The Elfmanns own one of Berlin's most popular fashion houses, Paul Elmann has ignored the happenings around Hitler's rise in power. Their daughter Liese, has always been in the background running the fashion house and taking care of the things her parents have no sense of mind to do. Having ignored what has been going on around them and the warnings they have received, they lose everything. Liese had to take care of her parents who have no idea how to survive in a Jewish Ghetto.
Flash forward 40 years to Karen Cartwright. After the loss of her mother many years ago the relationship between her and her father has become cold and very distant. After events that cause her father unable to live in his house alone any longer, the task if left to Karen to clean out her childhood home. While going through her father’s belongings she finds her mother’s jewelry box and discovers an old photograph and a love letter from a stranger written to her mother, it is from Germany and dated after WWII ended.
Karen decides it is time to learn more about her mother, the first step is finding the stranger from the picture and the one who wrote the letter. Finding this stranger turns out to be the easy part, finding out the truth about her mother won't seem to be as straightforward. She uncovers many secrets, maybe these secrets will help bring her and her father closer and even help her find the love of her life and help her find her place.
WWII historical fiction is one of my favorite genres to read, this one will be up there as one of the better ones. I will admit I found this book hard to get into at the start, by the end, I couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed how Liese's and Karen's storylines entwined. This story doesn't just give you a happy ending, you get to see the truer darker side to what the survivors had to live with. I think the mental health aspect of this was written well, given the time period the story took place in. We also see what a lot of family members undoubtedly had to go through when looking for relatives that were missing after the liberation of the concentration camps. Coming from someone who does not know a lot about their family’s background and heritage I really felt a connection with Karen and her search for answers about her mother and her history. I truly felt her father Andrew was just trying to do the best he could in an extremely difficult situation. The one thing about this story that drove me absolutely nuts was Liese’s parents. I get they played a role but how can you have your head so far up your butt you can’t see what is happening around you. It all could have been different if they had listened to Otto.
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book for free.
Comments