About Me

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Surrey, B.C., Canada
I have always been an avid reader and history has always been a passion of mine. I am a huge historical fiction fan, who also enjoys reading gothic tales with chills and thrills, mystery and suspense and who loves stepping back in time..... A quote I once read stated: I don't live in the past..the past lives in me!.. Perhaps that's why I am a Family History/Genealogy Addict too!

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Book Review: The Plum Tree - Ellen Marie Wiseman



Plum Tree by Ellen Marie Wiseman                         
Kindle Edition
Advanced Readers Copy
Net Galley Reader
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher:
Kensington Publishing
Rating 4 out of 5.
                                                

Synopsis

A deeply moving and masterfully written story of human resilience and enduring love, The Plum Tree follows a young German woman through the chaos of World War II and its aftermath. “Bloom where you’re planted,” is the advice Christine Bolz receives from her beloved Oma. But seventeen-year-old domestic Christine knows there is a whole world waiting beyond her small German village. It’s a world she’s begun to glimpse through music, books—and through Isaac Bauerman, the cultured son of the wealthy Jewish family she works for. Yet the future she and Isaac dream of sharing faces greater challenges than their difference in stations. In the fall of 1938, Germany is changing rapidly under Hitler’s regime. Anti-Jewish posters are everywhere, dissenting talk is silenced, and a new law forbids Christine from returning to her job—and from having any relationship with Isaac. In the months and years that follow, Christine will confront the Gestapo’s wrath and the horrors of Dachau, desperate to be with the man she loves, to survive—and finally, to speak out. Set against the backdrop of the German home front, this is an unforgettable novel of courage and resolve, of the inhumanity of war, and the heartbreak and hope left in its wake.


Review introduction
Tragic, Horrific and Sad, but so enlightening and thought provoking! To read about ordinary Germans living in Germany during the terrifying rein and atrocities of Hitler and his Nazi party members is a different perspective on Germany in WW2. Even though Germany was at War, and all those living there at the time were emotionally effected, not all Germany's believed in the ideals of Hitler yet they bore the shame of association after the war.... 

Review
This story invites the reader to be prive to the lives of Christine and Isaac who's forbidden love tragically is heightened by such frightening times in Germany, brought on by Hitler and his Nazi racist ideology including anti-Semitism and Aryan Supremacy.  Although there is a lot of sadness in this book, the story is so well written and such a compelling read, that I was engrossed in the story and unable to put the book down. It is very believable and I was totally absorbed in the story. Tragic as the time was, it was still a great read.   The Author, Ellen Marie Wiseman was able to show a different perspective on how ordinary Germans were living and surviving, as well as doing what they could to aid other Germans who were the targets of the Nazi Regime to safety.

I highly recommend this book, especially to readers who are interested in the history of the German people during WWII.

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