Beautifully written novel about a girl living in Germany during WW2 as a conflicted daughter of an in-deep Nazi and the choices she faced, the people she sacrificed for.

I loved the different perspective of someone on “the other side” that the book offered, and really the many facets of even that. Most perspectives of WW2 is of the Jews and atrocities they faced, different occupied countries, or from the Allies’ experiences. It isn’t often that you read from a German perspective how they lived; probably because it’s such a difficult aspect to look at. I think the author did an excellent job portraying the difficulty and fear in making hard and selfless choices and what that meant. How so many were not willing to make it and that itself lead to the destruction and death of so many - how it isn’t just the blatant evil and cruelty that made up the Nazis, but much was just complete selfishness, pride and blind ambition, driving them to put themselves first and justify so much horrendous treatment of their own people and surrounding nations. It’s a danger that can happen now to anyone and is often more insidious because it’s easier to ignore and harder to call out.

The only negative I felt was Sam’s character in intelligence should have been a little more reliable and insightful in his job. It just was not as believable to me. I get that he was a desk jockey and not an interrogator but he didn’t seem like he should have lasted that long without better instinct and skill in that occupation. But aside from this, as a character, especially at the end, he redeemed himself for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the copy of this book in exchange for the review!