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I don’t know if I’ll continue to teach my high school literature class at the co-op next semester, but if I do, I want to get a head start on the reading for next semester. Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Deibler Rose, which comes from Sonlight’s Lit 430, was honestly much better than I expected it to be. (Is that bad to say?!)
A Happy Start
Evidence Not Seen: A Woman’s Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II tells Darlene Deibler Rose’s story. Darlene found God at age 9 and decided shortly there after that she wanted to be a missionary. She met and fell in love with Rev. Russell Deibler when she was just 19.
Less than two years after that, in 1938, they were on their way to the Dutch owned New Guinea. Darelene’s time here passes happily both as a newlywed and a missionary. But all that changed in September, 1939 when England and France declared war on Germany.
WWII Changes Her Life
The Japanese brought Darlene, her husband, and many other missionaries to one central area in New Guinea. While they lived in that area, unbothered for some time, the Japanese took all of the healthy men, including Russell, away. That was the last time Darlene saw Russell.
Eventually, the Japanese rounded up the women and children and took them to a POW camp where they endured brutal conditions. When a new Japanese soldier arrives to run the camp, Mr. Yamajii, the women are understandably terrified because he was rumored to have beaten a man to death at the male POW camp.
What I Liked about Evidence Not Seen
While I have read a lot about World War II, especially about the Holocaust, I never knew about this part of World War II. I found the historical war portion of the story fascinating.
I also marveled at how God worked continually in Darlene’s life, even in the darkest of times. Her story is truly inspiring and reminded me a bit of Corrie Ten Boom’s unwavering faith and trust in God as written in her book, The Hiding Place.
This book also reminded me of my all-time favorite book, Unbroken, especially as it pertains to a brutal Japanese prison guard, though the guard in Darlene’s story did grow and change unlike The Bird in Unbroken.
I give this book 5 out of 5 stars on the Mom’s Plans’ scale.
For more book reviews from Sonlight 430, check out the following:
Fidelity: Five Stories by Wendell Berry
Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Patterson
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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