A View Across The Rooftops – Book Review

1941, Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. An unforgettable story of love, hope and betrayal, and a testament to the courage of humanity in history’s darkest days.

As Nazis occupy his beloved city, Professor Josef Held feels helpless. So when he discovers his former pupil Michael Blum is trying to escape the Gestapo, he offers Michael a place to hide in his attic.

In the quiet gloom of the secret room, Michael talks of his beautiful, fearless girlfriend, Elke. Michael insists that not even the Nazis will come between them. But Elke is a non-Jewish Dutch girl, and their relationship is strictly forbidden.

Josef sees the passionate determination in his young friend’s eyes. Furious with the rules of the cruel German soldiers and remembering his own heartbreak, Josef feels desperate to give Michael and Elke’s love a chance. But then tragedy strikes, and Josef is faced with an impossible choice.

In the dark days of war, with danger and betrayal at every turn, no-one can be trusted. If Michael is to survive and get back to the woman he loves, it will be down to Josef – to find the hero inside himself, and do whatever it takes to keep Michael alive.

Even if it means putting his own life in mortal danger.

A heartbreakingly beautiful story about courage against the odds, perfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, All The Light We Cannot See, and The Nightingale.

No. of pages:- 398 pages

Publisher:- Bookouture

Date published:- October 25th 2019

Genre:- Historical Fiction

If you bloggers know me, I love historical fictions but based on WWII and Holocaust. So this book is a perfect example based on WWII and Holocaust, during the Nazi occupation in Amsterdam. The story is about the lives of a university professor, Josef Held, who lost his wife twenty years ago, Michael Blum, a Jew in love with a Dutch girl named Elke, Hannah Pender, who is working at the university and is working with the resistance and Ingrid, Josef’s niece, working for the Nazis and in love with a Nazi. I felt at the edge of my seat, particularly the scene where Ingrid and her Nazi love enters into the Josef’s house while Michael is hiding in the attic and my heart beats rapidly, rapidly hoping he is not caught!! The story, though told from the third person point of view is told from the perspectives of these characters.

I must say, the author has done tremendous research on these topics. Quite similar to Anne Frank except, this is a work of fiction though based on real events. The emotions each of these characters are going through, how Josef made a split second decision to hide Michael up in the attic of his house for almost two years, how he and Michael soon developed a sense of camaraderie, Hannah’s emotions about how Jews were being treated and secretly getting involved with the Resistance and Ingrid, who is naïve and oblivious to Nazi’s atrocious treatments towards Jews and Dutch people alike. This was actually an emotional read, heart wrenching book to me. The author did a good job drawing the reader into the story!

Overall, I give this book five stars!

Suzanne Kelman is an Amazon international bestselling author in America, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia and her books have sold over 250,000 copies worldwide and have been translated into six languages. Her WW2 historical fiction books “A View Across the Rooftops”, “When We Were Brave, and Under a Sky on Fire” are published by Bookouture – an imprint for Hachette U.K.

She is also the author of the bestselling book, “The Rejected Writers’ Book Club”, published by Lake Union, which is the first book in the Southlea Bay series. Other books in the series include, “Rejected Writers Take the Stage” and “The Rejected Writers’ Christmas Wedding”.

Kelman is an award-winning writer/screenwriter whose accolades include the Best Comedy Feature Screenplay Award from the L.A. International Film Festival, the Gold Award from the California Film Awards, and the Van Gogh Award from the Amsterdam Film Festival.

In 2015 her script, Held, was recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures and was shortlisted to the top ten in the Academy Of Motion Pictures Nichols Fellowship competition.

As well as a screenwriter and a published author, Suzanne is also a playwright, and her award-winning comedy play, “Over My Dead Body”, had its World Premiere at Outcast Theatre in Washington, Fall 2019.

Born in the United Kingdom, Suzanne now resides in Washington State.

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