The Orphans of Berlin
Rating: 4 out of 5
“I wonder where we’ll be when this war is over. Will we have interesting stories to tell, scars to show? Or will we reminisce about how we got through the war unscathed? Will any of us be here at all.”
Berlin 1936. The Landau family are at the heart of their community, running a music shop and just trying to survive. Their lives are beginning to unravel as Hitler's power grows and the treatment of Jewish families deteriorates. The oldest daughter, Rachel, fears for her sisters' future and will do anything she can to keep them safe. Paris 1936. As whispers of war travel over from Europe, American debutante Kay escapes from her mother's grasp and travels as a reluctant spy from Paris to Berlin. A chance meeting with the Landau family will change her life forever. Kay is determined to give Rachel and her sisters a fighting chance, even if it means making dangerous enemies along the way. These brave women will find strength in joining forces to save the ones they love. But they will need the support of one another more than they realize to survive.
This book was told from both Rachel and Kay's perspectives and I think this was an amazing way to highlight the different experiences for each woman. Both of them had dramatically different lives which became entwined with the war. Kay was mostly just looking for a way to be the opposite of what her mom wanted and found herself doing something great.
The book starts off very action packed with a lot of lives at stake, and on the most intense moment of the story, decides to switch back in time to show what led each woman to be there in that moment. The story is abo it love, family and hope something that the author does an amazing job of portraying throughout. I think it helped to see the vast differences in Rachel's experience with the war and with Kay's.
Perhaps most important is that this store shows the lengths both Rachel and Kay are willing to go to in order to keep this family together! All of the women in this novel prove to be incredibly strong and resilient, facing each situation with a sense of resolve. It was a moving and heartwarming story that left me thinking.