4.5 stars rounded up to 5 The Little Liar is a heart-wrenching exploration of the destructive power of lies and the lasting scars they leave. Set in Salonika, Greece, during World War II, the story follows 11-year-old Nico Krispis, whose honesty becomes his downfall. Manipulated by a Nazi officer, Nico unknowingly convinces his Jewish neighbors, including his own family, to board trains bound for Auschwitz. The devastating realization of his role in their fate shatters Nico, leading him to vow never to tell the truth again. Albom masterfully intertwines the lives of Nico, his brother Sebastian, and their friend Fanni, all of whom survive the Holocaust but are forever changed. […]
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A Unique Tale of Art, War, and Bravery in WWII Italy
3.5 stars rounded down to 3. In 1943, two women find themselves on a mission to save the art treasures of Florence from theft and destruction. Eva Brunner, a German photographer, is documenting art hidden in an Austrian salt mine. Across the ocean, American stenographer Josephine Evans joins the Women’s Army Corps and is assigned to work with the Monuments Men, a group tasked with protecting Europe’s cultural heritage. Initially, Eva believes the Nazi claims that they are safeguarding Florentine artworks from the approaching Allied forces and will return them to their original owners, but she soon realizes their true intentions. Disillusioned with her work, Eva defects and helps Lucia, […]
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A Love Story Dimmed by Nazi Brutality
Sarah Freethy’s debut novel intertwines the haunting past of Nazi Germany with a daughter’s quest for truth. 1920s: Bettina, a free-spirited German avant-garde artist, meets and falls in love with Max Ehrlich, a Jewish Austrian student. The rise of the Nazis shatters their dream of escaping Germany. Max is deported to Dachau, where his skill in creating exquisite figures at the Allach porcelain factory helps him survive. Desperate to protect their unborn child, Bettina marries a rising Nazi SS officer. 1993: Clara, who grew up not knowing her father, sets out to discover his identity after her mother’s death. Bettina left behind a single clue—a rare porcelain Viking figurine. Clara’s journey uncovers […]
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A Daunting, Yet Rewarding WWII Epic
I’ve had an advance reader copy of For Malice and Mercy for a couple of years but procrastinated because of its length (575 pages). I finally read it and am glad I did. The novel tells the story of Karl and Marta Meyer, who immigrated to America from Germany for the freedom to practice their Mormon religion. But when America enters WWII, the FBI arrests the Meyers as spies. After stripping them of their citizenship, rights, and livelihood, the US government sends them to a German/Japanese internment camp, and then eventually deports them to war-torn Germany. Their son Hank joins the US Army Air Corps, and after being shot down, […]
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Historical Thriller Falls Short Despite Promising Premise
Andrew Gross’s The Saboteur promises a gripping WWII tale of resistance and espionage but ultimately falls short in execution. Set against the backdrop of Nazi-occupied Norway, the story follows Kurt Nordstrum, a Norwegian resistance fighter who teams up with Winston Churchill’s Special Operations Executive (SOE) to sabotage The Norsk Hydro plant, a heavily guarded factory set atop unscalable cliffs where the Nazis are manufacturing heavy water—a crucial component of nuclear weapons. It’s a mission they expect they will not survive. While the author’s meticulous research and inclusion of real historical figures add authenticity, the novel suffers from several significant flaws. One of the most glaring is the lack of character […]
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The Widows of Champagne
Wow, what a book! I dove into The Widows of Champagne thinking it might be just another sad World War II tale, but boy, was I in for a treat. This novel took me on a journey with three generations of resilient women fighting to safeguard their family’s vineyard during a tumultuous time in France. Gabrielle Leblanc Dupree, a woman with a secret mission, is at the forefront. Instead of gearing up for a grand celebration of two centuries of champagne excellence, she orchestrates a covert operation to protect the vineyard’s most precious vintages from the clutches of the Nazis. The tension is palpable, and you can feel the weight […]
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The Lost English Girl
Author Julia Kelly takes us on a journey to Liverpool in 1935, where we meet 18-year-old Viv Byrne, who was raised in a strict Catholic home. She finds herself in a difficult situation when she becomes pregnant after a one-night stand with a Jewish saxophonist Joshua Levinson. To avoid the shame of being an unwed mother, Viv and Joshua hastily tie the knot. But Viv’s overbearing mother offers Joshua a large amount of money to disappear on their wedding day, knowing the child will now be born in wedlock. He agrees and heads off to New York City to chase his dreams of jazz stardom. Five years later, Viv has […]
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Radar Girls
“Seems like war has always been around, mostly because men are unable to come to agreement in other ways.”—Sara Ackerman, Radar Girls. Daisy Wilder is a 23-year-old ranch hand who supports her sick mother and loves horses and Hawaii’s natural beauty. However, when the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor shakes their world, she not only loses her beloved horse but also her job. Following the Pearl Harbor attack, Daisy joins Women’s Air Raid Defense. There, she learns to guide pilots in dark skies and track suspicious planes over the Pacific. Yet not everyone believes in the abilities of these women, despite the nation’s future hanging in the balance. With unwavering […]
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Tears of Amber
“The most shocking fact about war is that its victims and its instruments are individual human beings, and that these individual beings are condemned by the monstrous conventions of politics to murder or be murdered in quarrels not their own.”—Aldous Huxley. Sofía Segovia, the bestselling author of The Murmur of Bees, has written another extraordinary historical novel, this time set in Eastern Europe during WWII. Tears of Amber is inspired by actual events—not only by official texts but also by the accounts of two children and their families who traveled enormous distances to survive one of the biggest exoduses in human history. The Nazi Party pushes eastward, reaching the […]
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Angels of the Pacific Review
I knew little about what took place in the Philippines during World War II—most of the books I’ve read about that era were set in the European theatre—so Angels of the Pacific was enlightening. Elise Hooper’s historical novel was inspired by the true stories of US Army nurses and the contributions of Filipinas of the resistance. Nurse Tess Abbott is posted in Manila and enjoys life in a tropical paradise near sandy beaches and exciting nightclubs and restaurants. But when the Japanese Imperial Army invades the island nation, the nurses escape to Bataan where they live in the squalor of a battlefield hospital. On April 9, 1942, the American forces […]
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