An Intelligent Spy Thriller from WWII

Author A. R. Homer creates a captivating story of the D-day invasion and all that leads up to it by mixing actual historic facts with both real and fictional characters. His novel, "The Sobs of Autumn’s Violins - A Novel of War and Love," is a wonderfully creative and devious mixture of history and imagination.

Although this is only Homer’s second novel, he is already being viewed as one of the more credible and exciting up-and-coming mystery, thriller writers of his generation. This book is not just a story of WWII spies and espionage; it is laced with great interplay between characters and is partially a love story as well.

Actual facts are woven into and throughout the storyline which adds a touch of realism and believability to the plot. This book is a must read for all avid readers of thriller or WWII books. This book is destined for greatness and gets the MWSA Highest Book Rating - FIVE STARS!

— Bill McDonald—President, Military Writers Society of America
http://www.militarywriters.com

A Star Among Stars

In A.R. Homer’s second novel, “The Sobs of Autumn’s Violins,” he wields superb story telling talent that places him alongside Ken Follett, another author who brings human sensitivity to World War II intrigue. This novel set in England and Normandy during the two weeks that precede the Allies invasion of Normandy in May 1944, tells both a touching and thrilling tale that spins yet another version about the ‘decoy’ used to confuse Hitler on the exact location of the expected invasion: Operation First Violin. Along with wartime intrigue and betrayal, Homer pulls out all the stops in his orchestration of secret lies that force ordinary people, including a wee French orphan called Celeste, to become extraordinarily brave as he depicts love in its greatest glory surviving in the midst of cruel evil. Homer even achieves arousing the reader’s fleeting sympathy for the sleeper German spy set to turn the tables on the brash Americans and snobbish British. Weaving true bits of history through a maze of subversive riddles as he peels open layers of character and story establishes Homer as a master plotter—a star among stars. “The Sobs of Autumn’s Violins” is a book you’ll waive sleep to finish and then recall its vivid images for days afterwards. A remarkable feat, utterly fascinating, and totally credible.

—Bonnie Toews, author of Treason and Triumph
http://www.bonnietoews.com

Midwest Book Review, May, 2006

In the spring of 1944, the BBC broadcast lines from a Verlaine poem which began “The long sobs of autumn’s violins...;" it was the rallying cry to the French Resistance, alerting them to the imminence of the Allied invasion of France. The date of the invasion, which we know as D-day, was a secret, of course, but, as Homer points out in his gripping novel, “The Sobs of Autumn’s Violins,” it could have been narrowed down to a handful of possible dates depending on the tides, the moon, and the weather. It was where the landings would take place that is arguably the biggest secret of history: if the landing places were to be learned by the enemy, it would mean that the planned amphibious invasion, unlike any seen before or since, would result in thousands of Allied soldiers wading ashore into the barrage of Hitler’s massed forces.

With over a million GIs waiting in England for the great day, how could such a secret be safeguarded, and how might it have been breached? In "The Sobs of Autumn’s Violins” we learn the answer to these questions through the eyes, ears, and actions of characters who, wittingly or not, become caught up in the great saga of protecting the secret. While the characters are fictitious, the larger history in which they find themselves is grounded in historical fact or historical “what if” based on fact; in an Author’s Afterword, Homer satisfies our urge to learn more and distinguishes between the two.

The novel opens with an anonymous diary entry: someone in England is out to steal the secret for the Fuhrer. While readers might assume that every German spy in England worth his salt would be trying to do this, we learn that, early in the war, all German spies in England had been captured and either "turned” or permanently put out of business. Consequently, the anonymous letter-writer, whose diary entries punctuate the story and arouse our suspicions in several main characters, is a historical “what if”: what if a long-term sleeper spy had escaped England's spy dragnet? Could the invasion have failed, the war have been lost?

The central story involves Tom Ford, an American intelligence officer whose assumption that he will be in England comfortably sitting out the invasion gets pushed aside when he is recruited for a dangerous mission. German enemy boats have wandered into the middle of an American rehearsal for the landings off the coast of England, an incident modeled after a disaster that actually occurred but was hushed up for thirty years (Operation Tiger). Tom witnesses the bodies stacked up on the beach in the aftermath and sadly reflects: “none   would ever again hear the thwack of ball hitting bat, would ever enjoy a beer with the guys in the bar, or would ever feel his girl’s soft hand.” But as tragic as the loss of life is, a more serious threat looms: an American officer who knows the details of the Allied invasion plan was captured in the raid and taken to France.   Tom, it turns out, is the only man who can get him out, and what happens when Tom is dropped into France will astound you.

Meanwhile, Jeanne Busson, an English agent courier, is also sent into France, but on a puzzling mission she is loath to carry out: she has been ordered to assassinate a noted French Resistance leader, Philippe Josse. We watch as Josse swings between supporting the Allied cause and dealing with Richter, an odious but intelligent and highly motivated Gestapo chief. Josse, a devout man with aspirations to holy orders, despises Nazism but says he feels that it alone can stop the rise of the godless communists.

Embedded in the suspense and drama is a touching love story between the American Tom, who is married to a woman in his home town, and a mysterious Englishwoman. Tom sorely regrets his hasty marriage just before leaving for England: “All across America, young men of draft age and their sweethearts had rushed into churches, synagogues, and Justice of the Peace offices. Paradoxically, the same reasons were used to justify marriage as to argue against it: the uncertainty of the world in general and their lives in particular.”

With so many American GIs stationed in England, there was an inevitable clash of cultures, and Homer beautifully captures this as well as life in 1940s wartime England. In a rigidly class-divided world, the aristocratic Sally Fortescue dons a naval uniform to work with her social inferiors. But she falls in love with a working-class naval officer, Danny, who harbors a profound bitterness toward his country for having evicted his and many other families from their farmlands, which have been handed over to the Americans to practice assault landings.  

Eisenhower, Patton, and Hitler make appearances in this thrilling and poignant novel. But as with all great undertakings, success ultimately depends on those in the field, like Tom, Sally, and Danny. And then there’s Celeste, a French orphan brutalized by war but still innocent, who determines the fate of all. Had there not been a war, none of these characters would have met and all would have led vastly different lives. But the war throws them together, and even as they try to sort out their personal lives in a world turned upside-down, they are suddenly all caught up in a life and death struggle to save the greatest secret in history.

Critical Acclaim for
“The Mirror of Diana”

(see full reviews at http://themirrorofdiana.com/reviews.html )

Writing in clean and elegant prose, A.R. Homer evokes vivid images and breathes life into all his characters...his breathtaking plot twists and relentless suspense hold the reader in thrall...

—Midwest Book Review

This is a magnificent tale told in stunning passion...the haunting characters take center stage, grab your heart and never let go. And the end of the story is handled with a masterful touch of literary suspense, even up to the last line. A.R. Homer is an author whose star is rising and I dearly look forward to his next book.

—Bonnie Toews, author of Treason and Triumph
(from a review of The Mirror of Diana)

An excellent, compelling novel—a poignant romance set in an historically-accurate wartime Italy that I recall so well. The novel faithfully captures the details of wartime daily life and the images of a beautiful place. But most of all, I found in the novel a message of hope, a sort of modern version of Amor omnia vincit et nos cedamus Amori (love conquers all, so we must yield to it).

—Rosario D’Agata, President of Association Dianae Lacus
(from a review of The Mirror of Diana)

Homer, a World War II historian, knows his stuff, but he is also a great storyteller. His amazing novels will appeal to a wide audience on both sides of the gender divide...they are tales you won't forget.

—Lou Stanek , Ph.D., author and critic

A compelling and poignant story of love and war [that] offers many history lessons; excellent characters.

—Writer’s Digest reviewer
(from a review of The Mirror of Diana)

SUGGESTED READING: Louis de Bernières, Corelli's Mandolin; Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky; Lawrence Durrell, The Alexandria Quartet; John Fowles, The Magus; A. R. Homer, The Mirror of Diana; Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude; James McBride, Miracle at St. Anna; Henry Miller, The Colossus of Maroussi; Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace.

—Reader’s Guide for Louis de Berniéres’s Birds without Wings
(boldface and underlines added)