Copper Fire by Suzanne Woods Fisher--Book Review

Entertaining, powerful, and filled with suspense, Copper Fire by Suzanne Woods Fisher is an outstanding read!

In the second book of the Copper Star series, heroine Louisa Gordon receives a telegram from the International Red Cross Training Service that her young cousin, Elizabeth has been released from a German concentration camp. As her only living relative, Louisa is determined to go to Germany--or whatever is left of it after WWII--to bring Elizabeth home to the States. Equally determined to discover the whereabouts of Friedrich Mueller, a Nazi sympathizer who fled Copper Springs, Arizona, Louisa doesn't find much help from her family or from the people she travels to Germany with. And little does she know, that her need to find Mueller will bring her face to face with a man from her past. A man she once loved, but now hated.

This book opens with Louisa telling the story of how the Gordon family's lives suddenly changed in July 1945. Written entirely from Louisa's point of view, the reader is instantly connected with all she experiences. You feel every emotion Louisa feels. Fisher paints such striking descriptions of war torn Germany, the camps, and Louisa's home life, that you swear you are right there with her in the Gordon's home, onboard the ship heading to Germany, and visting the concentration camp.

From first page to last, this story drew me in. Copper Fire explores the ridicule and prejudice Jews experienced during and after WWII, even in the States, and because this story is told from Louisa's point of view as a German Jew, you get to fully understand what impact this type of treatment had on Jewish people.

I fell in love with the Gordon family and their friends; not only because they were well-developed and complex, flawed people, but also because Fisher puts them in a position where they are forced to deal with so much change and so much adversity that you find yourself wanting them to succeed and be happy. Fisher provided just enough backstory that I could grasp how Louisa and the Gordons were brought together in Book 1, but not so much that anyone who read the first in this series would be skipping pages to get to the present day happenings. And the ending, is perfectly done. I had to read the last two chapters twice because I never wanted it to end.

I highly recommend Copper Fire to lovers of strong heroines, readers interested in historical fiction surrounding WWII, and anyone who enjoys a quick yet poignant novel.


Title: Cooper Fire
Author: Suzanne Woods Fisher
Publisher: Vintage Inspirations
ISBN: 978-0-9815592-0-9
U.S. Price: $14.99