Search This Blog
2025 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)
2025 Cover Lovers Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)
2025 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California (2)
- Colorado (3)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida (1)
- Georgia (1)
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa (2)
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine (1)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts (1)
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (4)
- North Carolina (2)
- North Dakota
- Ohio (1)
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas (1)
- Utah
- Vermont (2)
- Virginia (2)
- Washington (1)
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin (1)
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.* (1)
International:
- Australia (2)
- Canada (1)
- England (5)
- France (1)
- Puerto Rico (1)
- Scotland (1)
2025 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
2025 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge
Booklist Queen's 2025 Reading Challenge
2025 52 Club Reading Challenge
2025 Build Your Library Reading Challenge
2025 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge
2025 Medical Examiner Mystery Reading Challenge
2025 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge
2025 Mount TBR Reading Challenge
2025 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge
2025 Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge
The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge
The Life Skills Reading Challenge
Saturday, October 07, 2017
WWII Circus Novel An Atmospheric, Not-to-Be-Missed Masterpiece
6:16 PM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
Kicked out of her home in Holland after becoming pregnant with the child of a Nazi soldier, 16-year-old Noa Weil is forced to seek shelter elsewhere. Aching from the loss of her baby, who was taken by the Nazis, she's bereft and adrift. She sleeps in the German train station where she cleans to make enough money to live. Noa's only goal is to to keep well under the radar, drawing no attention to herself whatsoever. So, when she comes upon an unsupervised boxcar full of Jewish infants headed for a concentration camp, she hesitates. But only for a moment. Determined to save at least one baby, she snatches a child and runs.
On the brink of death after trudging through the brutal winter countryside, Noa finds shelter with a German circus. To fool the Nazis, she will have to blend in with the family of performers. Although she has little experience, she's to undergo rigorous training as an aerialist.
Astrid Sorrell, a master aerialist who's hiding her own secrets, wants nothing to do with the ludicrous scheme to turn Noa into a circus performer. The only thing Astrid needs less than a bumbling student is a rival who's younger, prettier, and surprisingly successful at her new job.
When the circus attracts the most unwelcome attention of local Nazi soldiers, however, the women will have to band together to save themselves and those they love.
I'm a longtime fan of Pam Jenoff's WWII novels. The author—a lawyer who has worked for both the Pentagon and the State Department—is a Holocaust expert who infuses her stories with vivid historical detail; tense, engaging plot lines; and heroines who are sympathetic yet strong. Her newest, The Orphan's Tale, is a haunting, character-driven novel that drew me in from the first word, keeping me utterly spellbound until the last. It's sad, but memorable and undeniably compelling. If you're a fan of well-written WWII fiction, as I definitely am, you will not want to miss this absorbing story. Just be sure to clear your calendar because once you start, you won't be able to put this one down.
(Readalikes: It's billed as The Nightingale [by Kristin Hannah] meets Water For Elephants [by Sara Gruen] and I think that's pretty apt.)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for violence, mild sexual content, and scenes of peril
3 comments:
Comments make me feel special, so go crazy! Just keep it clean and civil. Feel free to speak your mind (I always do), but be aware that I will delete any offensive comments.
P.S.: Don't panic if your comment doesn't show up right away. I have to approve each one before it posts to prevent spam. It's annoying, but it works!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)
Reading
Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano
Listening
If Walls Could Talk by Juliet Blackwell
Followin' with Bloglovin'
Followin' with Feedly
-
Movies That Suck - Mysterious Island13 minutes ago
-
-
-
Monthly Round-Up: March 20255 hours ago
-
-
Lethal Prey by John Sandford6 hours ago
-
Safe and Sound10 hours ago
-
What I Wore in Australia10 hours ago
-
-
-
Ghost Of A Holy War By Yardena Schwartz15 hours ago
-
The Rainmaker by John Grisham19 hours ago
-
-
Sunday Salon: March 30 202520 hours ago
-
-
-
Murder at the Palace by N R Daws1 day ago
-
Bookish Quote of the Day!!2 days ago
-
Nonfiction Books on BookTV2 days ago
-
One Word Titles A-to-Z3 days ago
-
-
-
A Review of Nor Gloom of Night4 days ago
-
-
-
-
I have been reading...1 week ago
-
-
February 2025 Reading Wrap Up3 weeks ago
-
-
-
One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery5 weeks ago
-
-
-
-
I'm Still Reading - This Was My October4 months ago
-
Review: The Duke and I7 months ago
-
Girl Plus Books: On Hiatus8 months ago
-
-
-
What Happened to Summer?1 year ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?2 years ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
Grab my Button!
Blog Design by:
Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ▼ 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
- ► 2015 (188)
- ► 2014 (133)
- ► 2013 (183)
- ► 2012 (193)
- ► 2011 (232)
- ► 2010 (257)
- ► 2009 (211)
- ► 2008 (192)
2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge
2024 - Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction
2023 - Middle Grade Fiction
2022 - Middle Grade Fiction
2021 - Middle Grade Fiction
2020 - Middle Grade Fiction
I found this one at a thrift store. I'll have to bump it up my tbr list.
ReplyDeleteWhenever you give something an A rating, I always put it on my TBR because you rarely give As out.
ReplyDeleteThink I have to read this one! Love that not only is set during WWII, but that it's set in a circus, too. Great review!
ReplyDelete