This is Kate Breslin's first novel. It was different from what I expected, but I liked it. I would describe it as a Christian Romance novel set in a concentration camp in WWII, mimicking the story of Esther from the Old Testament. Who could have possibly guessed that by the cover - or the synopsis on the back cover?! Certainly not me!
This is the story of Stella Muller (Hadassah Benjamin) who gets rescued from the Dachau Concentration Camp by a SS Kommandant Colonel and taken to Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia. Theresienstadt was considered a "transit camp" in WWII. People were brought there temporarily until they could be put on a train to Auschwitz. Stella was brought there by the SS Kommandant Colonel, Aric von Schmidt, because her papers said she was a gentile - and she had the blond hair and blue eyes to prove it - but her papers were stamped that she was a Jew and she was taken to Dachau because of that. Aric allows her to recover her health from living at Dachau, and then makes her his secretary. Aric and Stella's relationship is the "romance" of the novel.
Each chapter of the novel starts with a bible verse from the book of Esther which relates to what you are going to read about in that chapter. The story of Stella follows the story of Esther. Stella's father figure in the novel (her uncle) is Morty; Esther's father figure (her cousin) in the Bible is Mordecai. Stella and Esther both pretend to be a gentile and both figure out ways to help the Jews (their people) and both influence the men in their lives (Aric and King Ahasuerus) to help the Jews. This is the "Christian" part of the novel.
The historical events in the novel obviously revolve around Theresienstadt, the persecution of the Jews, the evil demonstrated by the Nazi's, the Nazi's preparing for the Red Cross to inspect Theresienstadt, what the Nazi's proclaimed was a ""Paradiesghetto" - a sort of "resort city", when in fact it was another concentration camp, and WWII itself.
I liked the book. It was fast-paced, tragic, redeeming, nerve-wracking, romantic. Was it completely plausible? No. But it is nice to think the ending could have happened. I guess that's enough for me!
Wendy's Rating: ****
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