Today, May 8, 2020, is the 75th anniversary of VE Day, the end of World War II in Europe. I’m just finishing the latest novel in the Lane Winslow series by Iona Wishaw. These are really good books that take place around and after World War II. (I wrote about them on June 2, 2019: https://wordpress.com/post/theincompletereader.com/971.)

Today I was reminded of the heroism of my Norwegian family. One great-uncle was lost flying for the RAF, another was captured by the Germans and died in a concentration camp. The family comes from the most westerly islands off the coast of Norway. It’s a straight shot to the Shetland Islands, so they were among those many fisherpeople who transported refugees to Great Britain.

There are lots and lots of great novels about World War II, but a favorite of mine is a children’s book I read over and over again as a child and a few times since! It is Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan. It’s about a group of Norwegian children who carry their town’s gold bullion to a waiting boat by hiding it in their sleds as they ostensibly play in the snow. It’s still in print, and well worth a read. It would be a good memorial on this VE Day anniversary or any day.