Roads of Resistance

De: A. L. Sowards

Narrado por: Noah Wall

After her father is murdered, fifteen-year-old Ingrid Lang flees her home in Austria only to become separated from her siblings and stranded in the Dutch city of Arnhem with a pair of broken legs. Her future would be bleak if not for the kindness of a local doctor and his daughter Anita van der Veen. But before Ingrid can finish her healing and continue her journey to find her brother and sister, the forces of Nazi Germany overrun the Netherlands, leaving her trapped in an enemy occupation.

Four years later, Gerrit Hendriks, wanted by the Gestapo for his work with the underground, flees to his grandfather's home in Arnhem, where he finds Ingrid and the van der Veens deeply ensconced in the local resistance. But suspicion, prejudice, and conflicting beliefs soon leave Ingrid and Gerrit at odds with each other.

As Ingrid and Gerrit gather intelligence for the Allies, smuggle airmen and other refugees to safety, and plan acts of defiance against the Nazis, irritations soften and teamwork blossoms. They soon realize that if they want to have any hope of outsmarting a German intelligence officer with a tie to Ingrid's past, they'll have to work together. As the two begin to recognize just how much they mean to each other, they find themselves in the middle of an enormous airborne operation, and the battles that follow will change everything—for Ingrid, for Gerrit, and for the Netherlands.

©2025 Covenant Communications, Inc. (P)2025 Covenant Communications, Inc.

Never disappoints

I love this set of stories a lot. Especially these tales that follow the siblings from the original story in the series. This book was deep with feeling and had an ending that warmed my heart!

A gripping, WWII novel, fans of historical fiction will love!!

“They were both a little like the house: almost destroyed by war. But things that were almost destroyed could be rebuilt..”

Sowards is an incredible historical fiction author and this book exceeded my expectations for Ingrid’s story. The amount of research, historical accuracy, and overall story is truly a masterpiece! Noah Wall is one of my favorite narrators and she brought this beautiful story to life.

Roads of Resistance (Falcon Point Historical, #2) follows Ingrid and Gerrit in the Netherlands during WWII and will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. My heart will never be the same after reading this story. The multiple POV’s of the story were written so well, that as a reader, I felt I was with the characters during their times of danger, loss, grief, hope, and faith. The suspense with Ingrid, Gerrit, and all the onderduikers staying hidden and running from the Nazis and Gestapos had me holding my breath until the scenes concluded. This story brought me to tears with the grief, sorrow, and faith these characters have. Although this story can be read on its own, I highly recommend reading Heirs of Falcon Point and Codes of Courage first.

Fans of historical fiction novels will love this story!

“…maybe all those broken pieces help us fit together even more than we did before.”

Gripping

The Brief: Ingrid barely excapes with her life after her father is murdered. When her escape lands her in a Dutch city with two broken legs, she begins to learn what is worth standing for.

The Debrief: I. Can’t. Even. This author is a master historical fiction storyteller and this is another example of the way she takes your heart and puts it in the washing machine. Ingrid is completely endearing and absolutely inspiring. I put myself in her shoes and pedaled every mile with her harrowing adventure.

Gerrit finds her when she’s broken, but their second meeting doesn’t improve much. I loved the friendship that was hard earned and the great lengths they went to keep it. When war comes close to home the resistance efforts become laden with danger.

And I was not ok. My heart was tugged and stretched until the very last page. And oh how sweet some of those moments were. friends. Family. Enemies. Gestapo. Love. My takeaways:

-strength comes in the process of doing hard things
-believing and doubting can still carry us through unspeakable challenges
-family is not always those who share our blood
-we should always be grateful and never forget those who
-letting others share our burdens can be freeing
-hope can carry humankind to peace

The Rhyme: Ingrid is forced to leave everything behind in her beloved home and head into the unknown. Can she find peace in love and work for a cause that will give her more strength than she’s ever known?

Absolutely incredible. Loved the different perspectives. Highly recommend this author. It’s connected to other books, but I haven’t read all of them so I was totally fine. I listened to the audio and it was stellar, but mostly because the story is just so gripping. My thoughts. Kissing only. War violence.

Hope in the most hopeless of times

This continues to be my very favorite series from A.L. Sowards! The pairing of the Lang siblings’ stories and the rich research base makes for both an enjoyable and educational read (which happens to be my very favorite type of read!).

I loved the setting for Roads of Resistance being the Netherlands. WWII novels infrequently address the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, and it was absolutely fascinating learning more about what this time period in this exact place was like. I learned so much about the Dutch resistance, the hunger winter, and the struggle to free the Netherlands from occupation.

The storyline of this book was so satisfying to me as a reader. I’d wondered how Ingrid ended up where she did after reading earlier books in the series, and why she stayed the way she did. Soward’s unfolded the plot at precisely the right speed to show exactly how Ingrid ended up in the Netherlands and why she was never able to find her siblings. Her connection to the Van der Veens and Gerrit is beautiful and the very best kind of found family. The little bit of ‘enemies to lovers’ that Ingrid and Gerrit had was perfectly written, too; it is so plausible for wartime to create enemy-like situations without either party truly being bad.

While I suppose you could read this as a standalone in many ways, I highly recommend the series on the whole. Reading Heirs of Falcon Point and Codes of Courage before Roads of Resistance definitely enhances the reading experience! (There are additional Falcon Point novels that follow the Lang descendants; those can be read before or after the ones following the Lang siblings as those are in some ways like a separate series).

The narration was excellent - it was clear and understandable, and seamlessly delivered the story. I loved hearing all the pronunciations for various cities and names I would have otherwise struggled to pronounce!

Thank you to the author for the gifted audiobook; all opinions are my own.

Emotional and Satisfying

The narrator was very easy to listen to and captured the various accents and voices very well.

This new release took me through the emotional wringer in the best way. I love how this author isn’t afraid to let her characters go through heart wrenching times but yet maintains glimpses of light and hope throughout. I’ve experienced that same feeling in so many of her books and I’m always impressed.

Roads of Resistance is a WWII story set primarily in The Netherlands during the Nazi occupation. The main characters are deeply involved in the underground resistance and doing whatever they can to help the people around them. I loved the theme throughout of all the seemingly small things people did to help each other without feeling like they were making any huge difference, but which had significant impact or ripple effects for so many.

There are so many depth filled relationships in this story that I felt emotionally invested in—family, friends that became family, strangers helping strangers, and romance that transcended so much. Along with that there is tension and danger from the clandestine work, inspiring light Christian themes woven through, moral dilemmas, a well researched historical backdrop, and complex decisions. A very satisfying read!

This story can be read as a standalone but it is also a part of a bigger series following a family thorough generations in historical and contemporary stories. I have only read the two historical novels and understood everything just fine, but now I am curious to learn more in the other stories!