PTSD, but he’s lost confidence in himself. Johanna had a checkered upbringing and struggled to find a place to belong or believe that there was a God who was interested in her.

I didn’t know at first that this book was a sequel to another, Not By Sight. Far Side of the Sea read well on its own, but I might like to go back and read the first book some time if I catch it on sale.

I enjoyed the author’s notes at the end, where she tells more about carrier pigeons used in war and what details and people were real or made up.

I’d had the Kindle version of this book for a while, but recently saw the audiobook was among Audible’s free titles. It was nice to switch back and forth between reading or listening, depending on my circumstances.

As I said, this was the first of Kare Breslin’s books I’ve read, but it won’t be the last.