MY THOUGHTS AND BOOK REVIEW
A wonderful historical fiction book where the author Ellie MidWood brings the fictional characters, Margot and Jochen's story inspired by real people who lived in Berlin during the Nazi Hitler rule. The novel shows how the hypocrisy of Nazi leadership, the bravery and selflessness of normal German citizens who would do anything to save their persecuted spouses.
Outstanding research study conducted by Ellie can be seen through out the novel. Margot an Aryan woman was married to a Jew named Jochen in those days where Jews were not welcome in the new Germany as they were considered minorities. Everyone in Babelsberg knew Margot's husband was Jewish. Margot found it just fine, for the reason why right after the Nuremberg law had been passed, prohibiting all relationships between Aryans and Jews, just stopped short of dissolving existing marriages - they had changed her from Margot and replaced it with Rosenberg - Margot Rosenberg.
Anastacia, an artist, half Russian, half German who Margot's father Karl had fallen in love with ten years ago became a mother figure to Margot, where Margot considered not having blood relation with her own mother from whom Karl had been estranged long before Anastacia. Anastacia knew what to say and how to make everything better. Margot had worked as a model for the Wertheim department and loses her job and became homeless because she remained married to a Jew and later to provide for the family she becomes a seamstress for private clients. Margot and Jochen struggled with reduced income and couldn't afford a decent home for themselves. Having married for ten years Margot couldn't imagine a life without Jochen.
This novel is a must-read - the unimaginable bravery, sacrifices, heroism and fearlessness of women displayed through Margot in the midst of WW2 and the atrocities of Nazis towards Jews in the period of 1935- 1946 are well portrayed.
I just reviewed The Wife Who Risked Everything by Ellie MidWood. Thanks to Netgalley and Publisher Bookouture for an advance copy for my honest review.
Book Description
Berlin, 1943: “No matter what happens, no matter what they do to me, they will never stop me loving you,” he said, placing a kiss on my tear-stained cheek. Based on a true story, this heartbreaking World War Two page-turner shows that, in the face of evil, love is power, courage is infectious––and the voices of many will not be silenced.
“We’re not moving until you release our men!” Margot shouts, her heart racing. In the snow, the Berlin streets dusted with white, she shifts from foot to foot with the small crowd of wives by the iron gates. She has lived in terror that this moment would come: Nazis have arrested her beloved husband.
Margot, a German seamstress, and Jochen, a Jewish artist, were madly in love. But this became a forbidden act in Hitler’s Germany. The days of Jochen filling their sixth-floor apartment with roses to surprise her vanished. Their friends started crossing the street to avoid them. They lost their jobs. And then they found themselves scrabbling for breadcrumbs on the cold cobbles outside the home that was once their own.
Yet even as their world came crashing down, they had each other. Until now.
Now, Margot risks her life to protest outside Gestapo headquarters. As days pass, hundreds are gathered. They refuse to move, even when enemy planes cross the clouds and bombs fall to the ground. Yet defying the Nazis is a death sentence…
Will this evil war ever end? Will she and Jochen survive? What will it take for Margot to see the love of her life again?
- Publisher : Bookouture (August 18, 2022)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 246 pages
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