Happy December! Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Solstice, Blessed Bohdi and good wishes for all the holidays I’ve failed to mention.
Thanksgiving and business reading took up a chunk of my time this month. However, I have two amazing book that you should add to your 2023 reading list.
The German Wife by Kelly Rimmer: If you watched the Step into the Story episode discussing this book, then you know I think Kelly Rimmer is a genius. The woman managed to make me feel sympathetic towards an SS Officer and his wife. Only a writer on top of her game can pull that off.
At the very end of World War 2, the US Government captured several German scientists and brought them to America to work on the US rocket program. These Germans and their families lives and worked at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. That program, Operation Paper Clip, was the inspiration for The German Wife.
Rimmer’s book focuses on two women, Sofie, the German wife, and Lizzie, the wife of an American scientist who opposes the German’s presence. After establishing the awkward arrangement, Rimmer takes readers back in time to illustrate how life shaped their identities. Both women are products of their environment. Sofie, obviously, is marked by the rise of Nazism and how it effects her friends and family. One of the most poignant lines in the book occurs when Sofie realizes that in order to keep her family safe and intact, she must send her son to school to be indoctrinated. Meanwhile Lizzie watches helplessly as dust storms and the Great Depression destroy her family. A tragedy will turn her into a survivor and color every decision she makes going forward.
At its core, The German Wife is a book about how far people will go in order to protect the ones they love, especially when their backs are against the wall. Both women do what they must to keep their families safe. They also pay dearly for those decisions, for nothing is without consequence. What Rimmer manages to do is give both women flaws and strengths, making them deeply human. Her book reminds us that nothing in war is black or white.As someone with Jewish relatives, I began this book with a great deal of reluctance. I finished with tears in my eyes. It’s a great read. I loved it. Trigger Warning: The book features a graphic depiction of a concentration camp.
The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey by Serena Burdick: While you’re buying a copy of the German Wife, make sure you also buy this engrossing story about being lost and finding your voice. Smartly written and tightly plotted, the story questions keep you guessing until the very end.
The book tells the tale of two timelines. The first is about Evelyn Aubrey, a young bride who has been swept off her feet by a newly successful author at the turn of the 20th century. She comes to regret her impulsiveness but not before she finds herself trapped in the country with a controlling husband. Their unhappy union reaches a boiling point when her husband begins passing off her writing as his own. Realizing that, as a woman, she has no power to stop him, Evelyn plots her revenge.
Meanwhile, in the present day San Francisco, Abigail discovers a photo of the father she never knew tucked in a book of Evelyn Aubrey’s poems. The find sends her to England and New Hampshire where she hopes to solve the mystery of her long-lost family as well as discover herself.
While I loved both timelines, I especially enjoyed Evelyn’s journey from naive young girl to hardened woman. The transformation is very believable. The mysteries are compelling as well. I started this book on a flight from DC and had a hard time putting it down when we landed.
Be forewarned. You will be infuriated at the powerlessness of women in the pre-modern era, and you will want to strangle one of the characters. You will also shed more than one tear at Abigail’s resolution.This was my first Serena Burdick read, but it won’t be my last. Click here to buy at Bookstore.org
Disclosure: Bookshop.org helps independent bookstores compete online. Customers purchase a book and decide which bookstore they wish to receive the sale. It should be noted that Step Into the Story is an affiliate of Bookshop.org. By clinking purchasing through on the provided links, Donna and I will earn a small commission which will be donated to literacy education.
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Happy December! Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Solstice, Blessed Bohdi and good wishes for all the holidays I’ve failed to mention.
The German Wife by Kelly Rimmer: If you watched the Step into the Story episode discussing this book, then you know I think Kelly Rimmer is a genius. The woman managed to make me feel sympathetic towards an SS Officer and his wife. Only a writer on top of her game can pull that off.
The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey by Serena Burdick: While you’re buying a copy of the German Wife, make sure you also buy this engrossing story about being lost and finding your voice. Smartly written and tightly plotted, the story questions keep you guessing until the very end.