When Twilight Breaks by Sarah Sundin

When Twilight Breaks

Publication Date: February 2021

Two Americans meet in 1938 in the heart of Nazi Germany. Their efforts to expose oppression attract unwanted attention, pulling them deeper into danger as the world marches toward war.

Munich, 1938. Evelyn Brand is an American foreign correspondent as determined to prove her worth in a male-dominated profession as she is to expose the growing tyranny in Nazi Germany. To do so, she must walk a thin line. If she offends the government, she could be expelled from the country—or worse. If she fails to truthfully report on major stories, she’ll never be able to give a voice to the oppressed—and wake up the folks back home.

In another part of the city, American graduate student Peter Lang is working on his PhD in German. Disillusioned with the chaos in the world due to the Great Depression, he is impressed with the prosperity and order of German society. But when the brutality of the regime hits close, he discovers a far better way to use his contacts within the Nazi party—to feed information to the shrewd reporter he can’t get off his mind.

This electric standalone novel puts you right at the intersection of pulse-pounding suspense and heart-stopping romance.

Praise

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*Starred review!* “Sundin’s novels…set the gold standard for historical war romance, and When Twilight Breaks is arguably her most brilliant and important work to date. In this frighteningly immersive dive into social and political daily life in Hitler’s 1938 Germany, readers witness, through a young journalist’s eyes, the incremental groundwork of extremism leading to genocide. Sundin masterfully combines action and attraction to generate multilayered thrills while exploring such themes as individual freedom versus the common good, gender and racial discrimination, and the polarization of viewpoints, which all have deep relevance today.”

*Starred review!* “Sundin is a must-buy for any Christian fiction collection, and her latest World War II tale positively crackles with tension. The characters struggle with changing sympathies while wrestling with the balance between freedom and order. Attentive readers may see parallels between the circumstances depicted in the book and the world today.”

“In this gripping inspirational, Sundin (Sunrise at Normandy) takes an affecting look at the rise of the Nazi Party and Jewish persecution in Germany through the eyes of an American journalist. Sundin combines suspense and romance to great effect, leaving readers guessing the fate of Evelyn and Peter to the final pages. Inspirational fans who like high-octane action will enjoy this thrilling story.”

History Behind the Story

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The Frauenkirche in Munich, Germany (Photo courtesy of Stephen Sundin, July 2007)
The Frauenkirche in Munich, Germany (Photo courtesy of Stephen Sundin, July 2007)
Do you have photos of the locations in When Twilight Breaks?

Due to COVID-19, my research trip to Munich was canceled, so I conducted a virtual photo tour on my blog, with photos from my family’s 2007 trip, photos donated by friends, and stock photos.

Tour of Munich, Part 1

Tour of Munich, Part 2

Tour of Munich, Part 3

Tour of Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Also, if you’d like to see photos of Munich in the 1930s as well as photos of many of the events in the story, fashions, and character inspiration, please visit my Pinterest board for When Twilight Breaks.

My grandfather, John F. Ebelke, the textbook he co-wrote, and the record of his voyage from Hamburg to New York in 1936.
How did your grandfather’s story inspire When Twilight Breaks, and what did you learn about him while researching the story?

Since my grandfather died before I was born, in a way, researching this novel helped me get to know him! I wrote more about this in MTL Magazine.

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