Page Turners: Book Reviews and Obsessions

Another novel by Pam Jenoff, The Winter Guest is set in the same time and place as the two previous reviews - Poland during WWII. Helena, her twin sister Ruth, and their 3 younger siblings struggle to survive after their father passes away and their mother is sent to the hospice ward of the hospital. Although they look just alike, the twin sisters are very different in personality. Helena is the tomboy of the family, hunting and procuring the necessities, while Ruth prefers undertaking a more motherly role. It's during an outing in the woods that Helena discovers an injured soldier, and despite her reservations, decides to help him. She treats his injuries as best as possible and continues to visit and bring supplies to the soldier whenever she can sneak away. It turns out that the soldier is an American paratrooper named Sam. The two fall for each other as they spend more time together, but hold back because of the uncertainty and danger of the situation. Eventual...

As promised, next up for review is The Diplomat's Wife, also by Pam Jenoff - and also set during WWII. I swear I read more than WWII historical fiction, but I wasn't lying when I said it's my favorite... Okay, so this novel picks up slightly after where The Kommandant's Girl left off. Marta has been arrested and imprisoned by the Gestapo and miserably drifts in and out of consciousness in a nasty jail cell while recovering from the gunshot wound courtesy of the Kommandant, and the beatings courtesy of the Gestapo. She can hardly believe her eyes when two young American soldiers come to her rescue, and one of them in particular comforts her and gives her water while calling for a doctor. Before drifting back out of consciousness, she exchanges names with her rescuer, Paul. The next time she wakes up, Marta is in a hospital ward. The American soldiers were real and they rescued her, and she begins the recovery process in a hospital ward in Austria while befriending he...

Another personal WWII historical fiction favorite is The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff. It's the story of a young Jewish woman, Emma Bau, set in Poland during the Holocaust. Emma is newly married and barely has time to enjoy any wedded bliss before her new husband disappears to work for the Resistance. Emma is soon forced to move to the city's Jewish ghetto with her family, and it's there that she is introduced to some of her husband's fellow Resistance members. They soon manage to smuggle her out, and Emma moves in with her husband's Catholic aunt, Krysia, complete with papers identifying her as an ordinary Polish girl, Anna Lipowski. Krysia soon decides to host a dinner party to introduce her 'niece' Anna to some of the town's top brass, all of whom are either pro-German or Nazis. Emma is nervous but plays her role well, but she's rendered speechless when a tall, strikingly handsome guest arrives late to the party. The man is Kommandant Ric...