And the Walls Came Tumbling Down

by

W.M. Gunn

Ingenious, exciting, and convincing alternate history!

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down is the first novel in a new alternate history trilogy by W.M. Gunn, offering a mesmerizing vision of the world and WWII if reality hadn’t unfolded the way it did. With an original mix of fictional characters and historical figures, plus fantastical imagery and accounts of early World War One battle experiences, I was hooked the whole time and never disappointed by the resulting tale. 

The story unfolds through some seemingly unrelated storylines; the book opens in 1914 on the frontlines of Belgium, skips to the rise of Hitler and the birth of a child near the aviation training fields of Fort Worth, and then whips the reader back to the time of Moses, the end of his wanderings in the desert and his imminent death, and back again. Each encapsulated thread was immersive and made for compelling reading, but disparate; the author’s plan for them remained a mystery until he magically made them converge into a riveting whole. 

The action sequences are well choreographed and easy to follow, and the vivid descriptions of places and historical details woven into the narrative add so much color, putting the reader in every scene. Best yet, though, are the characters themselves, because they truly came alive. Naturally, they’re not all pleasant people, and my skin still crawls just thinking about one character in particular, who wasn’t physically in the story that long! 

The plot juxtaposes the stories of a German family: Jürgen Kretz, a WWI flying ace and war hero, and his motherless twin boys, Manfred and Wolfgang, with the American Maxwell family, the father, Connor, also a WWI flyer, and his son, Allen, whose mother died during his birth. The sons follow in their fathers’ footsteps and fight their own battles in WWII. Jürgen, a bitter, angry survivor of his war, passes along his opinions to his sons, whose mother was a Jew. She passed away during the 1918 Influenza epidemic while Jürgen was away fighting, and he blames her wealthy Jewish parents for not doing enough to save her. This belief tips him over the edge to extremism, and he eventually becomes a willing pawn (and unwitting sacrifice) in Hitler’s early schemes to attain power. Interestingly, one twin absorbs and champions his father’s vitriolic ideals while the other avoids his fanaticism and sides with his heritage. But the transfer of beliefs, based in fact or not, from one generation to the next is on full display. 

If you’re not a WWII historian, keep in mind this is an ingenious tale of alternate history, and the author deftly mixes factual events and historical figures with fictional events and characters. His convincing and immersive writing style makes it impossible to tell (unless you already know) which is which in some cases. Of course, I sincerely hope everyone knows how D-Day actually turned out. 

I recommend AND THE WALLS CAME TUMBLING DOWN to readers of alternate history, historical fiction, and family sagas. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Lone Star Literary Life Book Campaigns.