Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. The Night WarApril 9, 2024 by Dial Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Miriam's family has moved from Germany to Paris, and she misses their nice house in the countryside. It's 1942, and there is a lot to be anxious about. She feels responsible for the arrest of Monsieur Rosenbloom, a neighbor who has a wife and a young daughter, Nora, of whom she is very fond. Her father works at a newspaper, and Miriam's mother prefers that her daughter go to do the marketing because she speaks better French, not that there is much food. Jewish people are made to wear yellow stars on their clothes, and the gentile concierges of the apartment buildings keep the resident's identification cards. When there is a round up of Jewis citizens, Miriam manages to warn her father and some of her friends, but comes home to find the door to her apartment open. She hears what she thinks is a gun shot, and sees a pot of red geraniums broken on the ground, and thinks that the worst might have happened to her mother. Mrs. Rosenbloom pulls her aside and tells the Nazis she is her daughter when the two are rounded up. Mrs. Rosenbloom throws away Miriam's identification card and makes sure she is not wearing a yellow star, and tells her to take Nora and run away, head to the unoccupied Vichy district and then Switzerland. Miriam doesn't think she can do it, but Mrs. Rosenbloom tells her that this choice could save both girls. She takes Nora, but is luckily found by a nun, who tells a Nazi that the Miriam has run away from a Catholic school. Nora is dropped off with another family, and Miriam, who is told to go by Marie, is sent to a convent school just across the river from Vichy. Sister Dominique is working to transport people to safety along with Sister Annunciata, whom the girls call Sister Anchovy because of the unfortunate medical condition the sister has that gives her a constant odor of fish. When Sister Dominique breaks her leg, Sister Anchovy asks Marie to help with their work. This involves going to the Castle Chenonceau and working in the gardens with several of the other schoolgirls after the gardener dies. Bette, who lives at the castle, is also a passeur, helping Jews to escape, and she counts on Marie's help. Marie learns a lot of history about the location and about the treatment of Jews through history, and meets the ghost of Catherine deMedici, who says that Marie must work for her now. Marie finds Nora living with a nearby family, and eventually manages to take her and get across to Vichy with two other classmates who are also Jewish. End notes tell more about the real history of the castle and the plight of the Jewis people in France during the war.
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Miriam's family has moved from Germany to Paris, and she misses their nice house in the countryside. It's 1942, and there is a lot to be anxious about. She feels responsible for the arrest of Monsieur Rosenbloom, a neighbor who has a wife and a young daughter, Nora, of whom she is very fond. Her father works at a newspaper, and Miriam's mother prefers that her daughter go to do the marketing because she speaks better French, not that there is much food. Jewish people are made to wear yellow stars on their clothes, and the gentile concierges of the apartment buildings keep the resident's identification cards. When there is a round up of Jewis citizens, Miriam manages to warn her father and some of her friends, but comes home to find the door to her apartment open. She hears what she thinks is a gun shot, and sees a pot of red geraniums broken on the ground, and thinks that the worst might have happened to her mother. Mrs. Rosenbloom pulls her aside and tells the Nazis she is her daughter when the two are rounded up. Mrs. Rosenbloom throws away Miriam's identification card and makes sure she is not wearing a yellow star, and tells her to take Nora and run away, head to the unoccupied Vichy district and then Switzerland. Miriam doesn't think she can do it, but Mrs. Rosenbloom tells her that this choice could save both girls. She takes Nora, but is luckily found by a nun, who tells a Nazi that the Miriam has run away from a Catholic school. Nora is dropped off with another family, and Miriam, who is told to go by Marie, is sent to a convent school just across the river from Vichy. Sister Dominique is working to transport people to safety along with Sister Annunciata, whom the girls call Sister Anchovy because of the unfortunate medical condition the sister has that gives her a constant odor of fish. When Sister Dominique breaks her leg, Sister Anchovy asks Marie to help with their work. This involves going to the Castle Chenonceau and working in the gardens with several of the other schoolgirls after the gardener dies. Bette, who lives at the castle, is also a passeur, helping Jews to escape, and she counts on Marie's help. Marie learns a lot of history about the location and about the treatment of Jews through history, and meets the ghost of Catherine deMedici, who says that Marie must work for her now. Marie finds Nora living with a nearby family, and eventually manages to take her and get across to Vichy with two other classmates who are also Jewish. End notes tell more about the real history of the castle and the plight of the Jewis people in France during the war.
Strengths: This had very interesting discussions that Marie had with gentiles who very calmly told her what a problem Jewish people were in France, and how much better off the country would be without them. While this is in no way portrayed as a good or realistic way to think, it's important that it be explained, because how else would so much devastation have happened? This is a unique perspective that I haven't seen addressed in other books set during this era. Marie knows that these people aren't evil; they are just believing what they have been told. The epilogue gives the fates of the characters, and it was nice to see that Miriam was reunited with her parents. There is a lot of history in this that I hadn't read before. Bradley's The War That Saved My Life is very popular in my library.
Weaknesses: This really lost me when Marie started talking to Catherine deMedici. She was a good choice for a slightly but not entirely evil ghost, but I had trouble wrapping my mind around her part of the story.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who want a little bit of fantasy mixed in with their World War II story, like Cohen's The Lost Ryū , Presley and Polder's A Whale in Paris, or Zafon's The Prince of Mist.
Weaknesses: This really lost me when Marie started talking to Catherine deMedici. She was a good choice for a slightly but not entirely evil ghost, but I had trouble wrapping my mind around her part of the story.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who want a little bit of fantasy mixed in with their World War II story, like Cohen's The Lost Ryū , Presley and Polder's A Whale in Paris, or Zafon's The Prince of Mist.
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