Saving the Rifleman

Rowe (North of Heartbreak) takes readers behind enemy lines during WWI for danger and romance. Determined to help her country despite her low social status, Belgian nurse Maria Hunt faces danger daily while working in a hospital surrounded by German soldiers. Then she discovers a wounded British rifleman hiding in a hospital closet. Lt. John Bennet has information key to Britain’s defense, and he needs help getting past the Germans. John and Maria set off for the border, but outwitting the enemy may not prove half as challenging as denying their growing feelings for one another. Certain that her lack of social status will doom their budding romance, Maria doesn’t expect John’s interest in her to last beyond their reaching safety. He will have to convince her, as well as his upper-class family, that his love is for real. Rowe effectively recreates the wartime setting and its rigid social mores in a stirring story. (Oct.)