Hi, everyone!
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for SHATTERED PEACE: A Century of Silence by Julie McDonald Zander on this Black Coffee Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
A forgotten diary. A century-old secret. A town still haunted by its past.
When former Navy Seabee Colleen Holmes inherits an old house in Centralia, Washington, she sees it as a chance to escape her own ghosts and start anew. But as she peels back layers of history within the home’s walls, she unearths long-buried secrets tied to a dark chapter in the town’s history.
Hidden behind crumbling plaster, a faded diary and a bundle of love letters unveil the struggles of a soldier trapped in the trenches of France and the heartbreak of those left waiting at home. Yet the diary’s brittle pages hold more than just longing—they bear witness to the explosive events of November 11, 1919, when a parade meant to celebrate peace erupted into violence and bloodshed.
As Colleen pieces together the tragic choices that shattered lives and fractured a town, she realizes history is never truly buried. The wounds of yesterday still shape today, and the past is not done with her yet.
Inspired by true events, Shattered Peace is a gripping time-slip novel of love, loss, and the echoes of history that refuse to fade. Perfect for fans of The Alice Network and The Girl You Left Behind, this haunting tale of resilience, redemption, and the pursuit of truth will linger long after the final page.
Triggers: It contains references to date rape, war violence, post-traumatic stress disorder, and faith and redemption.
Universal link for the book on Amazon
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
SHATTERED PEACE: A Century of Silence by Julie McDonald Zander is an emotional dual timeline historical novel that is both compelling and action packed. The present-day timeline features an Iraq war veteran dealing with past trauma, a broken relationship, and PTSD from her service, while the historical timeline from 1918-19 follows two families as they deal with WWI, the Spanish flu pandemic, and a bloody clash between labor and returned WWI veterans called the Centralia Tragedy. This is a profound story by a new-to-me author that I could not stop reading.
Colleen Holmes is a former Navy Seabee who is gifted the family generational home in Centralia, Washington from her grandmother. She is grateful for the change of location and looks forward to the remodeling work to take her mind off her broken engagement and ghosts of her past. As she pulls down walls, she discovers a journal and letters hidden in the wall left there by her great grandmother that are exchanges with her fiancée fighting in France during WWI, and later her writing tells of his return and the terrible events between lumber workers, Wobblies, trying to unionize and the returned WWI veterans who believe they are communists which culminates with both sides hatred into the 1919 Centralia Tragedy on the anniversary of Armistice Day.
As Colleen is reading about the past, she discovers that the past is never truly buried, and it flows over into her present. Will discovering the facts in the past show her a way to her own redemption?
I was truly not expecting this historical fiction to move me as much as it did. The veterans of any war suffering PTSD have it manifest in their lives in so many ways and both Colleen and her distant relative, Michael, demonstrate this in their lives. This leads to so much trauma and hatred that this author dealt with from the beginning to the ultimate climax and resolution. The division and hatred between the Wobblies and the WWI veterans in this story mirror so many similar divisions in our history, even now, and it appears we just never seem to learn. There is also the trauma of Colleen losing her mother and brother in a car accident that she believes is her fault, and the date rape admissions in the story that demonstrate other forms of PTSD and the strength of forgiveness. This book is an emotional powerhouse.
I highly recommend this moving historical fiction.
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About the Author
Julie McDonald Zander, an award-winning journalist, earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and political science from the University of Washington before working two decades as a newspaper reporter and editor. Through her personal history company, Chapters of Life, she has published more than 75 individual, family, and community histories. Her debut novel, The Reluctant Pioneer, won a Will Rogers Medallion and was a finalist for the Western Writers of America’s Spur Award for Best Historical Novel. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest, where they raised their two children.
Social Media Links
Website: https://mczander2024.ag-sites.net/index.htm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563140294856
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliemcdonaldzander/?hl=en
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mczander.bsky.social
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/shattered-peace-a-century-of-silence-by-julie-mcdonald-zander
