Saffire by Sigmund Brouwer

"I reminded myself that once you start to defend someone, it's difficult to find a place to stop. But I went ahead and took that first step anyway. For President Teddy Roosevelt, controlling the east-west passage between two oceans mattered so much that he orchestrated a revolution to control it. His command was to 'let the dirt fly' and for years, the American Zone of the Panama Canal mesmerized the world, working in uneasy co-existence with the Panamanian aristocrats. It's in this buffered Zone where, in 1909, James Holt takes that first step to protect a mulatto girl named Saffire, expecting a short and simple search for her mother. Instead it draws him away from safety, into a land haunted by a history of pirates, gold runners, and plantation owners, all leaving behind ghosts of their interwoven desires sins and ambitions, ghosts that create the web of deceit and intrigue of a new generation of revolutionary politics. It will also bring him together with a woman who will change his course or bring an end to it. A love story set within a historical mystery, Saffire is brings to vibrant life the most impressive and embattled engineering achievement of the twentieth-century"

My review:

  I have not read a book by Sigmund Brouwer in years, so when this became available, I decided it was time to read another of his.

 The book is an easy read. It is a historical mystery set in the early 1900's, and is centered around the building of the Panama Canal. This is not a part of history that I am familiar with, or at least one that I remember much about, so I did learn a lot by reading it.

 I am not a big fan of first person point of view novels, and feel this one would have been a better read if it were third person point of view, but I still enjoyed the read. Brouwer created some very likable characters, especially in his hero of  the story, James Holt. The plot and setting were well thought out and created, and he picked a great time period to set his book in. I don't read a lot of historical novels, mostly because they tend to be by women and basically romance novels, but I did enjoy this one and hope there is a sequel some time.

This book was given to me in exchange for my honest review.

About the author:

Sigmund is married to songwriter recording artist Cindy Morgan. The couple and their two young daughters divide their time between Red Deer, Alberta and Nashville, Tennessee. He loves going to schools to get kids excited about reading, reaching roughly 80,000 students a year through his Rock&Roll Literacy Show.

Check out his Facebook page.


Saffire is available from Waterbrook/Multnomah Publishing.

Thanks to W/M for the review copy.