Sometimes when I disagree with the reviews that I have seen elsewhere
I really wonder what it is about a book that I don't get (or DO get) in
comparison to most people. And then I begin to question myself and my
opinions. I know that I am not good at detecting "well-crafted"
writing, since I never seem to see it in the books that others describe
as such.
At any rate, I enjoyed this book. I don't
know if it is "well-crafted" or not, but it pulled me in and I finished
it in a single day. It is historical fiction and deals with what
happened to Lidice in the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) during
World War II. One of Hitler's favorite commanders was attacked in
Czechoslovakia and eventually died. Hitler falsely believed that the
instigators of the attack were people from Lidice, so he rounded up all
of the people in the village, separated the women and children and sent
them to a nearby school, and then shot all the men and teenaged boys.
Some of the children, specifically those with blond hair and light
colored eyes, who conformed to the Aryan ideal, were sent to Lebensborn
camps to be trained to be perfect Germans. This is a story about what
might have happened to a girl who was sent to such a camp and then later
adopted into a German family.
Although the story is
fiction, it is based on historical evidence and in fact parallels in
some respects the story of one of the survivors of the experience, as is
detailed in the author's note at the end.
I found the
story interesting and absorbing. It would make for a good discussion
with kids, as in some respects you actually begin to feel sorry for the
Germans and especially the German mother and sister. In your mind, you
KNOW you shouldn't accept the racism and racial hatred they evidenced,
but nevertheless, it becomes tempting, as the young girl feels it, to
believe that it really isn't all that bad -- until the evidence emerges.
Another chapter in the World War II genre - recommended.
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