This story was classified historical fiction, but I found
it to be more of a historical romance. Main character, Emma, is a young newlywed
in Poland when she finds herself
immersed in WWII. Shortly after her marriage, she learns her husband Jacob is a member of
the resistance. Suddenly, he disappears into the night, leaving her scared and alone with her
mother and father in the newly formed Jewish ghetto. Emma is smuggled from the
ghetto, leaving behind her parents and life as she knew it. She is taken to
Krakow and assumes a new identity as Anna Lipowski, a gentile.
Emma/Anna becomes the assistant to
Kommandant Richwalder, a high-ranking Nazi official. Urged by the
resistance and her husband’s own aunt, she uses her new position to gain insight
into details of the Nazi occupation. In doing so, Emma/Anna compromises her
marriage vows, her safety, and the safety of her pretend brother (the son of a murdered rabbi). In the end, Emma/Anna
finds herself pregnant, facing the realities of an ill-fated resistance, dead/dying parents, and her own mortality.
This story wasn’t
great but it wasn’t terrible either. It was an easy read, rather predictable at
times. My main issue with it was how nicely everything always came together, just in the nick of time. I
felt Jenoff made some situations a little too hard to
believe. I am also not a huge fan of romance and this was, more or less, simply
a romance set during WWII.
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