In The Summer Between Eternities, author Tom Taylor offers an intriguing, inspirational work of historical fiction, full of faith and second chances.

The story opens in August of 1987, when passengers are at Dulles International Airport, planning to board an ill-fated Grand Orbit Airlines flight to London. Readers are then taken back in time to earlier that year.

The story focuses on three character arcs. One centers on Colin Maudsley, a man running from his past. With a new name and identity, he plans to live under the radar, but then he meets Laura Johnston who captures his heart and introduces him to Christ.

Jennie Li is a missionary. She works with refugee Hieu Van Tran, who has been traumatized by the Vietnam War and wants to reunite with the wife he left behind. Jennie is torn between her love for her childhood friend, Mark, who is in law school in the U.S., and God’s call to minister to people in France.

Finally, Bill and Pat Ross are a long-married couple whose relationship is on the rocks. As Bill focuses on honoring his grandparents’ memory, Pat is tempted to have an affair with her boss.

The stories are connected only by the protagonists’ plans to take the same flight, interwoven with scenes from the flight itself, told from the pilot’s perspective.

Ideas of Christian faith permeate the story. The first time Colin meets Laura, she talks about how the dogwood tree is a reminder of Christ’s death and resurrection. Jennie attends High Bridge Baptist Church and often contemplates what God wants of her.

The characters are well wrought and relatable, even though the story is set 40 years ago. Readers will root for them to somehow have a happy ending, even as the doomed flight looms in the background. The tension of what will happen to each keeps readers eagerly turning pages.

Ultimately, this is an engaging story that will particularly appeal to Christian readers.

Also available in hardcover and ebook.