When Edward Commons left his family - wife Melanie and daughter Gem – to go off to war in Germany during World War II, it was for love of country, patriotism and an overwhelming desire to participate.

Just as being a soldier fulfilled Edward's sense of duty, his wife Melanie set out to fulfill her duty to maintaining their family. Melanie’s talent as an artist helped secure a job in an airplane factory painting icons on the P40’s that rolled off the assembly line.  Two years into the war, Edward Commons was proclaimed Missing In Action.  His wife and especially his daughter would not believe that Edward was never coming home.

While Melanie fights the pressures of caring for her family and coping with the fact that she may have to let Edward go, Gem presses on. Since she was a toddler, Gem had a gift with animals. To people like her Grandma, it was an aberration, a little girl sitting for hours with wild animals. Her seeming closeness with animals already pegged her as an oddity, something that increased once she suddenly stopped speaking. But in her silent world, Gem has a plan, one that is persistent, endlessly creative, and tied to a hope and love beyond human comprehension. 
 
COMMUNION is a tale of life in wartime, when the horrors are great and the best in individuals surface to combat the evils that surround them. Communion is the story of people getting by, trying to live and prosper amidst the ashes and threats of violence from afar. It is also the story of a little girl who seeks to push her mother and those around her to transcend mere existence, to confront the perils of this world and unveil the very best in themselves. Through Gem's persistence her father's spirit communicates, telling her to push on, telling her it might not be too late to save one more soul amidst the graveyards and battlefields of Europe.

COMMUNION is a book that speaks to the mysteries of the soul, the challenges of marriage, and the love between parents and children, husbands and wives, man and nature. It is an experience that will break your heart.

Sincerely,
Jean Blasiar & Jonathan Marcantoni
Co-authors of COMMUNION (2011)