The Slow March of Light by Heather B. Moore

Bob Inama is just about to finish his last semester at BYU before heading to George Washington University to get his law degree when he receives a draft notice in the mail.  Within a few months he is stationed in Germany with a long-range artilary unit.  There in Germany, he meets Luisa Voigt at a church meeting and they become quick friends.  Fate takes a hand again, and they both find themselves in West Berlin, he on a secret spy mission, and she trying hard to help her countrymen, even those in East Berlin, find a better life.  Then, in one August night in 1961, the Berlin Wall goes up, and with it the level of danger for both brave patriots.

This book is based on a true story of man raised in Idaho.  Ms Moore was asked by her publisher to write a fictionalized version of his story, and in preparation she interviewed him for hours over several weeks.  She says, in an author's note, that the parts of the story about Inama are mostly straight from those interviews. The story of Luisa is fictional, but based on similar experiences of the people in Berlin. I am glad Moore included the note, because otherwise I would have thought, "noone in the real world is that good hearted." The way Inama endures the trials he faces is by staying grateful and seeing the good side of every situation, no matter how bleak.  Ms Moore also does a good job portraying the differences between East and West Berlin, and how the Berlin Wall divided families. I was astounded by the story, and deeply moved.  It is now my favorite historical fiction I have read in a log time (and I got a signed copy when Ms Moore spoke at my library in March, yay!). (2021, 368 p)