Dean Hughes

Dean Hughes is an American writer known for historical fiction that follows families and young people through periods of social change. Educated at Weber State and the University of Washington, he has written extensively for younger readers as well as for a general audience. When We Meet Again is the fourth volume in his Children of the Promise series, which traces the Thomas family through the years of the Second World War. Published by Deseret Book in 1999, the novel continues several separated story lines: Alex works in military intelligence in Germany, Wally faces captivity, and family members at home confront uncertainty about those overseas. Hughes uses letters, distance, faith, and changing responsibilities to connect personal experience with the wider conflict. Earlier volumes establish the family’s relationships, while this instalment deepens the consequences of prolonged separation. When We Meet Again demonstrates Hughes’s preference for history experienced through ordinary decisions, keeping national events in view while giving emotional weight to endurance, kinship, and the difficult return from wartime disruption.