Resistance Women
by Jennifer Chiaverini
Paperback: 640 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (February 4, 2020)
One of BookBub’s best historical novels of the year and Oprah magazine’s buzziest books of the month.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker, an enthralling historical saga that recreates the danger, romance, and sacrifice of an era and brings to life one courageous, passionate American—Mildred Fish Harnack—and her circle of women friends who waged a clandestine battle against Hitler in Nazi Berlin.
After Wisconsin graduate student Mildred Fish marries brilliant German economist Arvid Harnack, she accompanies him to his German homeland, where a promising future awaits. In the thriving intellectual culture of 1930s Berlin, the newlyweds create a rich new life filled with love, friendships, and rewarding work—but the rise of a malevolent new political faction inexorably changes their fate.
As Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party wield violence and lies to seize power, Mildred, Arvid, and their friends resolve to resist. Mildred gathers intelligence for her American contacts, including Martha Dodd, the vivacious and very modern daughter of the US ambassador. Her German friends, aspiring author Greta Kuckoff and literature student Sara Weitz, risk their lives to collect information from journalists, military officers, and officials within the highest levels of the Nazi regime.
For years, Mildred’s network stealthily fights to bring down the Third Reich from within. But when Nazi radio operatives detect an errant Russian signal, the Harnack resistance cell is exposed, with fatal consequences.
Inspired by actual events, Resistance Women is an enthralling, unforgettable story of ordinary people determined to resist the rise of evil, sacrificing their own lives and liberty to fight injustice and defend the oppressed.
My Rating:
Darling, you must never become accustomed to the extraordinary and the outrageous. If you do, little by little you’ll learn to accept anything.
Scapegoating Jews – or Communists, Poles, women, immigrants – was the refuge of the lazy, envious, and unimaginative. It made the world an ugly hostile place to live in and did nothing to solve any actual problems. She would rather be solitary than count bigots as her friends.
I used to think the rise of the Nazis was about politics. I don’t anymore… It’s something deeper, more sinister, going well beyond mere racial prejudice. The German people are desperately ill with some dread malady of the soul… Think of it. An entire nation has become infected with an ever-present hatred and fear, twisting and blighting all human relations.
She knew before the doctors confirmed it that she had lost the child. She imagined that she had felt the tiny soul leaving her, letting go with a gentle, wistful sigh as if to say it had already learned enough of the world to know it dared not linger.
My Review:
This six hundred page book was arduous reading but well worth the effort. It was an epic saga involving four vastly different women’s intersecting stories while living, struggling, and risking their lives to exist in Berlin during the 1930s and ’40s. The tale spanned almost two horrific decades of sadistic and insidious Nazi brutality and ingenious cruelty during Hitler’s unfettered rise and ruthless abuse of power leading up to and during WWII. Based on fact and embellished with fiction it was poignant, disheartening, heartbreaking, artfully written, intensely emotive, and effusively detailed with vibrant descriptions of each scene. It ruined me. The massive research and attention to detail was profoundly evident and deftly woven into the complex storylines in a remarkably cohesive and thoughtful manner. This was my first experience of the devastating and evocative skill set of Jennifer Chiaverini, I - am – in – awe.
Find out more about Jennifer at her website, and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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