In ECHOES OF US, Joy Jordan-Lake takes us to a small island on the coast of Georgia, where, unbeknownst to most Americans, more people died during WWII from German submarines than were killed at Pearl Harbor from the bombing. St. Simons Island is a charming little place just north of the Florida border. The story’s dual timeline, in the present day and during the war, highlights the similarities and differences of life on the island now and all those years ago.

Hadley Jacks and her sister, Kitzie, run a party planning business. They are hired by a German businessman, an extremely wealthy man whose family, along with two others, owns Boundless, a very successful international real estate development firm. The three founders met on St. Simons Island during the war. Dov Silverberg was a Jewish flight instructor from London. He was highly educated, kind and passionate about doing what he could during the war effort. William Shakespeare Dobbins was a country boy from Tennessee with a dual ability to quote Shakespeare and speak with such a country accent that he was often seen, at first glance, as a hillbilly. The unlikely third partner was Hans Hessler, a German prisoner of war who grew so disgusted with Hitler and the war that he became a deserter. As such, he was despised by the other POWs.

"It's a beautiful story, with some lovely twists, and it would be a perfect book club read because of the myriad themes that could be discussed."

The element that draws the three men together is partly Joannie DuBarry, a young woman who also lives on St. Simons Island. She and her twin brother, Sam, were born on the island and grew up there. Sam learned to fly and taught his sister. When he goes to war, Joannie is furious and worried. She meets Dov, Will and even Hans as the war years progress.

Jordan-Lake brings to life the fear and terror of local residents as German submarines ply the ocean off their little island. While we learn about the danger that the war in Europe brought there, we also find out more about Hadley and Kitzie, whose mother was a drug addict. They moved from foster home to foster home and ended up in California with a fairly successful business.

Hadley is the protective older sister. She's furious that, in spite of their understanding that they wouldn't take a job without them both agreeing, Kitzie has contracted to plan and execute a huge party for all the family members of the Boundless corporation. It's a grand undertaking, and there's a lot of research and creativity involved. Over the course of their investigation into the past, Hadley and Kitzie meet many of the long-time St. Simons residents and find out how the three men's lives overlapped on the island.

How Jordan-Lake unfolds the story and cleverly matches up the research the sisters are doing now with the action in the past allows the novel to flow without interruption. One chapter is about Joannie in 1943 and what is happening to her, while the next chapter in the present shows Hadley examining some artifact from that same year that provides more information about what happened to Joannie in the past. This deft manipulation of past and present, so that they almost seem to coexist, is brilliant. There is also some information that has been lost to time, which becomes important when there is a reveal late in the book.

The story is exquisitely conceived and shared. The dialogue and the tension between some of the characters (even the tension between the sisters) are carefully and believably executed. The historical facts and fiction meld together as we learn about Joannie's disappearance and a mysterious older woman who lives on the island. I was enthralled by the novel and the clever manner in which Jordan-Lake ends some chapters with a cliffhanger, then moves on to other characters in different timelines. This all works to virtually force the reader to intensely turn page after page.

ECHOES OF US is not a short novel, but in some ways it's a quick read because we like all the characters and want to see what the future holds for them. While we know that Boundless is in the midst of a power struggle, Jordan-Lake doesn't spend a lot of time on that. This works well because the book isn't about the company. It's about the three founders and their descendants. And the sisters. It's about the war and the racism that existed in those years and, to some extent, to this day. It's about the paternalistic attitude of men during the 1940s and how, even when female pilots were every bit as capable and brave as their male counterparts, they weren't allowed to help in the war effort --- in the United States, that is. In England, women pilots had a significant role during the war.

It’s about unrequited love and the sacrifice that situations sometimes entail. It's about the ties that bind us to family and the friendships that can move mountains. It's about romance and duty. And it shows us the power of feelings that transcend religion, race or nationality. It's a beautiful story, with some lovely twists, and it would be a perfect book club read because of the myriad themes that could be discussed.