"Island of Saints" by Andy Andrews

Island of Saints is another amazing book by Andy Andrews, and although I am not a professional writer or book reviewer I must tell you this is a great book. I bought it at a thrift shop in Merrill, WI for around  $1.50 (hardcover). I was sort of excited because I really appreciate his work as an author. I told Mary to drive home and I would read out loud; sort of like an audio book up close and personal...sort of.

I had no idea that the Nazi military had subs in the gulf of Mexico during the WWII.  I was hooked almost immediately on the very idea that the country was in an even greater danger than I had ever learned in history; (just for the record I am not a big history buff). So the idea that we had overcome a danger so close to home was intriguing to me. Andy tells the story of digging up the roots of an old tree and finding a can buried in the ground, the buttons, photo, ring; and who was the child and the woman (?) in the photograph? Yet because I am not a history buff I put the book down and allowed it to sit idle for a few months before I picked it up again.

Andy tells the story of a German submariner and the politics and loyalty to duty and the Nazi regime aboard a Kriergsmarine U-boat; and his near death experience at the hands of another German and the beating by a hard hearted military widow after he washed up on shore. I am certain that great deal of research went into the telling of this story, but it was personal to Andy. The can and it's contents were found under his own tree on a small island situated along the Florida and Alabama coastline of the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

I would try to retell parts of the story to whet your curiosity but it is told so masterfully that any attempts to do so might ruin the story for you.

The sub-title of the book speaks of the "One Principle That Frees the Human Spirit"; that description is what sold the book for me. I want my heart to be free of clutter and baggage that keeps me from freely giving what I can to others. If I am bound by the baggage of a broken down life how can I give to others, and tell them about the true freedom that is in Jesus Christ. My heart longs to be free, your heart wants to be free and this book truly addresses one of the monumental areas that we find ourselves bound in; the power to forgive. Forgiveness is not about the other person forgiveness is personal it's about you and taking back your life.

I must tell you that you need to read the last "part" of the book. The book is divided into three parts and part three is the clincher. Enjoy; it is a must read.