Tag Archive | Bookouture

The Girl On The Boat by Kate Hewitt

Feb10

Powerful New Series

The Girl On The Boat by Kate Hewitt is a powerful historical novel that completely consumed me. It is the first book in The Emerald Sisters series which promises to be fabulous.

The action is set from 1939 – 1942 as we travel from Germany to New York. As the story opens, we ‘hear’ from after the war in the prologue. We know the time and the place and we ‘hear’ the outcome for several characters but we have questions – questions which will follow us through the series. I am assuming all answers will be revealed in the final book – I can’t wait but I’ll have to!

We follow a Jewish family as they board a ship, with other Jewish families, fleeing Germany for Cuba. Alliances are formed on board, and promises made to meet up in Paris one year after the war ends.

We ‘see’ the damage inflicted mentally on physically tortured souls. Men, who were the heads of families, are reduced to mere shells. It is the women who have to step up and become strong.

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The Paris Spy’s Girl by Amanda Lees

Feb7

So Brave

The Paris Spy’s Girl by Amanda Lees is a simply marvellous historical novel that I just could not put down. Though fictional, it is grounded in fact.

The novel is set in Paris in the latter part of World War II. We do ‘hear’ snippets from 1938 as we learn what led up to the character being here.

We witness the bravery needed to be an agent in Paris for Britain during the war. There were also skills needed to extract information and then pass it on.

There appears to be a double agent as every time agents parashoot into France, the Nazis are waiting for them. The truth is most horrifying and almost unbelievable.

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I Have To Save Them by Ellie Midwood

Feb2

The Angel Of Auschwitz

I Have To Save Them by Ellie Midwood is the most powerful, heartbreaking and horrifying dual timeline novel that I just could not put down.

The story starts and ends with the same day in 1961. It bookends the tale. There is a choice to be made – what would you choose?

Much of the novel is set in Auschwitz and is grounded in fact as we follow German citizen, Orli, who was betrayed by her Nazi husband six years earlier. We also ‘hear’ events from 1961 as we see “She may have left Auschwitz’s walls, but the walls of Auschwitz have never left her … tormenting her with nightmares of the past.” As a medic who was under Josef Mengele in Auschwitz, Orli saw terrible things, things that would haunt her forever. It took real strength of character not to crumble as she clung “to her humanity in the face of such brutality.”

Within the infirmary in Auschwitz there grew up a friendship between the nurses. They had to be strong in order to support each other. They offered kindnesses where they could. It felt like a drop in the ocean but “whoever saves a single life saves an entire universe.” The women stood together through it all. “Together we’ll pull through.”

There were times when they felt evil was too much to bear but “they were warriors, each one of them a beacon of resilience, a beacon of hope.” They had to hold on to the hope that one day the sun would shine again. “She knew that even in the darkest times, there was always a glimmer of light, a way to hold onto humanity.” The light shines in the darkness as the angel of Auschwitz walked among them.

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The German Child by Catherine Hokin

Jan28

Horrendous & Heart-Breaking

The German Child by Catherine Hokin is a powerful dual timeline novel that completely captivated me. It is horrendous, heart breaking and powerful.

The action is set during World War II in Berlin and also in 1979/1980 America. We see the dreadful exploits of the Angel of Death in Germany during the war, continue afterwards. Far from seeing what was done as war crimes, the Angel of Death is proud of her lifetime of horrendous crimes.

We see the power wielded as one chooses who lives and who dies, who is deemed worthy and who isn’t. First it was the Jewish people during World War II, then it was the African Americans in Alabama as the white supremacists supported the horrendous acts of prejudice and inequality.

The Lebensborn program of the Nazis robbed families of children, and children of their mothers. Blonde haired, blue-eyed boys were selected for the Nazis Fatherland. Girls were not valued so highly, being viewed only as good for breeding boys. The army of drab brown-uniformed sisters were selected to blend in as they stole children. They were meant to be unmemorable. The novel is grounded in fact as the brown sisters actually existed.

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