I'll Watch the Moon (edit title/settings)

• Rated 5 stars

“This is one great book. I so got into all the characters and it is a wonderful love story.........not necessarily a romance........Love to all those around. Polio is in the story.........Nazi Germany.....Poland.......all very interesting reading. I love Josef...and Nova and Dewey..........GREAT READ!”

• Rated 0 stars

“400pgs, I'll Watch the Moon is the story of Catherine Tierney, angry at a God whom she no longer believes exists, and her painful journey back to faith. It is also the story of her friendship with Josef Karski, who teaches her how to trust in God as he reveals his own story of surviving the horrors of Auschwitz. And finally, it is the story of Nova Tierney, Catherine's daughter, and the threads that bind their lives together. Ann Tatlock has skillfully and gracefully wove a tale readers won't soon forget.
From Publishers Weekly
When polio stalked Minnesota in 1948, fear was every mother's constant companion, as Tatlock (All the Way Home) shows in this well-written story for the evangelical Christian market. Young Nova Tierney and her older brother, Dewey, live a mostly idyllic life despite sharing living space with a motley assortment of tenants at the boarding house run by their Aunt Dortha and mother, Catherine. Dewey, nicknamed "Galileo" for his love of astronomy, dreams of some day walking on the moon, and he and Nova spend many happy hours looking at the night sky together in their backyard. When Dewey is hospitalized with polio, Nova promises to watch the moon for him (thus the title) until he is well. But will he recover? In her bitterness over a childhood secret, her late husband's infidelity and her son's desperate illness, his mother turns her back on God. "Sometimes, I wonder how we all go on living," she muses. Hope begins to return when she strikes up a friendship with boarder and Auschwitz survivor Josef Karski. Meanwhile, Nova exchanges letters with her brother and dreams of having a father again. She takes comfort in the stars: "as long as the moon was in its place and the stars were burning and the planets were moving through their spheres... everything was all right."

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• Rated 4 stars

“Young girl struggles to understand love, family, loss, devastation...Her brother acquires polio, and they are separated for over a year, but she watches the moon for him, a budding astronomer/astronaut. She is fortunate to be subjected to several wonderful caring people as she matures...”

• Rated 4 stars

“A worthwhile read written from the viewpoint of a young girl. The story, which begins in the late 1940's, reminded me of the awesome fear among people at that time of contracting the dreaded polio. The plot also reminded me of the terrible suffering of people in Eastern Europe during Hitler's time. ”

• Rated 4 stars

“A great book! The characters are interesting and you want to learn/find out more about their own stories,etc. There is a sad surprise towards the end, but what happens because of it/after it is heart warming and raw. I wasn't expecting the Holocaust story though, but it isn't too much of the whole story. ”

• Rated 4 stars

“A love story...a real love story...not a romance story...I fell in love with Josef...actually all the main characters were very likable. We all need a Josef in our life...He was an outstanding character, an authentic story.”

• Rated 4 stars

“Ann Tatlock's books are enjoyable and emotional. I recommend.”

• Rated 4 stars

“This book made me cry pretty good... and not because of anything particular that happened in the book, although there were some sad things. No, it was the silly Rabbi on the hill story that made me cry, thinking about my own life. Good book--well written.”

• Rated 5 stars

“Sad”

• Rated 4 stars

“4.5 Stars. This was a great, heart warming, tear jerking story about faith and hope when all seems lost. I would recommend to everyone- especially those in the mood for something uplifting.”