Across A Starlit Sky: WW2 Historical Fiction

by Susan Shalev

A forbidden love. A hidden past. A secret that spans centuries.
Two women must risk everything to protect the ones they love.
One secret, Two women, Three centuries apart.

On the brink of war, a young piano teacher is drawn into a world of danger — and a love that could cost her everything.
Mirjam, a gentile, is captivated by the brother of her most gifted pupil, Hannah Meijer, the cherished daughter of a respected Jewish doctor. But when Nazi forces sweep into the Netherlands, her world begins to collapse.
As persecution tightens its grip, Mirjam is entrusted with a perilous mission. To succeed, she must summon a courage she never imagined — and make an impossible choice between the man she loves and the lives she may yet save.

Portugal, seventeenth century.
A land ruled by fear. A love that defies it.

For the Conversos — New Christians living under the shadow of the Inquisition — survival depends on silence. The Ferrera family, still secretly faithful to Judaism, walk a dangerous line between faith and betrayal.
When Amelia Ferrera falls in love with the son of an Old Christian nobleman, their forbidden romance threatens to expose everything. To protect her family, Amelia must flee, leaving behind her home — and the man she cannot forget.

Across centuries, their lives are bound by a secret that refuses to remain hidden.

Across A Starlit Sky is a sweeping historical novel of love, sacrifice, and courage in the face of impossible choices — perfect for readers of WWII historical fiction and dual-timeline dramas.

For fans of Kristin Harmel, Pam Jenoff and Kate Quinn

Genres: Historical Fiction

286 pages, Paperback

Published February 15, 2026

About the author

Susan Shalev is a London-born author of historical fiction who lives in Israel. After a career as a writer and editor for academic institutions and nonprofit organizations, she earned a PhD in Sociology and Anthropology from Bar-Ilan University.

Drawing on her background in research and storytelling, she writes emotionally rich fiction inspired by real-life stories. Her debut WW2 historical novel, The German Dressmaker, was published in 2023.
She is also the author of Of Bitter Herbs and Sweet Confections, a fictionalized memoir rooted in true WW2 experiences.

She lives on a farm with her husband, two horses, and a large, loving family.

She is the recipient of The Literary Titan Gold Book Award for Fiction, and Second Place Winner, Historical Fiction, International Firebird Book Awards

Reviews

[Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews]

Two timelines and two strong women.

Amelia was born in Portugal during the 1600 and during the inquisition.

She was a new Christian and fell in love with an old Christian nobleman.

The young man's father found out and demanded that Amelia be banished from the town or they would be in deep trouble.

Amelia was sent to live with one of her father's cousins. She remained and made a life there because of the fear of trouble for her family.

We also meet Mirjam in the Netherlands in1938 on the cusp of war and the Germans taking over the country.

Mirjam was a piano teacher for a Jewish family. Would she still be allowed to teach her Jewish student?

Mirjam then had a dangerous job that could get her arrested and took her to Portugal.

Despite the terror and trauma both women went through, there is love in the air for both of them.

ACROSS A STARLIT SKY is filled with beautiful, descriptive writing even though it took a bit of reading to see how the two wonderful stories were to mesh. You will love the connection. 4/5

Thank you to the author for a copy of her book. All opinions are my own.

[BookWormBecky · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.0

*Thank you to the author for this gifted copy!

Piano, converso, legacy…

A dual - timeline story of 2 women and 2 eras - 1930s and 1600s. Settings: wartime Amsterdam and Inquisition-era Portugal. Of course, there’s a connection…

Turbulent times & forbidden romance where the “relationship defies cultural, religious, or societal norms.” A tale of love, survival, secrets, scrutiny, faith, and sacrifices.

Will the 2 tales mirror each other? How will the past shape the present day?


THOUGHTS:

*Historical fiction & historical romance.

*Meticulous research. Vivid descriptive scenery. This reader was transported to the scene. Intense detail & depth.

*Eras are explored . History often repeats and not always in a good way.

*I knew little about the Inquisition and was motivated to learn more about it.

*This author knows how to write historical fiction. I also recommend The German Housekeeper, also by Shalev.

[Beth Stromberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this beautifully written story, two girls fall in love with inappropriate men. They are men of the opposite religion. One is a converso girl, a Christian girl, who is actually a hidden Jew, falls in love with a a Christian nobleman's son. The other is a Christian girl who falls in love with well to do, Jewish doctor's son. The former in 1600s the latter in the 1940s.

Although I have read Holocaust books, I've not read any taking place in the Netherlaands, which is where the 1940's story takes place.

I also was not very familiar with the Inquisition, or Jewish families , who practiced their religion secretly, while being good Christians in public..

The book was impeccably researched, and written beautifully with rich language. It I s difficult to put down.

Well drawn characters, clear, lovely language and descriptions, tension, love, politics, all work together to mesh the stories. It's an absolute must read.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Rebecca Gaddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

new light shed

I liked the story but found it dragged a bit on the early Portuguese part. When it all came together it made sense, but until then I thought there was too much emphasis on the early Portuguese era.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just could not put this book down, such an emotional read. always love finding an author i havent read before

[Katie F · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful book, couldn't put it down!

[Stefanie Verhelst · Rating 5 out of 5]

A historical jewish drama from WWO II. It’s very touching and so beautifully written! The author captures true emotions and brings the characters and reader together.

Several times while reading, I had tears in my eyes.

A must read!.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Book Reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Across A Starlit Sky by Susan Shalev is a WWII historical novel that follows Mirjam Coelho, a young pianist in Amsterdam whose life becomes entwined with the Jewish Meijer family as Europe moves toward catastrophe. The story also reaches back to seventeenth-century Portugal through Amelia, a converso woman living under the shadow of the Inquisition, so the book becomes more than a wartime survival story. It is about hidden identity, inherited memory, music, faith, family, and the long echo of persecution across generations.

Shalev clearly enjoys building rooms, streets, cafés, synagogues, riverbanks, and train stations with patient detail. Sometimes I felt the descriptions slowed the pace, especially early on, but they also gave the novel its texture. Amsterdam feels lived in before it becomes endangered, which matters. The warmth of music lessons, the smell of cafés, the shine of a piano, the ordinary pleasure of a young woman beginning work, all of that makes the later threat feel more personal. The war doesn't arrive in an abstract way. It presses into an already full life.

I also found the double timeline a thoughtful choice. At first, I wondered whether the Portugal sections would pull me too far away from Mirjam’s story, but they ended up deepening the book’s central idea: that history does not vanish just because people are forced to hide it. The connection between Jewish persecution during the Inquisition and Nazi Europe could have felt heavy-handed, but Shalev mostly lets the parallels build through objects, family stories, and emotional discovery. The novel is candid about fear and loss, but it is also interested in tenderness, rescue, and the stubborn human need to belong. It's not a spare book. It leans into feeling. For me, the emotional openness gave the story its heart.

I would recommend Across A Starlit Sky to readers who enjoy historical fiction with strong family themes, Jewish history, dual timelines, and a clear emotional arc. It will especially appeal to people who like WWII novels that widen the lens beyond the battlefield and look at identity, ancestry, and survival across centuries. It's reflective, accessible, and sincere, the kind of book I would hand to a friend who wants a moving historical novel with both sorrow and light.

[Pam Zaidel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review: Across A Starlit Sky by Susan Shalev
The Verdict: A Masterclass in Historical Fiction

Having followed Susan Shalev’s work for years, I had high expectations for Across A Starlit Sky—and she did not disappoint. Shalev continues to prove that her greatest strengths lie in rigorous historical research and exquisite, immersive descriptions that make the past feel startlingly present.
This is a story of two women, two eras, and the ties that bound them together.
The narrative expertly balances the lives of two women, Amelia and Mirjam, separated by centuries but bound by blood and legacy. The story takes us on a sweeping journey across Portugal, redolent with terrifying shadows of the Spanish Inquisition and the mass expulsion of the Jewish community as well as the deceptive peace of the Netherlands, leading up to and including the devastation of the Nazi invasion.
Shalev explores complex themes of love and exile, community life and secrets.
At its heart, this is a story about the intricacies of the human heart. Shalev explores the timeless pain of falling in love with the "wrong" person, the crushing weight of parental disapproval, and the physical and emotional toll of banishment.
The common thread of the stars acts as a beautiful motif throughout—suggesting that while our lives are often torn apart by the whims of history, there is a celestial order foretelling and guiding our futures.
I have much to say about this beautiful story that is rich with emotion, family history and loyalty.
I always appreciate a novel that leaves me more knowledgeable than when I started. Shalev’s ability to interweave the histories of the Inquisition and the Holocaust through the lens of these two women is both educational and deeply moving. Whether she is describing bustling markets, quiet villages, famous gardens, or sacred places of worship, her imagery is so vivid that it leaves a lasting mark. If you enjoy historical sagas that are as intellectually stimulating as they are emotional, this is a must-read.

[litandcoffee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shalev’s latest is a sweeping historical drama that carries readers from wartime Amsterdam to Inquisition-era Portugal, where love, faith, and survival are tested across centuries.As war engulfs Amsterdam, Mirjam, a gentile piano teacher, risks everything to protect the Jewish family she has come to love. Centuries earlier in Portugal, Amelia Ferrera, a secret Jew, confronts a forbidden love under the shadow of the Inquisition. Across generations, two women must choose between love and survival.

Shalev skillfully alternates between the two timelines, drawing clear emotional and thematic connections between them. Both Mirjam and Amelia are portrayed with sensitivity as women navigating worlds shaped by intolerance, danger, and deeply personal choices. The historical settings are richly rendered, with careful attention to cultural detail, religious tension, and the quiet ways individuals resist oppressive systems. Though the narrative moves across centuries, its central concerns, such as identity, loyalty, faith, and sacrifice, remain strikingly consistent. Ultimately, the novel becomes a moving meditation on resilience and the quiet courage required to protect those we love when history leaves no easy choices. Fans of sweeping historical sagas and forbidden romance set against turbulent history will be gratified.

[Susan Weintrob · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are numerous memoirs and historical novels about the Inquisition and the Holocaust, often detailing the horrors that individuals had to endure, those who survived and those who did not. This is not the first work of Susan Shalev’s to deal with the Holocaust. The first was a fictionalized version of the experiences of her mother-in-law.
Two eras are linked in this exciting, well-crafted historical novel set in 17th century Portugal and 20th century Holland. Both countries’ leadership are obsessively driven to eliminate the Jewish people, through subterfuge and brutality.
The two female protagonists, Amelia in the 17th century and Miryam in the 20th, fight the establishments’ repression, in small and large ways. Their identities also link, but no giving the story away here! Well known heroes are rightfully celebrated but the smaller acts of resistance noted in this novel were also crucial.
As we read in this post Oct. 7 world, one can see the shadow of another unwritten timeline, of Hamas and other Iranian sponsored terrorists’ attempted genocide of Israel and the Jewish people. The rising hatred of Jews and Christians across much of the world, including in our own country, recalls too accurately the Jew hatred depicted in the two timelines in Across a Starlit Sky.

[Sema Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bravo to author Susan Shalev on her best ever novel "Across a Starlit Sky".

Shalev skillfully tells two tales, one in Amsterdam from 1938 to the end of World War II, and one in Portugal in the 1600's. From the first page one is drawn into the story of Mirjam Coehlo, a young accomplished pianist, who has just started her first teaching job. Soon after we are introduced to Amelia Ferrera, a young girl who lives in Coimbra, Portugal in the early 1600's. The reader learns about the world of the Conversos, New Christians who live in constant fear of the Inquisition finding out that they are practicing small parts of Judaism in hiding.
Shalev deftly intertwines the two stories and makes it very difficult to put down the book.
I very much enjoyed reading the descriptions of the scenery in the Netherlands and in Portugal.
I highly recommend "Across a Starlit Sky" to anyone who enjoys historcal novels.

[Steve Strouzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This well-crafted novel carries us through the lives of two women and explains the dilemmas of Jewish communities, one hidden in plain sight in Portugal during the Inquisition, and one hidden in secret in Amsterdam in the late 1930’s. The characters are believable and the writing demonstrates the authors thorough research and knowledge, which are delivered with warmth and understanding . The characters of Amelia and Mirjam carry the reader through the narrative of the novel bringing atmosphere and depth to the descriptions of their families, friends and places. It is a moving love story and full of unexpected twists and turns. This novel is another example of the imagination and creative skills Susan Shalev has shown us in her first novel,” The German Dressmaker.” I heartily recommend “Across a Starlit Sky”

[Dina Sha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A moving and deeply engaging read

Across a Starlit Sky really stayed with me. It’s a very human story, told in a way that feels close and real, and I found myself thinking about the characters even after finishing.

The historical backdrop is fascinating and opens a window into a period I didn’t know much about, woven into the story in a way that adds real depth. The descriptions of the places are rich and vivid, and at times it genuinely felt like I was there.

A moving and absorbing read that’s both emotional and compelling.

[Rissiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a colorful, moving portrayal of two somewhat naive but heroic young women living in perilous times hundreds of years apart. The author transports the reader into unfamiliar territory and gives us more than a glimpse of the societies in which these young women must struggle to help themselves and their families. Brilliantly fused tales with a lovely ending.

[Píaras Cíonnaoíth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in the Stars, Remembered in the Blood...

Across a Starlit Sky is an ambitious dual-timeline novel that weaves together wartime Amsterdam and seventeenth-century Portugal to ask quieter, harder questions: about who we are, where we come from, and what we carry forward without knowing it. Shalev follows Mirjam, a young Dutch pianist of Portuguese-Jewish descent on the edge of the Second World War, and her ancestor Amelia, a converso navigating the Inquisition in Coimbra — two women separated by centuries but pressed by the same ancient fear.

The Amsterdam sections are where the novel breathes most freely. Mirjam cycling to her first teaching job, the slow warmth of a bond with a young musical prodigy, the gathering dread of a Europe tilting toward catastrophe — all of it lands with the kind of sensory restraint that makes history feel lived-in rather than performed. A party scene early on is quietly masterful: romance flickering into life while the world tightens its grip around them.

Portugal is rarer fictional territory, and Shalev earns it. Amelia's chapters illuminate how faith survives not in defiance but in concealment, passed hand to hand like a secret kept so long it becomes sacred. As the two timelines begin to speak to each other, the novel opens into something stranger and more affecting — a woman reaching back across centuries and finding an unexpected mirror.

Shalev writes with a vivid, unhurried eye. The canals and coffee houses of pre-war Amsterdam, the steep streets of Coimbra, the Douro and Mondego rivers — these places feel genuinely inhabited, not merely described. She's especially good at letting historical texture breathe through character: a playful debate about composers, a mother's quiet account of Iberian Jewish history. Her real gift, though, is interiority — Mirjam's particular mix of naivety and resolve, Amelia's hard-won acceptance of a duty-shaped life, the way both women hold love and loyalty and survival in the same trembling hands.

If there's a weakness, it's in the moments when the novel trusts the reader a little too much — coincidences that feel engineered, dialogue that over-explains, a stars-and-fate motif that occasionally tips from resonant into on-the-nose. But the structural mirroring between timelines earns its payoff, and the ending lands with genuine emotional weight rather than mere cleverness.

For readers who love character-driven WWII fiction with deep-time roots — think Kristin Harmel, think Kate Quinn — this is an absorbing, quietly haunting read. Two persecutions, one inheritance, and the strange way hope keeps finding its way through. Highly recommended.

[Yonah Stephens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Across A Starlit Sky written by Susan Shalev. In this dual timeline book, we read about two strong women who may have a special connection through time. We meet Amelia, who was born in Portugal during the inquisition that took so many innocent lives. We also meet Mirjam in 1938 Netherlands at the beginning of the war. Two women with similar problems, similar enemies, with spies, rumors, and suspicious neighbors who can report you for even an imaginary reason. Both women must learn to cope in these hard days or they will lose everything. #historicalfiction #wwii #worldwartwobooks #kindle #readersofinstagram