I’m an American writer of Jewish and Romany decent. I write Historical Fiction and Historical Romance, most of which is set during the holocaust. Although I never discount the horrors of the time period, the main focus of my work is on ordinary people who prove to be strong heroic characters in unfathomable circumstances.
This story continued on with Mimi & Nick from the first novel in the duology. Those two kiddos stole my heart in the first book, and they ran with it in this sequel. The author definitely wrote stories that portrayed characters who were trying to make the best decisions from the choices they were given. From first Lily & Gloria, to then Chloe, Mimi & Nick. You want so bad for things to be different (on a multitude of levels), but that’s just not real, for the characters or even us readers in the world.
This book had a lot more intensity and action since its taking place during such an awful time. Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), the Reich’s invasion into France, WW2.
I loved Chloe 🩰 Her and Mimi’s relationship made me miss my own grandmother. I am heart broken for most of the characters. The survivors of the story, their testimony to me is - having someone to love, to hope for, hang on for, to look for.. that’s how they were making it through. That’s how they kept their faith.
Thank you NetGalley & Storm Publishing for this ARC!
This was a well researched well constructed novel set in Germany and France up and during WW2. There were two families whose fates were intertwined, one Jewish and one with a Nazi father. The book was used as a vehicle to describe events like the Babi Ya massacre and conditions in Auschwitz. The book exposed the blatant antisemitism inflicted on a highly talented Jewish family yet there was a happy ending as the two youngest family members were eventually reconciled and were able to pursue a relationship making this a thoroughly worthwhile read.
I could not put this book down! I finished it in one day. Im going to look up more by this author. I'm an avid reader of WWII fiction and this was different from the usual in this genre. I did feel that the end was a bit rushed. Overall very good!