A review by themoonphoenix
This Rebel Heart by Katherine Locke

emotional informative tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This Rebel Heart is set just at the beginning of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. It’s a lyrical story, part historical fiction, part magical realism YA story.

It has 3 POV, but the main character is Csilla. She lives with her aunt and they are planning to leave the country soon, all their other familiars are dead, whether at the hands of the Holocaust or the Soviet intervention.

The prose was beautiful, the author weaves a hard (and real) story with magic and metaphors. Budapest is not longer the colorful and vibrant city of Csilla childhood, is a grey and colorless place. Csilla is not safe, but she found reasons to stay and fight.

The others characters are Azriel, Tamás, one is a friend the other at first is a mystery.

There’s romance too, I didn’t expect it and it was one of my favorite parts of the story, it felt natural and it fits perfectly, without it becoming a romance novel.

It’s a slow story about courage and love, about finding your way and fight.

Read it if you want:
Learn from a historical event not so well known internationally
Historical Fiction with a little magic
Strong and diverse characters

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