The Girls in the Attic

I enjoyed this story; I found it fast moving and dialogue driven, with enough historical detail to keep me anchored in the place and time. I would have liked the main character to have struggled a bit more with his belief system; his capitulation felt a little too simplistic, but I appreciated the effort in writing a character who is not instantly sympathetic. There are some reviews on amazon.com that mark it down for bad grammar/editing, and in particular a misuse of commas. I have to say, I am a published author of many novels with reputable publishers and I did not notice a single misplaced comma! I'm not sure where those reviews were coming from. Perhaps the publisher corrected the manuscript at a later date, but I can assure you the editing and grammar are both fine.

This is a very readable and engaging tale of wartime Germany: Nazis, Gestapo, Jews; those who were for Hitler and those who worked against him.It was brutal and uncomfortable. It had a lot of horrific truths about things that happened. However there was a sense that it felt like each section was another anecdote of something horrific (ie what tale can be told in this chapter that outdoes the previous horror?). Ie it seemed to describe many attrocities without quite getting under the skin of any of them.Similarly with the characters – they were realistic and – well, not always likeable but they were believable – but I never quite ‘felt’ their emotions.However overall I really enjoyed it. It was very easy to read, well paced, and had a good plot, while also offering an uncomfortable insight into the experiences of Germans within WW2.

Told from a different perspective to the norm, this story will break your heart with its brutality, fear and realistic view of war torn Germany in World War II. Unlike stories that paint Germany as the enemy, this explores how the people of Germany suffered too, at the hands of Britain and America, and their own Nazi party and SS - devastatingly, particularly the women and children left behind, and from the perspective of two young Jewish sisters at the mercy of people who might help or give them away to the Nazis. Unforgettable.

I loved this book, but it is a somewhat emotional and harrowing read based on life in Germany during WW2. It makes a change to read a story of these events from a German perspective, both a Nazi solider and young Jewish woman, especially when the British allies are the enemy. We all know how the Jews were persecuted during the war and the character Lola, the young Jewish woman, is portrayed so beautifully you really feel her emotions of fear and anger towards the Nazis. It's a fast paced, easy read and I kept wanting to read just one more chapter to find out what happened next.I have previously read and thoroughly enjoyed The Ocean Liner and The Parisians by this author and will be reading The Designer next, all of which are also based on true historical events.

Jings by about half way through I wanted to wring Lola's neck. Her 'feisty' stubbornness just led to more and more trouble. I recognise this as a tool to get the story moving forward to experience every possible Nazi war scenario but started to become unrelentless. Fairly decent story but could have been told in half the time. All very Nazi Germany and Jews by numbers with far too many character caricatures - one more heavy leather coat or snarling SS soldier! I wanted to give up by 'soldiered' on like poor Max and I didn't even have to get sewn up several times to do it. Okay for mindless reading but won't be looking for the follow up

An unusual perspective on life in WW2 Germany. A family of anti-Nazis shelter two Jewish sisters at great risk, which is compounded when the son, an injured Wehrmacht soldier returns from the Russian front. A moral dilemma for the son, who whilst not an avid Nazi, believes his duty is to be loyal to Hitler, but fears for his mother who sheltered the sister. As he recovers from his wounds and sees life through the eyes of the average German, his views mellow and he feels more sympathy for the sisters. Fearing discovery where they live in the countryside, he decides the nearest town will provide more anonymity, only for it to be heavily bombed by the allies. From here the story takes a significant twist as the Russian army and allies race each other to Berlin and death is ever present. A very moving story with a fine cast of believable characters.

A compelling tale with endless conflict and plot devices, and a range of emotions, all of which brought out several stereotypes in character, dress, worldview, affiliations etc. I felt a big failure as a character was the incongruous Maus. If he was Max's mentor . . .The writing standard also left something to be desired, I have to admit reluctantly . . . the book was studded with adverbs. Too many speech tags and phrases employed them--e.g. said with trepidation, she replied tightly, he said curtly, she replied fiercely. This resulted in far more telling than necessary, and not enough showing.Overall I enjoyed the tale, but it was marred by the standard of grammar. And as far the last paragraph, I felt it apt as it's now a geographical metaphor.

This is a really gripping story set in war torn Germany. Fortunately not all Germans believed the propaganda about Jews and were prepared to risk their own lives sheltering them from captivity and the gas chambers. It tells the story of a Nazi son returning home on sick leave from his Panzer Division, to find "the girls in the attic". He then came to realise the Jews were no different from his Aryan race, that they were too were decent people; and who he was prepared to protect at all costs, having fallen in one of the girls. I just couldn't stop reading this story especially as the pace increased towards the end, and one was hoping they would both survive the war that was drawing to the end.