Review: Someday I’ll Find You by C.C. Humphreys
Someday I’ll Find You by C.C. Humphreys is partially based on the author’s parents’ experiences in WWII: Billy Coke, an RCAF pilot, meets Ilse Magnusson, a Norwegian SOE agent, in London during an air raid in 1940. Both musicians, Billy and Ilse form an instant bond and enjoy a whirlwind romance of three days in the countryside before they are to go their separate ways in the theatres of war. Ilse is to go to Norway to act as a spy for the British and Billy is to fly a fighter in the Italian and North Africa campaigns. In their three days together, Billy and Ilse try to simply enjoy the present without the weight of the past or the future–as many did during that time not knowing if they would live or die the next day. Although they try to keep things romantic and fun, Ilse knows there are secrets from her training that she cannot reveal. Billy has his own traumas from experiencing the carnage at Guernica as a pilot in the Spanish Civil War–a trauma he has not revealed to anyone until he confesses his darkest memories to Ilse.
Years later, Ilse has planted and nurtured the seeds of resistance and espionage in Oslo, while Billy has experienced new traumas Italy. Billy and Ilse reconnect briefly in London, but the scars of war, seen and unseen, mar their reunion and any future they could deign to plan. They must part ways again with no promise for the future. When Ilse returns to Oslo, she is drawn deeper into the network of resistance via her relationship with a German intelligence officer involved in the planning of Operation Valkyrie. Billy is reassigned to another flying unit, but against all odds finds his way to Oslo.
Don’t be fooled by the uber romantic cover and title–this story is not superficial fluff. While there is romance, this book does not shy away from the brutality and violence of war, nor does it sugarcoat the complex emotions associated with espionage and the high price of such assignments. C.C. Humphreys drew me in quick with this story, and I really cared about what happened to these characters. Someday I’ll Find You is not your run of the mill fluff WWII romance, but an examination of the much deeper, darker costs of war.
