Wunderland








An intimate portrait of a friendship severed by history, and a sweeping saga of wartime, motherhood, and legacy by an award-winning novelist
East Village, 1989
Things had never been easy between Ava Fisher and her estranged mother Ilse. Too many questions hovered between them: Who was Ava's father? Where had Ilse been during the war? Why had she left her only child in a German orphanage during the war's final months? But now Ilse's ashes have arrived from Germany, and with them, a trove of unsent letters addressed to someone else unknown to Ava: Renate Bauer, a childhood friend. As her mother's letters unfurl a dark past, Ava spirals deep into the shocking history of a woman she never truly knew.
Berlin, 1933
As the Nazi party tightens its grip on the city, Ilse and Renate find their friendship under siege--and Ilse's increasing involvement in the Hitler Youth movement leaves them on opposing sides of the gathering storm. Then the Nuremburg Laws force Renate to confront a long-buried past, and a catastrophic betrayal is set in motion...
An unflinching exploration of Nazi Germany and its legacy, Wunderland is a at once a powerful portrait of an unspeakable crime history and a page-turning contemplation of womanhood, wartime, and just how far we might go in order to belong.

My Review

It seems lately that there are a bunch of new books in the vein of WWII and female childhood friends. I am a fan of WWII themed stories. While, I did like this book, I did find that it fell flat some with me. This is because for these types of stories to truly work; so that you can appreciate them to the fullest, you have to for that strong emotional connection towards the characters. I experienced a luke warm bond. In fact, it was the past with Ilse and Renate that I was drawn to the most. The present with Ava did not draw me in as much.

To be honest, it did seem that the past was more of the focal point of the book. It is where the story began in the first place. It is not hard to imagine the strain that Ilse and Renate's friendship was stretched living in their time. I don't know if anyone would have done anything differently in Ilse's situation. Overall, I may not have loved this book but I did like it


You can request a copy on Netgalley until June 24.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Let's Get Buck Naked!

Image
Description Sadie Becker is not herself. A 40-year-old, divorced mother of two, Sadie wakes up one morning and realizes that she looks and feels like she did in her twenties. Suddenly she’s unable to walk around in her new town of Cougarville without men falling at her feet. Confused and alone, Sadie isn’t sure who to turn toÖexcept answers to her problems might reside with her broodingly handsome reclusive neighbor, Mathis.  An alpha shifter, Mathis lost the love of his life, and he knows he’ll never find another mate. But his innocent new neighbor clearly doesn’t know the danger she’s in, and he's the only one who can save her.  But when the attraction pulls too strong, will Mathis’ animal nature be unleashed and claim Sadie for his own?  Buck Naked  is a sexy, emotional thrill-ride that will hook readers on this fantastic new series.   Author Bio Evangeline Anderson is the author of the Brides of the Kindred, Alien Mate Index, and Born to Darkness series
Read more

Don't Say a Word: A Daughter's Two Cents

Image
  Edna and Leo, a perpetually warring, tyrannical pair in their 80s, begin wintering In Mexico, where they abandon their usual prudence to embrace adventure and a bevy of sketchy new friends. Soon, Edna adopts a pair of shyster builders whom she trusts over her own architect-daughter Elizabeth, and a farcical house results. Blithely indifferent to the calamities that result, the pair refuse all help from their too-compliant only child. Later, following her mother’s sudden death, Elizabeth’s wise, principled father attempts to fill his late wife’s shoes with a string of loopy, live-in housekeepers―with privileges, he hopes. Before it is over the Mexican escapade will bring down the kind of disasters commonly found in pulp fiction. Why can’t Elizabeth stop any of this from happening? No matter the madness, she cannot confront her parents any more than she ever could. In the end, the surprising way in which they come undone reveals just what they spent their lives trying to hide, thereby
Read more

Book Giveaway

Image
As a little girl, Jane has no one. Her mother, the powerful head of a Broadway theater company, has no time for her. She does have one friend-a handsome, comforting, funny man named Michael-but only she can see him.Years later, Jane is in her thirties and just as alone as ever. Then she meets Michael again-as handsome, smart and perfect as she remembers him to be. But not even Michael knows the reason they've really been reunited.SUNDAYS AT TIFFANY'S is a love story with an irresistible twist, a novel about the child inside all of us-and the boundary-crossing power of love. So it is a new year. I hope everyone is having a great one so far. Thanks to Hachette, I have 5 copies of Sunday's at Tiffany's to giveaway to readers. Open only to US and Canada. No PO Boxes. Leave a comment with your email address if you would like to be entered to win. Thank you Contest ends January 30th. I will pick the winners January 31st. Thanks and Good Luck
Read more