In “The Time Keepers,” Alyson Richman writes a novel that alternates between several time periods, 1969, during the Vietnam War; 1978, in post-war Vietnam; and 1979 in a suburb of New York, where all the characters in this touching story come together in an incredibly detailed picture of life during those times. While the novel is not a mystery or a thriller by any stretch, Richman keeps a bit of mystery going until the beautifully conceived ending, because we can’t imagine how life will turn out for these people, who are searching for belonging, and who ultimately find it with Grace and her family.

There are three main characters, all adults. Grace Golden is the center of the story as it is her strength and kindness, in many ways, that drive the plot. However, Anh, the Vietnamese refuge who arrived in the US with her nephew, is also a central figure. And finally, Jack, the boy who became a man in Vietnam, during which time his face was terribly disfigured, causing him to lose the only woman he ever loved, is the character we are really rooting for.

Grace came to the US from Ireland as a young woman. She suffered tragedy in Ireland, and married Tom Golden, in spite of their cultural and religious differences. He took over the watch repair store that his father had opened, and Richman makes much of the healing power of time, and how repairing watches and clocks that were broken, can heal people who are broken. And in this story, there are several broken people to be healed. Grace is not a perfect person; instead, Richman makes her a real person with a real person’s insecurities. But her tremendously huge heart, her ability to look past appearances to see the inner beauty in people, and her innate goodness, make her someone we admire. She’s someone we want to befriend and get to know better.

Anh represents the Vietnamese refugees who arrived here after the war. As is common after a war ends, those who supported the Americans are left behind and treated horribly by whatever new regime is in place. In Anh’s case, her husband and her sister’s husband worked with the Americans during the war. When the communists regained control of all Vietnam, those who collaborated with the US were treated cruelly. In fact, Anh’s husband is brutally beaten to death in one of the flashbacks that we read. After his death, she finds out she is pregnant, something she had desperately hoped for. Her sister had a son, Bảo, and after Anh’s husband is murdered, they know it’s only a matter of time before her sister’s husband is also killed. So they make plans to escape Vietnam and go to America. But on the deadly trip, Bảo’s parents drown. So Anh and Bảo arrive in America together, both horribly bereft and traumatized by their losses.

Jack was a young man when his number came up to go to Vietnam. He was handsome and charming, and he had a girlfriend he loved. We see the horrors of his time in Vietnam, and we are touched by the letters his girlfriend, Becky, sends him. Jack and Becky started dating their senior year of high school, and now that he’s almost twenty-one, he knows he wants to marry her. Becky is studying to be a teacher, and Jack knows that when, and if, he returns from the war, he never wants to leave her side. But when Jack is horribly disfigured, he believes that there is no way Becky could love him.

The three main characters all come together in a small town on Long Island. It’s a different time in America, and Jews and immigrants are often looked at askance. In this small town where Grace lives, there are those who don’t welcome the Vietnamese refugees who have taken shelter in a building run by the local Catholic nuns. There the refugees learn English and how to assimilate. Anh and her nephew Bao are living there, and after Bao runs away and Grace finds him, their lives become irretrievably intertwined.

Each of the adults in the novel, and Bảo, have experienced trauma in their lives. Each of them finds comfort and redemption through the kindness not only of Grace, but of her husband Tom. Tom found solace at the family store, the Golden Hours, the store where timepieces are repaired. When Tom meets Jack at the VA hospital, he invites Jack to work with him repairing watches and clocks, work that Jack finds interesting and healing. Eventually, Jack becomes a part of the Golden family, and their home is the only place outside of his apartment, above the store, where he feels comfortable.

There are more characters, there is more tragedy, and we wonder what path the story and the characters who reside in it will take. Richman has carefully researched almost all aspects of this novel. Her narration of the action in Vietnam is based on the experiences of actual soldiers. She based Grace’s character on a real person. Anh is also based on a real person’s experiences and that person, a Vietnam refugee, shared the story of a young boy’s experiences; that young boy became Bảo in the novel. So what we don’t realize while we are reading this touching and emotional novel is that so much of what we are reading is based on actual events.

What Richman does, though, that reaches beyond the historical events, is tell a story about people who, while they may come from different places and have experienced different hardships, come together as family. Perhaps the heart of her book can best be described with a quote from the book. Jack is explaining to Bảo how to repair a watch. He says to the young boy, “You have to imagine that the inside of a watch is like a human heart. When it’s broken, you need to mend it with a lot of care.” And that’s what the Golden family provides to the broken people who become a part of their lives. A lot of care and a lot of heart. And that’s what you’ll feel after reading this novel — lots of heart. I wonder how many people will read this beautiful story and not shed a tear at the end. Not many, I imagine.

This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.