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A review by sloth34jc
The Girl I Left Behind by Andie Newton
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.