Local author hits the heart of forgiveness in new novel

An author from Portage la Prairie is releasing her latest novel, and while set during WWII, it still connects with issues society faces today.

Terrie Todd is an award-winner author. Rose Among Thornes is her fifth published novel, the sixth published book under her name.

"Like my other novels, Rose Among Thornes is set during WWII. It's about a young Japanese-Canadian girl named Rose," says Todd.

She explains how Rose finds herself relocated from Vancouver to an internment camp in B.C., to a beet farm in Manitoba.

"It's also about a young Canadian soldier named Russell Thorne, who spends most of the war in a Japanese prisoner of war camp."

When the two characters interact before seeing each other, there is a connection. But what the war has done to them will cause them both great strife.

"In June 2018 I learned about a documentary called Facing Injustice in which my friend Terry, he and his mother appear in this documentary. His mother was one of 20,000 Canadians interned during WWII because of her Japanese heritage. The film just moved me."

The story moved Todd to the point she simply had to put pen to paper, and talk about the huge pain caused by war, and the forgiveness that can help set people free.

"The tagline on the front of the book says 'Forgiveness is the deadliest force on earth' and that's really the theme of it. It's a timely story because it involves discrimination, racial profiling, racism with a strong theme of forgiveness. It's a good reminder of what all of us are capable of when we fail to acknowledge that every human being is made in the image of God."

Rose Among Thornes is available in hard copy or kindle where books are sold as of August 31, 2021.