Amy Harmon's "From Sand and Ash" - ISBN 978-0-95263-638-5

Kathleen Reed: Such a deep rooted story of hope when there is nothing left. The story set in WW II that uses actual events and people as the backdrop, is hauntingly real and powerful. The fate of so many Jews in the face of such hatred and horror is captured perfectly. Yet, surrounding all of the terror of war there is, above all the miracles of God! The hope and love in this story is astounding.

United States on Nov 20, 2023

Maria del Pilar: Another riveting historical novel.
I began reading this novel before the recent attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists and current events there made my experience in reading this novel more compelling.
Eva and Angelo grew up together in Florence Italy . Eva was Jewish, Angelo was catholic. Eva always knew she loved Angelo but Angelo wanted to serve God and became a priest. But then begins the occupation of Italy by Hitler's army. When the Nazis begin rounding up of all the Italian Jewish people, Angelo wants to protect her and hide her until he can her out of Italy. But both of them are thrown into the effort to get their families, friends and neighbors out of Florence and away from the Nazi invaders.
Beautiful and intense story of this couples survival of the Nazi Germany occupation of Rome.

United States on Oct 25, 2023

Gloria Lenzen: This is my 5th book by Amy Harmon that I have read in the last few weeks. The first was A Girl Called Samson and I was hooked. As soon as I finish one book I immediately begin to read another. I read every moment I have free time, but then I read when I don’t have free time but I just can't put the book down. Harmon definitely knows how to put words together to create a best seller. Excuse me for now but I need to go get my next Amy Harmon book to read — immediately!

United States on Oct 04, 2023

Mrs R.: What a book, unbelievable,l envy your ability to write such a vivid account of what occurred, so glad I read it, thank you

United Kingdom on Sep 14, 2023

Amina: Absolutely enjoyed reading this book.

The history of the atrocities against jews, the beautiful romance and the brave characters.
Will be reading more of her historicals.

India on Oct 25, 2022

Bozena F.: I rarely reread books, but not because I don't want to,  but because my TBR list is km-long and I have not enough time 🤷🏻‍♀️
But I bought my favorite book in Polish and I couldn't resist reading this book again.
Yes, this is the third time I read this it 🤷🏻‍♀️

After the first time I read "From Sand and Ash" it took me days to get out of my emotional melancholy and start another book.
I loved this book so much, that I talked about it to everyone and everywhere 🤭
My friends were so desperate that they read it, just so I stop talking about it 😂
And you know what, they loved it almost as much as I did 😍
Amy Harmon has the amazing gift of drawing people into the story and the protagonists lives.
You feel like you know them and you are living, crying and laughing with them.
From Sand and Ash is a story that takes place in World War II and the events in the war are of course terrible and hard to take or even understand, for us now. But it's the story behind the story that's makes this book even more heartbreaking and so damn emotional.
A forbidden love story, between two people who have sacrificed everything for...

Germany on May 18, 2019

DonnaC: From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon
5 stars!!!!

“Why do people hate us so much?”

This book has been a double-edged sword for me this year, on one side it was one of my most anticipated reads for this year, on the other my most dreaded. I have tried to read historical many, many times and I have never been able to finish one, for some reason the genre itself just cannot hold my interest. Amy Harmon is an author that is a one click buy for me, she could write the phone book and I would read it, but historical? Could Amy Harmon make this reader love a historical book? Well the answer was a resounding yes. From the moment I picked up this book I was rapt, maybe it was because it wasn’t a “Downton Abbey” type read, this was a history lesson all the while wrapped within one of the most determined, heart wrenching and against all odds love stories I have ever read.

“there are some hurts and some memories that are better laid to rest, better left to the mellow patina of photographs and selective remembrance.”

I have seen the documentaries, I have seen the films, I have studied this subject in history lessons, but nothing could have prepared me for...

United States on Dec 05, 2016

Jessica Hull: From Sand and Ash is a harrowing story of love and faith shrouded in death and despair. Amy Harmon brings together the best and the worst of humanity on these pages, paving this journey with violence and bravery, horror and love. It's a ruthless barrage of emotions, this story, a relentless war between life and death, between good and evil, illustrated exquisitely by an author whose writing prowess knows no bounds. I was torn between eagerly unearthing the twists and turns that would surely come with each turn of the page, and dreading what was to come, dreading this book ending at all. The story of Eva Rosselli and Angelo Bianco is as enchanting as it is chilling. The love they share is forbidden, both by duty and by law. But their attraction, the absolute truth of their lifelong love is a beautiful, palpable thing that consumes the reader despite the horrific circumstances in which that love exists.

I've read many books of the true accounts of holocaust survivors, seen the movies and documentaries, taken classes concentrating on this area of study. But never before have I been made to fall in love with an individual, with a couple, with a family, before I took such a...

United States on Dec 02, 2016

Joanna: From Sand and Ash is shrouded in historical events that are deplorable. Evil at its worse without the need to exaggerate in any way. Set in Italy during the German occupation of 1943 and onwards, it shows the danger and evil faced by Jewish people at the hands of the Gestapo, the horror of war, dictatorship and the atrocities of the past juxtaposed with the awe-inspiring human capacity of survival; to hope, to love, to have faith, to overcome the worse kind of evil. The story is achingly beautiful, poignant and so very moving ensuring Eva Rosselli and Angelo Bianco, the engaging protagonists of this eloquently written and powerful historical romance, will be in my mind and heart for some time to come. As the story unfolds we experience their trials, the horrors, conflict of emotion and joy as the many elements of this story are weaved fluently into the vivid third person narrative. How they meet as children, grow up together as close as family developing a very special bond. I felt their connection but as the years pass another path naturally calls to Angelo which provides the most deeply emotive and beautiful aspect to the plot, it left me yearning and wondering how their lives...

United Kingdom on Dec 01, 2016

Cundykj: On the weekend when we remember those lost to war, the brave who fought for our freedom and the many lives taken away senselessly, I read this book. It became all the more poignant that I read this beautiful story as I watched poppies laid and heard the call of the bugles.

My eyes fill with tears thinking of the massacre of the Jewish people. Their stories must live on so we never see the ugly events of the holocaust ever again. Amy's tale of Eva and Angelo is simply stunning. Love weaves through the pages mixed with horror and revulsion and hope.

From Sand and Ash is one of those books that will stay with me forever. It needs to be read even though it will make you cry.

I have probably said this about every Amy Harmon book I've read and I meant it each time I said it. So here I am saying it again, this would make a most amazing film.

My favourite quotes:

"Do you know what I believe in, Angelo? I believe in my family. I believe in my father. I believe in Santino and Fabia. And I believe in you. The people I love most in the world. Love is the only thing I believe in."

"They can take our homes, our possessions. Our families. Our lives. They...

United Kingdom on Nov 14, 2016