In the shadows of World War II, trust becomes the greatest risk of all for two strangers.
December 1943. In the years before the rise of Hitler, the Gerber family’s summer cottage was filled with laughter. Now, as deep drifts of snow blanket the Black Forest, German dissenter Franka Gerber is alone and hopeless. Fervor and brutality have swept through her homeland, taking away both her father and her brother and leaving her with no reason to live.
That is, until she discovers an unconscious airman lying in the snow wearing a Luftwaffe uniform, his parachute flapping in the wind. Unwilling to let him die, Franka takes him to her family’s isolated cabin despite her hatred for the regime he represents. But when it turns out that he is not who he seems, Franka begins a race against time to unravel the mystery of the airman’s true identity. Their tenuous bond becomes as inseparable as it is dangerous. Hunted by the Gestapo, can they trust each other enough to join forces on a mission that could change the face of the war and their own lives forever?
Good read This book captures the experience of Nazi Germany from a citizen’s perspective that is not typically brought to light. It identifies how so many average citizens fell so easily into the propaganda that they were fed and how very hard it was for those who so desperately hung on to views that ran counter to the National Socialist movement. It was particularly interesting to largely focus on a female’s experience with her own internal conflicts and changing philosophies. At some points it’s…
A GRIPPING PLOT — deep moral dilemmas and dangers — highly recommend WHAT DO WE HAVE? A psychological thriller? A true war story based on facts with fictitious characters? A suspense? Some of all of these. What we have is a mix of storyteller and history teacher with many long expository intrusions, flashbacks and author-voiced settings.PLOT gripped me immediately. We go deep into Franka’s emotions as she slogs into the Black Forest woods, deep in snow, to end her life. After all, she’s lost all her loved ones to war and the Gestapo. So she trudges…
Descriptive Writing Propels this Historical Novel/Thriller âWhite Rose, Black Forestâ is billed as a historical fiction, but it has all the makings of a thriller. Author Eoin Dempsey presents Franka Gerber with a dilemma right from the beginning, then continues to turn up the heat as the story progresses. Although Franka understands the danger that could come from her actions, she continues to do what she feels is right.The story is told through the eyes of several characters, although Franka is the main focus. While we do learn of some of…