The Bells of Times Square
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $3.99
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
Every New Year’s Eve since 1946, Nate Meyer has ventured alone to Times Square to listen for the ghostly church bells he and his long-lost wartime lover vowed to hear together. This year, however, his grandson Blaine is pushing Nate through the Manhattan streets, revealing his secrets to his silent, stroke-stricken grandfather.
When Blaine introduces his boyfriend to his beloved grandfather, he has no idea that Nate holds a similar secret. As they endure the chilly death of the old year, Nate is drawn back in memory to a much earlier time . . . and to Walter.
Long before, in a peace carefully crafted in the heart of wartime tumult, Nate and Walter forged a loving home in the midst of violence and chaos. But nothing in war is permanent, and now all Nate has is memories of a man his family never knew existed. And a hope that he’ll finally hear the church bells that will unite everybody—including the lovers who hid the best and most sacred parts of their hearts.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lane (Christmas Kitsch) nearly misses the mark with this wartime romance, a touching story buried in an unfortunate framing device. The tragic story of Nathan Meyer, a gay Jewish photographer who worked for the OSS during WWII, opens with an overwrought interaction between elderly, post-stroke Nate and his grandson as they go to Times Square on New Year's Eve to listen for magical bells. The story flashes back to Nate's time in the service, when his curiosity during a spy mission compromises his position and leads to him being shot down over Moselle, France. Wounded and behind enemy lines, Nate is rescued by Walter, an escaped POW. A Florence Nightingale romance develops between the two men as they hide from Nazis and try to imagine a world where they can fight a just war and have a life together. The scenes with Nate and Walter are elegant and movingly rendered, but the book eventually collapses into summary and trite reflections on love and adjusting to life's obstacles.
