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bookishbellee's review
5.0
The Girl I left Behind
5 stars
Oh my goodness. This book. Wow. This is one of the most riveting, thought-provoking and inspirational stories I have ever read. I was blown away by the author’s ability to draw a reader in from the very first sentence and continue to captivate with her writing. As a reader, I felt like I was experiencing exactly what Ella, our main character, was experiencing, and growing as she was growing.
The pace of the plot, the tension of the story, the preface itself, and the point of view that it was written from all accentuate Newton’s remarkable skills as a writer. A flawless debut and a timeless story of friendship, love, the effects of war and fighting for what you believe in!
5 stars
Oh my goodness. This book. Wow. This is one of the most riveting, thought-provoking and inspirational stories I have ever read. I was blown away by the author’s ability to draw a reader in from the very first sentence and continue to captivate with her writing. As a reader, I felt like I was experiencing exactly what Ella, our main character, was experiencing, and growing as she was growing.
The pace of the plot, the tension of the story, the preface itself, and the point of view that it was written from all accentuate Newton’s remarkable skills as a writer. A flawless debut and a timeless story of friendship, love, the effects of war and fighting for what you believe in!
fionayule's review
3.0
I am a huge fan of historical fiction, especially novels set in World War 2 so I was immediately drawn to the cover of this novel.
Ella Strauss is a teenager in Nazi Germany who is drawn into the German Resistance by her friend Claudia. The author has done her research on this novel and it shows. Much of it is set in Nuremberg and Munich during the war years where I don’t think I have ever been in a novel. Certainly from reading this it would appear that the Munich experience of WW2 was very different than the Berlin experience.
The Girl I Left Behind in the title is intimated during the novel as being Claudia who is imprisoned for her work in the Resistance, and who Ella has to “leave behind” when she is sent to safety in Munich. However, when I came to the end, I was left thinking that it was Ella who is left behind. The naïve shop girl who becomes fearless member of the Resistance, imprisoned for her beliefs and who ultimately leaves her past behind.
Needless to say I am hoping there will be a follow up as I for one would like to find out what happens to Ella.
sloth34jc's review
4.0
I am a huge fan of historical fiction, particularly those centred around the role the resistance played in ww2 across Europe. Despite having read many books with this as the theme, I had not read one which focussed on German resistance fighters, so I was excited to read from this point of view.
You get to know Ella Strauss quickly, discovering that she is brave and fearless and disagrees with the Nazis, despite being part of the youth league. I was hooked from the second she decided to join her friend as a ‘falcon’, hiding Jews and helping them to escape. Throughout, the book had me wondering what I may have done in this situation, and if I may have been as brave as Ella (probably not is the answer!) I was also intrigued by how young most of the characters are, making this a possibility to recommend to my students when we cover this history topic.
The friendships and family relationships described in this book are complex and heartwarming, you get a sense of how people pulled together and cared for each other in the face of such dangers.
I stayed up late to finish, and though at times I felt that it was a little rushed towards the end, I still enjoyed finding out what happened to Ella.
All in all I definitely recommend this book, it kept me interested and there were a number of tense moments throughout which, amongst other things, kept me hooked.
Thank you so much to the author, netgalley and the publishers for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
You get to know Ella Strauss quickly, discovering that she is brave and fearless and disagrees with the Nazis, despite being part of the youth league. I was hooked from the second she decided to join her friend as a ‘falcon’, hiding Jews and helping them to escape. Throughout, the book had me wondering what I may have done in this situation, and if I may have been as brave as Ella (probably not is the answer!) I was also intrigued by how young most of the characters are, making this a possibility to recommend to my students when we cover this history topic.
The friendships and family relationships described in this book are complex and heartwarming, you get a sense of how people pulled together and cared for each other in the face of such dangers.
I stayed up late to finish, and though at times I felt that it was a little rushed towards the end, I still enjoyed finding out what happened to Ella.
All in all I definitely recommend this book, it kept me interested and there were a number of tense moments throughout which, amongst other things, kept me hooked.
Thank you so much to the author, netgalley and the publishers for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
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