Publisher's Synopsis
Based on the true story of the first school to train guide dogs for the blind, USA Today bestselling author Alan Hlads latest novel is a fascinating, poignant, and life-affirming tale of heroism and resilience in World War I . . . By April 1916, the fervour that accompanied wars outbreak has faded. In its place is a grim reality. Throughout Germany, essentials are rationed. Hope, too, is in short supply. Anna Zeller, whose fiance, Bruno, is fighting on the western front, works as a nurse at an overcrowded hospital in Oldenburg, trying to comfort men broken in body and spirit. But during a visit from Dr. Stalling, the director of the Red Cross Ambulance Dogs Association, she witnesses a rare spark of optimism: as a German shepherd guides a battle-blinded soldier over a garden path, Dr. Stalling is inspired with an ideato train dogs as companions for sightless veterans. Anna convinces Dr. Stalling to let her work at his new guide dog training school. Some of the dogs that arrive are themselves veterans of war, including Nia, a German shepherd with trench-damaged paws. Anna brings the ailing Nia home and secretly tends and trains her, convinced she may yet be the perfect guide for the right soldier. In Max Benesch, a Jewish soldier blinded by chlorine gas at the front, Nia finds her person. War has taken Maxs sight, his fiancee, and his hopes of being a composer. Yet despite all hes given for his country, the tide of anti-Semitism at home is rising, and Max encounters it first-hand in one of the schools trainers, who is determined to make Max fail. Still, through Annas prompting, he rediscovers his passion for music. But as Anna discovers more about the conflicts escalating brutalityand Brunos role in itshe realizes how impossible it will be for any of them to escape the war unscathed...
