Review – Embers of Courage

In this unusual suspense novel the Munsons explore persecution of Christians on three different levels, in three different locales, and in two different time periods. One contemporary narrative thread deals with contemporary persecution of Christians in Egypt by radical Muslims, another with discrimination against Christians in American public schools. The historical thread treats persecution of Christians by other Christians in the fifteenth century.

Eva Montanna, an agent for Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), becomes involved with the CIA over an Egyptian Coptic Christian who testified in secret to Congress but was photographed and outed by an aggressive reporter. Refused asylum in the US, the Copt returns to Egypt, where he is certain to be recognized and probably killed. Receiving word of the Copt’s probable capture, Eva and her CIA contact launch a small expedition into the radical Muslim part of Egypt to rescue him.

Meanwhile, Eva’s daughter Kaley is having problems with a school teacher who singles her out for ridicule because she is an outspoken Christian.

The historical thread deals with Eva’s ancestors in the fifteenth-century Netherlands as Eva reads through their journals that she has inherited. They are Lollards (followers of John Wycliffe), persecuted and sometimes even burned at the stake. But some of them also become involved with Johann Gutenberg and his first printed Bible.

This is a well-researched, always interesting book whose authors weave its disparate threads into a unified tapestry, with all threads skillfully drawn together in the concluding chapters.