Hello all! I just finished an awesome historical fiction and debut novel of Andie Newton, The Girl I left Behind. So let’s begin the review!
What would you risk to save your best friend?
As a young girl, Ella never considered that those around her weren’t as they appeared. But when her childhood best friend shows Ella that you can’t always believe what you see, Ella finds herself thrown into the world of the German Resistance.
On a dark night in 1941, Claudia is taken by the Gestapo, likely never to be seen again, unless Ella can save her. With the help of the man she loves, Ella must undertake her most dangerous mission yet and infiltrate the Nazi Party.
Selling secrets isn’t an easy job. In order to find Claudia, Ella must risk not only her life, but the lives of those she cares about.
Will Ella be able to leave behind the girl of her youth and step into the shoes of another?
Perfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The German Midwife and Kate Furnivall.
- Print Length: 368 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1789546680
- Publisher: Aria (October 3, 2019)
- Publication Date: October 3, 2019
- Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC
- Language: English
- Genre–Jewish Fiction/Historical Fiction
Andie Newton writes female-driven historical fiction set in WWII. She’s the author of The Girl I Left Behind (Aria 2019) and The Girl from Vichy (Aria 2020). Andie holds a Bachelor degree in History and a Master in Teaching. She would love to say she spends her free time gardening and cooking, but she’s killed everything she’s ever planted and set off more fire alarms than she cares to admit. Andie does, however, love spending time with her family, trail running, and drinking copious amounts of coffee.
I got this book through Kindle at a discounted price. I am a die hard fan of historical fiction, particularly if the book is based on Holocaust or based on during the Nazi regime. The Girl I left Behind is such a book. The story, told from the main protagonist point of view, Ella is best friends with Claudia. They are in the Women’s League, which, in Nazi Germany at the time, all German teenagers are required to join. However, Claudia is involved in a resistance movement named “The Falcons” which is involved in opposing the Nazi Regime and helping the Jews and others who the Nazis consider “irredeemable” to hide. But things become complicated when Claudia was caught by the Gestapo. Ella, who moved to Munich from Nuremberg joins the Reich government as a secretary to a high ranking Nazi official and at the same time, selling the secrets to the resistance and the spies, acting as a spy herself.
So let’s start with the ones I like about the book.
- The book was actually well written, quiet emotional towards the end that you actually feel like you want to cry.
- The author has done tremendous research on this book, particularly about the life of a German teenage girl during the Nazi regime, the resistance movement that opposed the Nazi regime. Though the book is fictionalized, the events that are described in this book is real, particularly about the description of the political prison.
- Despite the seriousness of the topic, I like how the author has put in a hint of romance in the book–the budding romance between Ella and Max and then Ella and Eric (her own boss) (SPOILER ALERT)
- I like the way the author has made Ella as a brave and courageous girl, risking her own life while working as a secretary to the Reich by acting as a spy, selling secrets. As a woman, I greatly admire Ella’s character in the book.
- The author managed to make the reader feel as a part of the story, particularly the part where Ella goes for skiing with her boss Erik and cousin Alex and three others, describing the life in the mountains, away from the chaos of war. Also, you feel that you are a part of the story as well.
- The author has done a good job keeping the reader at the edge of the seat. As a reader, I was worried about Ella and about how and when she will get caught.
- The last few chapters were bit emotional and sad to read at the things Ella had to go through.
There were not many things that I didn’t like. Towards the end, we know that Ella is going to start a new life as a new person though I kind of wished I know what happened to Max and Claudia.
Overall, this is a good historical fiction book, keeps you hooked into the story and you don’t really want to put the book down! Worth five stars in my opinion!
Tropical Girl Reads 