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The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Mar29

Love Is The Beginning & The End

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is such a powerful book about women during World War II. Everything about it is fabulous, which makes it a hard book to review – what to include? What to leave out?

This is a book about women at war and the love that binds them together.

In war, it is men’s stories that we hear. The Nightingale addresses this balance. “It’s a fact that women are useless in war. Your job is to wait for our return” says a male character! It is women who are the glue that hold everything together. “Maman had been the glue that held them together.”

We follow two sisters. The younger one works for the resistance. The older one has her own battles at home where she lives with her young daughter, who has to grow up very quickly during war. The setting is France and both are very much on the frontline.

The younger sister has spent her whole life searching for love. “She was tired of begging people to love her.” The truth is that she has always been loved. It proves to be a love that makes the ultimate sacrifice, which will end up breaking her.

We witness the bravery needed to help allied airmen to safety, evading capture – but the more successful trips, the bigger the target on a sister’s back.

Life inside concentration camps was brutal. Luck and a strong willpower to survive were needed. Bodies were broken but minds remained free. “In the camp, she fought back the only way she knew – by caring for her fellow prisoners, and helping them stay strong.” The women had to be their own support system to hopefully, survive. There are some very hard to read scenes of Nazi brutality.

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The Last Baby In Auschwitz by Anna Stuart

Mar23

The Spider Keeps On Spinning

The Last Baby In Auschwitz by Anna Stuart is a powerful and heartbreaking historical novel that consumed me from the start. It is based in facts.

The reader follows the plight of the Greek Jewish people from freedom to the hell that was Auschwitz. They were always “a heartbeat from death.”

We follow two Jewish female cousins and their fight to survive. It was hope, love and luck that kept them going. “They can’t wash away my heart. They can’t shave off my spirit. The spider keeps on spinning.” The webs of love and friendship were woven in Auschwitz. They had to focus on each other and hope for a better future. They needed to survive in order to tell the world of the horrors.

Even in Auschwitz, the women retained their humanity. “As Naomi sang… she knew that love, not hatred, was the way to truly rouse a rabble, the way to fight oppression.” The women shared what little they had. They did what they did in order to survive, and to help others to survive. “Survival was their only weapon against Nazi oppression.” They realised “guns were strong, but hearts were stronger.”

In the hell that was Auschwitz, it was easy to lose sight of God. “Naomi tried to pray, but it was hard to get through to God these days.” As the months went on, “God was becoming harder and harder to see through all this darkness.” But love was stronger than hate. “She had to… pray that love would win out against the grinding hate.”

There was a powerful quote about the futility of war (from a Nazi Soldier). “I went off to fight thinking it was all about glory and honour, but… it’s just horror and fear and… waste. Waste of money, waste of resources, waste of lives.”

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The Last Train Home by Marion Kummerow

Mar9

Loving Bonds

The Last Train Home by Marion Kummerow is a powerful historical novel that consumed me from the start.

The action is set in Germany at the start of World War II. This book is all about the disgusting treatment of the Roma people following on from the Nuremburg race laws of 1938. The “gypsy had lost their citizenship and had effectively become a people without civil rights.”

We follow two characters from two different families. One is an orphaned teenage girl, and the other is a father separated from his wife and son by war. Bit by bit their civil liberties are eroded – and still, there are characters who are believing that something better will happen next.

There were some very difficult to read scenes, especially where the Roma were being ‘examined’ by the doctors who were brutal. “The doctors… rose like lions circling their prey.” The people felt vulnerable and exposed.

Eventually the Roma end up in the camps. Every action by the Nazis is designed for maximum cruelty. Newcomers are given a “survival strategy: avoid trouble, don’t stand out, don’t be remembered, and never be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

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The Girl With The List by Shari J Ryan

Mar6

A Promise To Time

The Girl With The List by Shari J Ryan is a powerful historical novel that I read in just one sitting. It is a story of love in the darkest of times.

The tale starts in Poland during World War II, quickly progressing to Auschwitz as we follow the two lead characters, Rosalie, a gentile; Stefan a Jew. Within their small village, no distinctions are made between people – until the Nazis move in, spreading fear and hatred as they commit evil acts against the innocent.

A traumatic event in Rosalie’s childhood, saw he becoming a competent midwife by the age of sixteen. Her services find her ending up in the household of an officer serving in Auschwitz. It is just a small step to her becoming an enforced list maker in the camp.

It is here, against all the odds that Rosalie and Stefan find each other. They both cling to love and have hope to survive. “You know you can’t escape. We must survive.” Their wars are similar but different. Both face traumatic times.

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