Archives

The Last Agent In Paris by Sharon Maas

Nov8

So Brave

The Last Agent In Paris by Sharon Maas is a powerful, historical novel that I read in just two sittings, pausing only to sleep.

This is the story of Noor Inayat Khan. As a historian I knew the bare bones of her story but this book puts flesh on those bones.

Noor Inayat Khan was the first female wireless operator in France in World War II. The average life expectancy for wireless operators in France was just six weeks. She was small in stature but hugely brave and courageous. Her lips were forever sealed as her fate was marked.

We hear of Noor Inayat Khan’s life story from her birth in Russia in 1914 right up to her ending.

Her character was largely shaped by her father, with whom she had a close relationship. “Some people are just mean, you can’t change them… You’re the only person you can really change.” Wise words from her father. Noor Inayat Khan lived by these words as she worked on her own character. She was by nature a pacifist so war did not come easily. As the Nazis spread their lies, she believed “the pen is mightier than the sword… Peace starts in the home with children. We must nourish the minds of children.”

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The Girl With The Red Ribbon by Carly Schabowski

Nov8

Truth? Or Imagination?

The Girl With The Red Ribbon by Carly Schabowski is a compelling historical novel that intrigued me from the start. It drew me in, entertained me, and left me wondering – what was real? And what was imagined?

The novel is set over two time periods – 1969 and looking backwards to the 1940’s in war-torn Poland. Two voices tell the story – an old man and a young girl. Both have been marginalised by society. They band together with others whom they acquire along life’s wartime journey.

We see the child-like faith of characters, as they believe that the wearing of red ribbons will keep them safe.

Nazi-occupied Poland was a horrific place to be. Cruelty and evil were all around. Cunning and knowledge were needed to survive.

Partisans and resistance fighters occupied dense forest, often taking the Nazis by surprise.

Folklore and legend grew up surrounding the events of World War II, even the reader is not sure if it really happened.

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The Thirteenth Child by Mark deMeza

Nov4

Just One More

The Thirteenth Child by Mark deMeza is a powerful historical novel that I read in just two sittings, pausing only to sleep. It is a fictional account, but very much grounded in fact, of the fate of the Jewish people in Holland during World War II. The main family is fictional but all the others were real people.

This is a heart-breaking account of a truly evil time. The reader witnesses the Nazis marching into Holland in 1940, and then the rapid erosion of the freedoms of the Jewish people.

It is a heart-wrenching read the thoughts of a seven year old Jewish boy, no longer able to play with his best friend who was Aryan. “He felt angry with the Nazis and their yellow star badge… An emptiness weighed him down and had started the moment his best friend had uttered the word goodbye.” Heart-breaking and senseless.

Mark deMeza has created a very powerful and comprehensive tale of when evil walked among the innocent. We see the ruthless but efficient Nazi war machine. The Jewish people complied silently, believing the lies they were told.

As we focus in on one family, they are a microcosm for the macrocosm of the Jewish people – 95% of the Jewish people (German and Dutch) living in Holland, perished under the evil Nazi war machine.

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The Twins On The Train by Suzanne Goldring

Oct31

The Mark Of True Love

The Twins On The Train by Suzanne Goldring is a powerful historical novel that totally consumed me. I could not put it down.

The novel begins in 2023 before moving backwards to Berlin in 1933 and into World War II. The action alternates between a mother in Berlin and a British lady whose mission was to rescue as many Jewish children from Berlin, on the Kindertransport, as she could.

The reader witnesses the gradual erosion of the freedom of the Jewish people and the sheer terror of Kristallnacht in November 1938. We see the bravery of the parents who loved their children enough to let them go. “They have the courage to send away the things most precious of all to them, more than gems and gold can ever be.” As a mother, I do not think I would have had their courage.

Life is shown through the eyes of the children through their speech. “You’re the first Aryan who’s been nice to me in a long time. Will there be more people like you in England?” Heartbreaking. How awful that Jewish children, a precious gift, have been treated so abominably.

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