Jim Cole

Run With the Wind Jim Cole

When Sarah Jacobs awoke that peaceful morning 3 years before United States' entry into WW2, her major concern was her son Benjamin, crippled with polio as an infant, and the boy's progress over his disease. She had no idea that before noon that day a man would be murdered in her front yard and soon her life would be filled with secrets. Nor did she know that within weeks she would meet a romantic stranger whose secrets would change the lives of all her family. And the stranger would be found to have an odd relationship with Sarah's great-uncle Levi, family patriarch and Galveston pioneer, who would be found to have a secret that he would die to protect. On that long-ago summer morning however, Sarah's life revolved around her son Benjamin. She was pleased with the boy's medical progress, but at age 10 Benji was not pleased. He could walk only with the aid of wrist canes and a leg brace, and he wanted more. He wanted to go to the beach and run. Run With the Wind, a coming-of-age fiction saga of strength and true grit brings a number of strong Jewish characters into an intriguing and powerful historical fiction tale of Galveston, Texas. This unsung part of the United States' WW2 story pits the island-city and its citizens against espionage and intrigue as enemy submarines lurk offshore and spent torpedoes are tossed by the uncaring sea onto Galveston's beaches. The story of Galveston's secrets of war, thrilling, deadly and some that could topple a government, set against promises of love and Benjamin's ultimate triumph, form a backdrop of wartime events that encompass the entire 600-mile sweep of Texas' coastline. The reader will cheer and cry at Benjamin's gritty determination when he takes his first staggering, faulty, unaided steps on the soft beach sand, body covered in salt spray, struggling, falling, wiping away sweat, taking painful step after step, and then falling again. But Ben knows that the day will come when one step becomes two, then three. And then he can run for 12. And then he can run a mile. Go, Ben! Run With the Wind!But never tell your secret. Because it could destroy everything.