THE AMBASSADOR’S DAUGHTER

Margot Rosenthal is accompanying her father to Paris. Margot’s father is attending a peace conference. Margot would rather be something else versus joining her father. However, when Margot thinks about where she should be and that is with her fiancé’ Stefan, Margot realizes that Paris is not so bad after all. It is not that Margot did not once love Stefan but since his return, he is a changed man.

While in Paris, Margot meets Krysia, a piano player and Georg, a solider. Both Krysia and Georg will help shape and change Margot’s world forever.

The Ambassador’s Daughter is like the fourth book that I have read by this author. I have enjoyed reading books from this author. Pam makes her characters feel alive and the world she builds around them in her books is great. It is like I booked a trip to wherever the story is based around.

I have not read the Kommandant’s Girl, so I did not make the connection like some of the other readers did that this book was a prequel to the Kommandant’s Girl. Of course, not that it mattered to me as I still enjoyed this book. For me it probably was a good thing that I had not read Kommandant’s Girl this way I did not already know how it would all end. I was just able to sit back and read this book.

I liked Margot although I can not say that I was in love with her. This is because, while Margot was nice so was almost too nice. I wanted her to have more of a back bone and stand up for herself and not try to be what everyone else wanted or thought she should be. For example, I thought that Margot should have cut off her engagement to Stefan. It was clear that Margot had strong feelings for Georg. The last few chapters tied up the story nicely. While there really was no surprises.

Pam Jenoff is the author of several novels, including The Kommandant's Girl, which received widespread acclaim, earned her a nomination for a Quill Award and became an international bestseller. She previously served as a Foreign Service officer for the U.S. State Department in Europe, as the Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon and as a practicing attorney. She received her Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania, her master’s degree in history from Cambridge University and her bachelor’s degree in international affairs from The George Washington University. Pam Jenoff lives with her husband and three children near Philadelphia where, in addition to writing, she teaches law school.


1) Have your experiences as a Foreign Service officer for the U.S. State Department in Europe helped you write your novels?


In the mid-1990’s, I was sent to Krakow, Poland as a diplomat. Although I originally went to do consular work (stamp visas and passports and help Americans who got into trouble), I found myself there at a unique moment in history. Many of the issues from the Holocaust, such as anti-Semitism, property restitution and preservation of the camps, had remained unresolved through the Cold War when dialogue and exchange were stifled, and they now had to be resolved before Poland could join NATO and the European Union. I was given responsibility for working on these issues, and I became very close to the surviving Jewish community there. I was profoundly moved by these experiences, both professionally and personally as a Jewish woman living in Poland. My books have been inspired by the things I’ve seen and the people I’ve met, especially in Europe. I’m moved to create stories based on the things I have witnessed.