Delirium by Lauren Oliver

What if love were a disease? A deadly disease?

Magdalena Ella Haloway (Lena) will turn 18 on September 3. On that day she will have "the procedure" to cure her from the disease of "falling in love" or as it is known, "amor deliria nervosa". It's been sixty-four years since love was officially declared a disease and since that time everyone gets the procedure done in Portland to cure them.

Portland is like most other cities in the United States, walled in by miles of electrified fencing, strictly regulated and controlled to prevent outbreaks of deliria nervosa. Regulators patrol the streets searching for "sympathizers" and those who might be sick. To prevent developing the terrible affliction or deliria nervosa, each person undergoes an "evaluation" prior to their 18th birthday where they are rated and paired - that is, matched to people with similar characteristics. They are then assigned a marriage partner and after being "cured" are allowed to marry. Scoring high on the evaluation is all that matters. It means getting assigned a great job and a good marriage partner.Those who resist being cured or have evaded the cure are known as invalids. They live outside the cities in what is known as the Wilds, where the cured believe they live like diseased animals.

Lena Haloway lives with her Aunt Carol and her younger cousins Jenny and Grace. Lena's mother had the procedure done three times, all unsuccessful in curing her disease. Just before her scheduled 4th procedure, her mother committed suicide by stepping of a cliff. Her father is dead and her older sister Rachel, now cured, is married and lives away from home.

Delirium begins 95 days before Lena is scheduled to have her cure. She can't wait because the cure will make her life uncomplicated and protect her from the disease of love. It will also mean an end to the shame and humiliation of her mother's incurable disease. For Lena, it is "the chance to be reborn: newer, fresher, better. Healed and whole and perfect again...."  "I don't like to think that I'm still walking around with the disease running through my blood. Sometimes I swear I can feel it writhing in my veins like something spoiled, like sour milk. It makes me feel dirty. It reminds me of children throwing tantrums. It reminds me of resistance, of diseased girls dragging their nails on the pavement, tearing out their hair, their mouths dripping it."

Before her cure she must attend her evaluation to get ranked and assigned a marriage partner. However, Lena's evaluation is disrupted by a protest organized by the Invalids who unleash a herd of cows into the labs where the evaluations are held. It is during this disruption that Lena first sees Alex watching and laughing from an observation deck. Lena is immediately attracted to Alex.

Hana Tate is Lena's best friend. Unlike Lena, Hana is not so eager to be cured. She tells Lena that she is sick of all the rules and walls. She wants to make her own choices in life and not have to do what others tell her to do. As Hana begins to rebel, Lena finds herself drawn to follow her. In the first instance of rebellion, both Hana and Lena who like to run take a forbidden route that leads them down to the labs where the evaluations are held. It is here that Lena again meets Alex who works at the labs as a security guard.

Hana discovers that there are many people, not just Invalids, who don't believe in the cure and who post rebel music, thoughts and comments online. She invites Lena to a music concert out at a deserted farm where Lena again meets Alex. Eventually she begins to secretly see Alex, meeting him on the beach near her home. At first Lena is intensely conflicted about going to music concerts and also about meeting Alex. She is unnerved by Alex's free and open way of living and expressing emotion, his being totally unafraid. But as Lena learns more about Alex she comes to understand that Alex really cares for her.

Alex opens Lena's eyes to the truth of the society she is living in. The people of Portland are being lied to and controlled in ways they cannot imagine. Alex tells her that "Everyone is asleep. They've been asleep for years. You seemed....awake." When he asks her what she is afraid of Lena tells him, "You have to understand. I just want to be happy....I just want to be normal, like everybody else."

In their own world, Lena experiences the stirrings and liberation of a first love - a forbidden love, which if discovered, could lead to her early cure as well as punishment and humiliation for her and her family. Complicating this is that her match is someone she doesn't love and whom she knows she could never love. He isn't Alex. Lena must decide; does she get the procedure and marry someone she will never love or does she make a decision that will change her life forever?

Discussion

This book was a fantastic read - breathtaking, poignant and sad, rushing to a thrilling but unresolved ending. A perfect setup for the second book in this trilogy. Lauren Oliver has definitely created a uniquely disturbing world in which adults are treated to prevent them from ever experiencing deep feelings of love for anyone or anything.

Although Delirium is very much plot-driven, Lauren Oliver takes the time and care to detail the characters of Alex and Lena. Lena is a girl who wants more than anything to be secure, to be safe, since all she's known her entire life is that she comes from a mother who was incurable."After the procedure I will be happy and safe forever."

The second book in this trilogy is slated to be titled Pandemonium. Hopefully more will be revealed about the Wilds, the Invalids and their attempts to subvert the controlled society of the cities. There are other things I hope to learn about too, but discussing them here would spoil the book! Enjoy this fantastic novel!

Book Details:
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
New York: HarperCollins Publishers
441pp.

Puppet by Eva Wiseman

It is Friday March 17, 1882. In the village of Tisza-Eszlar in Hungary,  Fourteen-year-old Julie Vamosi and her friend Sophie Solymosi are watching a travelling puppet show along with many others including Morris Scharf and his younger brother, Sam. The are Jewish boys from the Old Village as marked by the clothing they are wearing, their long curling forelocks and their black skull caps.

The two girls decide to stop and visit Sophie's sister, Esther who was unable to come to the show because she is working for Mrs. Huri. They find Esther feeding the chickens in Mrs. Huri's yard. Esther asks them to come sit with her while she eats teh piece of bread she's been given for her lunch. Julie reluctantly stays hoping she can still het home before her Pa, while Sophie who works for Mrs. Rosenberg as a maid as more freedom to do what she wants.

Julie lives in a small cottage with her Ma and Pa and her younger sister Clara. Their cottage has a small wooden table with chairs, a metal fireplace and four cots along the walls. Julie has made a fire because her mother is cold. Her mother became ill a year ago, first suffering from pain that gradually grew to become unbearable. However much she pleaded with Julie's father, he would not allow Dr. Weltner to treat her because the doctor is Jewish. So Julie waited until her father was working in the fields and brought the doctor to their house. Dr. Weltner told Julie's mother that she has breast cancer and that he cannot help her. Even though Julie told him they cannot pay, he gives them a powder to mix with water. As the days passed Julie's mother has taken more and more of the medication, putting her to sleep but also reducing her pain less and less.

Julie's father is physically abusive and struggles to get work. He also hates the Jews that live in their village often making crude remarks about them. But Morris Scharf, a young Jewish boy the same age as Julie brings a pot of soup that his stepmother has made for Julie's family. 

Julie's friend, Esther is a live-in servant to Mrs. Huri who abuses her and doesn't let her out except to attend church. On the morning of April 1st, 1882, Julie arrives at Mrs. Huri's house to buy milk. There she witnesses Esther being beaten by Mrs. Huri for not following her instructions. Esther fills Julie's container with milk and tells Julie that she is cold and starving as she hasn't been allowed to eat that morning. Later that morning, Julie meets up with a shivering Esther who is on her way to buy blue paint at Kohlmayer's, in the Old Village. Esther arrives in a hurry, giving Julie a tin cup of milk for Clara and her mother, and refuses Julie's offer to accompany her to Kohlmayer's. Esther is given money by two village women, Mrs. Lanczi and Mrs. Csordas to buy them soap and nails respectively. As she leaves to go on her errand, Esther hugs Julie and tells her she is the only friend she has.

Later that afternoon, Esther's mother comes to Julie's home looking for her daughter. Julie is preparing potatoes while Clara naps and her father works at the Rosenberg's farm. Mrs. Solymosi tells Julie that her daughter Sophie and Rosie Rosenberg met her on her way back to Mrs. Huri close to one o'clock. That was the last time she was seen. Mrs. Solymosi is certain something has happened to Esther and she decides to check the river believing Esther may have gone for a walk. Julie and Mrs. Solymosi walk along the Tisza River but when it grows dark they both return to their homes.

The next day, Sunday April 2, Julie meets Mrs. Solymosi at the well and learns that Esther is still missing. At this time, Mr Scharf who is the Jewish caretaker of the synagogue attempts to comfort Mrs. Solymosi by telling her that a girl who went missing in the village of Hajdunanas was found after it was believed the Jews had taken her. She returned home after having fallen asleep among the reeds next to the river. However when Mrs. Solymosi doesn't respond, Mr. Scharf becomes embarrassed and explains that he was only trying to comfort her. He leaves to go to the synagogue to listen to Solomon Schwarcz, who Julie believes is the new butcher.

However the situation turns ugly when Mrs. Csordas tells Mrs. Solymosi not to believe a word Mr. Scharf has said. She states, "You know what these Jews do. Every year, before their Easter, they kill a Christian child and use his blood to make their matzo!" When Julie questions this but is put down by Mrs. Csordas who urges Mrs. Solymosi to talk to the magistrate. Mrs. Solymosi does just that. 

On April 27 when Julie cannot wake her mother that morning, she takes Clara and they walk to Dr. Weltner's home. While waiting for the doctor to return from Mrs. Scharf's, Elizabeth Sos, one of Julie's costomers, accompanied by Mrs. Farkas, the sister of the village magistrate, arrives at the Weltner home. Julie and Clara have been waiting outside for Dr. Weltner to return, along with Sam Scharf. Julie watches as Mrs. Farkas attempts to manipulate five-year-old Sam Scharf by telling him what he saw the day of Esther Solymosi's disappearance. 

Julie's mother is dead when she returns with Dr. Weltner. Five weeks after the disappearance of Esther Solymosi, Julie and her family bury their mother. At the funeral meal, Mrs. Solymosi, consumed with grief loudly asserts that the Jews murdered her daughter and that they must pay. She also repeats the story that Sam supposedly told Mrs. Farkas about how Esther was lured into the Jewish temple. Several of the women relate stories about Sam that seem to support his story. Julie feels confused and lost without the guidance of her mother. 

The next day Clara is sent to live with their Aunt Irma and Julie is made to move to the jail where she works as housekeeper for Sergeant Toth who is a mild manner man. The job is unpaid and Julie has no time off, so she is unable to visit Clara. One day in May, while on an errand for Toth, Julie visits Sophie at the Rosenbergs. During her visit she learns that two men from the district court in Nyiregyhaza are in Tisza-Eszlar asking questions about Esther. Rosie Rosenberg tells Julie that they were also questioned. However, Sophie believes that the Jews killed her sister, although she doesn't blame the Rosenbergs.

Back at the jail, Julie witnesses Bary and Peczely interrogate, intimidate and abuse first Sam and then Morris so they can use one of the boys as a witness. Because the cannot use Sam's tale, Bary, Beczely andd Chief Recsky torture Morris eventually taking him to Nyiregyhaza. The next day, Monday May 22, 1882, Morris is brought back to the jail and all of the Jews in the village are lined up. It is clear to Julie that he has been physically harmed and under duress he is forced in front of the villagers and the Jewish community to implicate three men and a beggar: Solomon Scharwcz the butcher, Abraham Buxbaum and Lipot Braun who applied for the job of butcher, and Herman Vollner. It is clear the police and the villagers are not interested in learning the truth but have decided to scapegoat the village Jews.

With the impending loss of her job at the jail, and her father completely abandoning her, Julie asks to be taken along with the Jewish prisoners to Nyiregyhaza where she can find work. The hatred and prejudice of the village people leads to the Jewish men being tried in the district court in Nyiregyhaza.

Discussion  

Puppet is a short novel about a real historical event that happened in the Hungarian village of Tisza-Eszlar, the blood libel of 1882. The "blood libel" is a myth that originated in England during the mid-twelfth century. It is the false belief that Jews use human blood to make the flatbread, matzos eaten during Passover. This falsehood has led to the persecution the death of thousands of Jews over the centuries. 

In the case of Tisza-Eszlar, a fourteen-year-old Christian girl, Eszter Solymosi went missing from the village on April 1, 1882. Eszter worked as a servant in the home of Andras Huri. When she did not return home from an errand, a search failed to locate Eszter.  A rumour that Eszter might the victim of a Jewish ritual began to spread quickly. This rumour may have been started by Moric Scharf, the son of Jozsef Scharf. Eventually, Hungarian leaders added fuel to the fire of the rumour by suggesting that the young girl was murdered to use her blood on the Jewish passover which would begin on April 3, 1882. However, for Jews any food that came in contact with blood, either animal or human would be non-Kosher and therefore not edible during Passover.

On May 6, Eszter's mother asked a judge to investigate and on May 10th a judge comes to the village to question the Scharf children. Josef Bary first questioned five-year-old Samuel Schraf who implicated his older brother, fourteen-year-old Moric and his father Josef. Despite Moric and his father denying any knowledge of the missing girl or her murder, Josef and his wife were arrested and Moric was taken to the commissar of safety's home in Tiszangyfalu. While there Moric "confessed" after being intimidated by Recszy, the commissar, telling him that Eszter was murdered by a Jewish lodger who lived with them, and with the help of two other Jewish men, drained blood from her body.

On June 18th the body of a girl was pulled from the river but Eszter's mother said that although the clothes belonged to her daughter, the body was not that of Eszter. The body was eventually determined to be that of a girl who was older and it was buried. Eventually fifteen Jewish men were accused and tried. They were acquitted based on the contradictions in Moric Scharf's account and the lack of evidence at the supposed crime scene. Moric Scharf eventually had to leave Hungary.

In Puppet, the story is told from the perspective of a fourteen-year-old Christian girl, Julie Vamosi. Julie and her family are fictional characters but the events she relates and the people she interacts with are real. Wiseman "...has based the trial scenes on the court transcripts from the Egyetertes, a daily Hungarian newspaper at the time, which were published in entirety in Elek Judit-Sukosd Mihaly's 1990 book, Tutajosok."  The chapters in Puppet are titled by date beginning with a Prologue July 1876 and ending with the end of the trial and Julie moving to Budapest on August 4, 1883.

It's interesting that Eva Wiseman chose to tell this story through the eyes of a Christian girl. Unlike the other Christian villagers, Julie does not seem to dislike her Jewish neighbours. Julie Vamosi is skeptical about what the villagers are saying about their Jewish neighbours because they do not fit with what she has experienced. When she first overhears Mrs. Csordas accusing the Jews of being responsible for Eszter's disappearance Julie considers what Mrs. Csordas is saying might be true. However, Julie realizes that she doesn't really know her Jewish neighbours at all. They do not speak Hungarian but German and their own language (likely Yiddish).  Because they are so different she wonders, "Could it be possible they used our blood to make their Easter bread? If they didn't kill Esther, then who did? If she was alive, my friend would have come home. The Jews had to be responsible. there was nobody else. The Jews must have killed her." 

However, Julie remembers the kindness of the Jews who have helped her family. "Then I remembered how Mr. Rosenberg hired my pa to work on his farm when nobody else would give him a job and how my pa hated him for it. I remembered how Dr. Weltner gave Ma medicine without her being able to pay for it. I remembered Mrs. Scharf sending soup to Ma. Finally I remembered the kindness in Mr. Scharf's eyes when he told us the story of the missing girl who had been found. I even thought of Morris. He had been a sweet natured little boy."  Even the Solymosi family has experienced kindess with the Rosenbergs treating their other daughter Sophie well, giving her clean clothes and the freedom to come and go. Julie wonders who is right.  When Julie tells her mother how the women believe that Esther was murdered by the Jews, Ma tells her, "People can be  foolish. They don't know much about the Jews, although they've lived among us as long as I can remember.Tiszla-Eszlar is as much their home as ours. They are ordinary people, both good and bad. They aren't devils who would do the terrible thing they are accused of."

As the rumour about the Jews murdering Esther takes root, Julie struggles with what to do. At her mother's funeral meal, when the village women accuse the Jews of murdering Esther, Julie attempts to speak up but is quickly silenced by her abusive father.  However, at the jail as Sam is questioned by Mr. Bary, Julie keeps quiet despite knowing that it was Mrs. Farkas who created the rumour about what happened. "I wanted to shout that I had heard Mrs. Farkas and Elizabeth Sos tell Sam that the butcher Schwarcz had cut Esther's leg. It wasn't Sam who had said it. All he had done was cry. However, after a quick glance at Bary's fierce face, I kept quiet."

Although Julie is intimidated into silence, when a girl's body is pulled from the river in Csonkafuzes Julie positively identifies it as that of Esther based on a scar she knows her friend had, the clothing found with her and the tin of paint. When pressed and even attacked by Esther's mother, Julie explains how she knows the body is that of her friend. She attempts repeatedly to explain to Mr. Bary but he doesn't listen and Julie even attempts to talk to the Warden Henter. "I realized at that moment, that although I knew the truth, nobody around me wanted to know it."  They don't want to listen because Esther's body has no cuts on the throat or anywhere else, meaning that the story of the blood libel is not true.

Eventually Julie does speak with Jewish mens' lawyer, Mr. Eotvos prior to the trial in June of 1883. She confirms that Morris was beaten and intimidated into confession, that he is being persuaded to believe that "the Jews are evil, wicked people" and she explains how there is proof that the Jews were likely not involved in Esther's death. But Julie's greatest challenge comes when Mr. Eotvos asks her to testify as a witness for the defence as she was present to identify Esther's body when it was found. This is not an easy decision for her. "I thought of how they had made Morris ashamed of who he was. I no longer wondered about the right thing to do. I was certain. But I was too afraid to do it." However, Mr. Eotvos counters, "Doing the right thing is never easy. The Jews of Tisza-Eszlar and Morris himself are the victims of hate. Bary, Recsky and Peczely are evil men. So is Henter. I know that it'll take tremendous courage on your part to tell the truth with them looking on in court, but I know you can do it." Teresa who Julie works with as a scullery maid at the jail in Nyiregyhaza tells her that without her testimony the Jews who are innocent might come to harm. 

However, Julie must overcome severe intimidation by her own pa, who comes to the jail the night before she is to testify and physically beats her. Initially Julie lies in her testimony telling the court she cannot be certain that the body was that of Esther Solymosi. She is competely terrified of what her father and Warden Henter might do to her if she tells the truth. However, as she gets up to leave, Julie realizes that she alone can fight the injustice that is happening in her village and her country. And so she sits down and tells the court the truth. "In that moment, I realized that here was an injustice I could right. I realized I didn't have to add to the sum of misery."  Julie's testimony along with the inaccuracies in Morris's result in the accused Jewish men being released as the charges were not proven. Her courage at this crucial moment saves the lives of the Jewish men and paves the way for Morris to realize what he's done by his lies. Julie also never judges Morris Scharf, repeatedly urges him to tell the truth, and in the end has great pity for him.

Puppet is aptly titled because Morris Scharf is no more than a puppet in the hands of authorities who are should be unbiased and determined to learn the truth about what happened to young Esther Solymosi. They are also responsible for overseeing community safety and judicial matters in a fair manner. Scharf, young and easily intimidated, was manipulated into testifying against his own father and his own people by those who hated the Jewish people living in their village and their country. At the trial in June 1883, Morris gives his testimony without any expression. "Morris began to recite his confession in a monotone. His stiff manner reminded me of the way the puppet Leslie the Brave had given his speeches in the traveling puppet show I had seen in Tisza-Eszlar. "  Morris the puppet is very much the opposite of the puppet, Leslie the Brave who boldly defeats evil in the play that Julie and Sophie watch at the beginning of the story. Sadly, Morris's lies have only served to incite the villagers against their Jewish neighbours. The syngagogue in their home village of Tisza-Eszlar has been completely destroyed and the Jewish people have left, fearful of the their lives.

Puppet demonstrates how ignorance about people who are different can lead to misunderstanding and discrimination, isolation and great harm. As Julie's mother points out, because the Jewish people in their community are different and because people do not understand their culture, they are viewed with suspicion. Mrs. Csordas exemplifies this when she speaks about her experience living next to the synagogue. "I can hear their infernal praying from my house. Their service is usually finished by eleven o'clock in the morning, but yesterday they didn't leave until noon. Something must have been going on there!" She doesn't know what happens in the "temple" but she's certain it must be something evil, merely because it doesn't conform to her beliefs or understanding.

 

While Julie’s presence at all of the key events - the bribery of the young children, the jails where the Jewish men were held, Morris being taken to the archives and offered training, and at the trial- seem contrived, the retelling by Eva Wiseman is effective. The key characters in the event, notary Joseph Bary, the brutal court clerk Peczely, Chief Recsky, and the kindly Christian lawyer Karl Eotvos are well developed.

Puppet is well-written and engaging, but because of the more mature subject matter of physical abuse, manipulation, murder, suicide (implied) and coarse language, this short novel is for older teens.

For more information on this event, you can read an entry in the Jewish Encyclopedia (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=226&letter=T)

Book Details:
Puppet by Eva Wiseman
Toronto: Tundra Books 2009
243 pp.

For Freedom. The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

For Freedom tells the true story of Suzanne David, a former opera singer AND a spy for France.

It is May 29, 1940. Thirteen-year-old Suzanne David lives in Cherbourg with her papa, maman and her brothers, fourteen-year-old Pierre and sixteen-year-old Etienne. Her brothers are too young to be soldiers and Etienne is lame as well. Suzanne attends the convent school located high above Cherbourg in the hills. After a defining solo in the church at Christmas Suzanne was told she has promise as an opera singer. And so she is studying to be an opera singer under the tutelage of Madame Marcelle. 

On this Wednesday however, Suzanne and her friend Yvette Gireau have been given permission by Soeur Margritte to go down to the town provided they finish their homework. For the past six months, France has been at war with Nazi Germany. The French and British armies had been unsucessful in stopping the Germans from taking over much of Europe. Suzanne and her family have seen the British soldiers in Cherbourg: they are polite and do not bother anyone. But everyone is filled with increasing dread because they know Hitler is coming.

In Cherbourg, Suzanne and Yvette go to Place Napoleon which is a large square located near the train station, Gare Maritime, and sit on a bench in front of the Church of Le Trinitie. Suzanne notices that the harbour is empty on this sunny afternoon.In the square Madame Montagne and her little son, Simon come to say hello to the two girls. Madame, who is expecting another baby, tells Simon not to get his feet wet. Suddenly the square, the beach explode as planes fly overhead.  

While Suzanne and Yvette had sheltered beneath the park bench, Madame Montagne was not so lucky. She was dead, her unborn baby, a little girl lay dead beside her. Yvette is in shocking, screaming as Suzanne pulls off her sweater to cover Madame's corpse. Although Yvette wants to run, Suzanne insists that they wait by Madame Montagne until the ambulance arrives. Although Suzanne is shaking, Yvette is deeply traumatized, shaking, crying and she vomits. The two friends manage to make their way back to the convent, where Yvette collapses. Soeur Marie-Auguste, who is the principal, walks Suzanne home.

Suzanne's mother is shocked when she sees her daughter covered in blood. Suzanne explains that she is not hurt but that Madame Montagne is dead. Dr. Leclerc tells Suzanne that she has rock and metal - shrapnel embedded in her lower arms and legs. He removes as much as he can and cleans her wounds, telling her that she may have pieces of shrapnel in her body for the rest of her life. Suzanne tells him she wants to remember nothing of what happened this day, but he remarks that she is very strong.

The next morning, Suzanne's maman walks her back to school. Suzanne doesn't see Yvette at morning Mass but doesn't want to turn around and risk angering the sisters. But Suzanne doesn't see Yvette all day and when she questions Soeur Elisabeth she tells her that Yvette "isn't hurt in her body" but that what they saw yesterday has hurt her. At her music lesson with Madame Marcelle, Suzanne struggles to focus. She is learning a new music written by J.S. Bach, his Magnificat. The music helps ground Suzanne, making her feel safe.

When Yvette doesn't reture to school the following day, Suzanne visits her friend at home. But despite attempting to engage her, Yvette says nothing. Madame Gireau asks Suzanne to come visit again. That night Suzanne's brother return home from the monastery school they attend and they are critical of Suzanne's decision to go to the beach that day. This is when Suzanne learns about the evacuation of four hundred thousand British and French soldiers from Dunkirk by many hundreds of boats. Now Suzanne understands why the harbour was so empty.

Numb with grief, Suzanne helps her mother with shopping at the market on Saturday. Just walking through Napoleon Square brings back the memory of what happened there. On Sunday Suzanne's widowed Aunt Suzanne visits with her six children after Mass. On Monday with the beginning of year end exams, Suzanne and the other students learn that Paris has been bombed. Suzanne had gone to Yvette's home early in the hopes they would walk back to school but Madame Gireau explains that her daughter cannot possibly go to school at this time. At school the students pray the rosary for France. Afterwards, in the dorm room that Suzanne shares with Odette, Martine and Colette, she refuses to talk about the bombing in Cherbourg.

On June 14, the French government declares Paris to be an open city that they would not defend in exchange for the Germans not destroying the city. Panic set in and millions fled the city but Suzanne's two uncles did not.Both of Suxanne's brothers are upset that the Germans have taken over Paris: Etienne wishes he could fight but he is not able to after breaking his back in a fall down the stairs, while Pierre wants to fight the Germans. 

The Germans are close to Cherbourg. The French battleships have either left for England or been deliberately sunk so the Germans cannot use them. Papa tells them that the great General Charles de Gaulle whom he fought under has been warning about Germany for years and that France needed to rearm. Now it is too late. Marshal Petain is now premier of France, but Suzanne's papa believes he is too old and has lost his courage. 

The war comes to Cherbourg as the German army under the command of General Rommel approaches the city. The remnants of the French army fight but quickly succumb to the Germans. The city officials surrender to the Germans and give them the railroad. When Pierre is not happy upon hearing that Papa works as a dispatcher for the Germans, his father explains that he could work for them and recieve his pay to support his family or he could be shot. Suzanne's father takes the position that in order to survive one must "obey the rules and no one gets hurt."

One Wednesday, the Germans burst into Suzanne's home and order them out, after they quickly gather up some of their possessions. The German officer gives them thirty minutes to pack what they need. The houses on two streets Rue Lohen and Rue Loubet as well as the chateau, the hotel and some city buildings. Suzanne's home is on Rue Lohen and the houses on that street were used to house regular German troops. Suzanne's family is taken in by Monsieur and Madame Herbert who allow them to stay in their basement. It takes Suzanne's father three weeks before he is able to find them another place to live.

Meanwhile, France is now divided: the occupied portion that is under the control of the German army and the southern part, called Vichy France under the control of Hitler's puppet regime. Suzanne and her papa feel the Vichy government are traitors. Suzanne and her mother discover the Saturday market has been closed and they are told not to come there again. Suzanne and her family move into the second floor of a rickety house overlooking the cemetery. There is a kitchen, a livingroom, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. An alcove, meant to be a pantry serves as Suzanne's bedroom. Although the apartment smells of old grease, Suzanne realizes that this is the best her papa can do. Papa tells them that General de Gaulle is safe in England and is organizing a government there.

Life begins to change in subtle ways. One day Suzanne sees Guillame, her roommate Odette's brother who was a lieutenant in the French army. Suzanne calls out to him but when he ignores her she realizes that if the Germans learned he was a soldier, he would be arrested and sent to a war camp. Pierre also notes that there was a German soldier behind him in the bakery whom he did not notice. Papa warns them to be careful what they say as there are men and women who are Nazi spies.

Life in Cherbourg goes on:  Suzanne helps Maman, continues her singing lessons with Madame Marcelle, and visitsYvette who still was not talking. Food is rationed with beef, sugar, butter and flour now scarce, wine and cigarettes are rationed. By the end of August, Suzanne begins to notice that people are disappearing. These disappearances coincided with the first of new laws restricting French Jews and also the banning of books by Jewish authors.

In the spring of 1941, Etienne graduates and finds work as a shop clerk, however due to his bad back, he finds the work exhausting. In the summer Suzanne begins taking music lessons three times a week in Madame Marcelle's apartment. She continues to sing in the church choir and is given a new solo to learn for the Feast of the Assumption. Suzanne often would visit her Aunt Suzanne who lived in the country. 

Suxanne and Pierre began their final year of school in the fall of 1941. Suzanne wanted to join the Cherbourg opera company but Madame Marcelle told her she was not yet ready for a such an endeavour.  She continues to miss Yvette whom she considered her best friend. However, Yvette continues to remain at home. She still doesn't speak but she does do the chores that her mother asks of her. In December of 1941, the United States enters the war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Suzanne now hopes that maybe this will mean the eventual defeat of the Nazis. 

After a discussion about spies and the Resistance, Suzanne begins to wonder who might be a Nazi spy as she walks through town. Her family learns that their street has been abandoned by the Germans and so they make the decision to go see their home. To their horror, all their possessions are gone, the beautiful mural that Suzanne's mother painted defaced, and the house stripped bare. Suzanne struggles to understand the wanton destruction and the theft of personal items:"Why had they taken things that meant nothing to them?...Everything was gone. I walked around and around my empty room, trying to make sense of it. Gone were clothes, toys, books and photographs." Her family decide to clean the house and they are able to recover some of their possessions which the Germans sold. But while her parents are able to find a lumpy old mattress, Suzanne and her brothers have to sleep on pallets.

In the spring of 1942, Suzanne, now fifteen-years-old, graduates from her convent school. Madame Marcelle informs Suzanne that she is now ready to perform and that she should audition for the part of Josepha, the lead in L'Auberge du Cheval Blanc, the Inn of the White Horse. It is a light opera being performed by the Cherbourg opera company and perfect for Suzanne to begin her career.  Although Suzanne is concerned that she may not get the part because she is too young, Madame Marcelle tells her not to worry, that she has told the director that she would send Suzanne when she was ready. Suzanne is successful and cast as Josepha and performs at the matinee. Madame Marcelle takes her to sing at various venues in Bayeux and Saint-Lo, to various voice instructors, and to concerts. 

In July the Nazis begin rounding up Jews in Cherbourg. While Suzanne did not notice anyone disappearing, her uncle in Paris had seen this happen and tried to intervene. Throughout the fall, Suzanne sang the role of Mimi in La Boheme, Etienne worked part time, and Pierre was employed running messages for customers at a hotel. On November 11, Vichy France is invaded by the German and Italian armies: now all of France is occupied.

In the spring of 1943, Suzanne accidently cut herself with a knife when she tripped. The cut was in her shoulder and quickly became infected. Shortly afterwards, Suzanne was cast as the lead in the opera, Carmen. However, her cut was now so severely infected that she had to see Dr. Leclerc to have the abscess drained. When she returned to have her stitches removed, Dr. Leclerc revealed that he was a spy with Resistance and invited Suzanne, who travelled a great deal to join. He tells her she cannot tell anyone, not her parents, her brothers or Madame Marcelle. When Suzanne goes to see Dr. Leclerc upon her return from Saint-Lo, he tells her that he receives messages that he needs her to carry. Is Suzanne brave enought to help France resist the Nazis? Her prayers for courage are answered as Suzanne become spy number 22.

Discussion

The novel, For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy is based on the experiences of Suzanne David Hall as a French teenager during the Nazi occupation of France in World War II. Suzanne was born January 23, 1927 in Cherbourg, France to Etienne and Desiree Ledoux David. She was thirteen-years-old when Paris was occupied by the Nazis on June 14, 1940. They arrived in Cherbourg on June 17, 1940 and occupied the city until the Allied invasion in 1944. The town was liberated during the Normany invasion that began on June 6, 1944. Cherbourg was a deep water port necessary to the Allied invasion plans. 

Suzanne's determination to fight against the Nazis stemmed from the bombing of Cherbourg and what she witnessed on May 29, 1940 when the Germans bombed the port and the town square. As portrayed in the novel, Suzanne and her friend Yvette witnessed the gruesome death of Madame Montagne and her unborn baby. Yvette never really recovered from what she experienced that day. The Germans confiscated Suzanne's family's home and all the homes on her street. They were ordered out and were not able to return until three years later in 1943. In the novel, Suzanne and her family return in what seems to be either late 1941 or early 1942. The novel incorporates the basic facts of Suzanne's life, from her witnessing the death of Madame Montagne, to her training as an opera singer, and her recruitment by Dr. Leclerc as a spy for the French Resistance. With her acceptance, Suzanne became spy number 22. He would give Suzanne encrypted messages which she  could not read to pass on to other spies whose identities she did not know. 

In the Epilogue, Suzanne David states that the messages she carried contained information that would help the Allies plan the invasion of Europe: things like tides and currents, potential landing sites, and the location of German troops. The Battle of Cherbourg began on June 22, 1944. The Nazis considered the deep water port of Cherbourg to be essential and were determined to defend it at any cost. The Allies required the port for logistical support of the invasion and eventually took control of Cherbourg and the port on July 26. 

Suzanne's life was saved by the June 6th invasion by the Allies. She had been captured by the Nazis and was being interogated in Cherbourg. She later learned that of the twenty-two spies working in Cherbourg, only herself and one other agent survived. The others were executed including Dr. Leclerc and his entire family who were shot in the street.  Suzanne was awarded the Croix de Lorraine by Charles de Gaulle. Suzanne married an American soldier, Larson Hall and moved to Tennessee where she lived out the rest of her life. 

Suzanne had been training as an opera singer and had performed in numerous operas. However, during a performance of Rigoletto, in Paris during 1944,  Suzanne damaged her vocal cords. Her move to Tennessee with her American husband meant her career as an opera singer was over. She never learned if her voice recovered as she never again sang professionally. 

For Freedom adequately portrays life in occupied France during World War II. As with many French citizens, Suzanne struggles to accept what has happened with the German occupation of France. Forced from their home and now living in a squalid apartment overlooking the cemetery, she tells her papa they have taken so much, including Madame Montagne's life. But he tells her, "...our lives belong to the Lord. The Nazi's have not taken our work, Suzanne. They have not taken your voice. They have not taken our courage or our faith. We haven't lost anything of value."

While Suzanne's father has been forced to choose between helping the Nazis run the French trains or being shot, other members of the family and the people of Cherbourg rebel in subtle ways. Etienne walked around with three pencils the colour of the French flag in his shirt pocket, Monsieur Vardin walks about town wearing a white armband with the initials RAF on it. When he is accosted by the German soldiers he tells them it means "rein a fumer" or "nothing to smoke". 

When the Nazis begin burning books written by Jews, Suzanne doesn't understand why she should be concerned. But Madame Marcelle explains that it is wrong to burn them because like music, books are art and shouldn't be banned. When Suzanne questions her roommates at school, they realize that they know very few Jews because Cherbourg is mostly Catholic and that any Jews they know do not look any different. 

Although they endure food rationing and shortages, the reality of life under Nazi rule is not really explored in depth. Like other French citizens, Suzanne experiences questioning by soldiers and once when forgetting her identification papers, she and Madame Marcelle were forced to spend the night hidden in a hay bale as they would not have been able to pass through a German checkpoint. She struggles to find warm clothing and dresses to fit. The rounding up and deportation of French Jews doesn't seem to be central to her war experience probably because Cherbourg was a mainly Catholic town. 

However, the focus on the story is Suzanne's work as a spy. Suzanne's eventual work as a spy is foreshadowed early in the novel. At home her family discusses if General de Gaulle is a spy. Her father notes that he himself is not a spy.  "I stared at Papa, hearing his words over in my mind: if I were a spy. I didn't think for one moment that Papa was actually a spy, but the phrase awakened a sense of possibility in me. I'd understood from the start of the war that there people in France spying on the French for the Germans, but I hadn't considered that the opposite must be true, that there were people spying on the Germans. Fighting for the Free French. Fighting for de Gaulle."

It is Suzanne's inner strength, her courage that ultimately leads to her becoming a spy for the Resistance. This courage manifests itself from the beginning of the war. The bombing of the town square in Cherbourg, while devastating to her friend Yvette, does not impact Suzanne in the same way.  Dr. Leclerc quickly notes Suzanne's strength of character. As she's being treated by Dr. Leclerc after the bombing he notes her strength. " 'So? You are not one who cries, eh?' Dr. Leclerc patted my cheek with approval...'Tough girl.' " Years later when she visits Dr. Leclerc for treatment of a wound in her shoulder, he is impressed with her courage and toughness. He forewarns her that he will have to cut her open with a knife and that he has nothing to alleviate her pain.  "The pain was worse than I thought it could be, much worse than the pain of the abscess itself.  I didn't cry out. I held still."  

It is these qualities plus the fact that as a performer who travels throughout France that prompts Leclerc to ask Suzanne if she would like to help him in his "work" - the work of carrying messages. He tells her, "And if you agree to help me, you can never back out. Not ever, no matter what. You must help me until the very end."   Suzannne agrees but when she meets Dr Leclerc later he questions if she is afraid. He tells her, "If you aren't brave enough, it is better that you say so now...If you lose heart later, you will endanger others besides yourself. You will endanger me, my family, and many people you don't know. Do you think you have enough courage?"  Dr. Leclerc explains that she will pass on coded messages to people she will not know.  Madame Marcelle advises Suzanne, "When you tell a lie first, say as little as possible. If you do something without explanation, it's less suspicious than if your explanation makes no sense. Second, always be as truthful as possible. Keep all the details absolutely true, except for the little central part that can't escape being a lie. The more truth you can put into the lie, the less likely it is that you'll trip yourself." This advice foreshadows Suzanne's future capture by the Nazis for her work as a spy for the Resistance.

In For Freedom, Brubaker Bradley highlights the central role her Catholic faith played during this difficult time of her life. In the novel Suzaane frequently prays for others and for courage. After the bombing of the town square, Suzanne prays for the little boy, Simon Montagne whom she doesn't see anywhere. " Please, God, let him have run home...Please, God, let him live."  While learning to sing J.S. Bach's Magnificat, Suzanne thinks, "There had to be a God, I thought. A vibrant, joyous God in heaven, to make up for the awfulness of what people sometimes did on earth. There had to be a heaven, so that Madame Montagne had a place to go."

Suzanne David's strong Catholic faith was to sustain her in her work in the Resistance. Upon learning that Dr. Leclerc is involved in spying, Suzanne prays, "Dear God, make me strong." Anyone working against the Nazis in France was executed, so the danger was very real for Suzanne and her family. When she is given her first assignment Suzanne prays, "Mary, Mother of God...you will have to help me. Give me strength." 

After Suzanne was taken in by the Germans for questioning, she remained strong and prayed. "I didn't cry. I didn't give in. I made my voice soft, level, so that I would not further harm my vocal cords. In the intervals of silence they granted me, I prayed. Je vous salue, Marie, plein de grace, le Seigneur et avec vous,.. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. I would have counted a rosary on my fingers, but the silence never lasted that long. I prayed, Make me strong." Suzanne remained strong long enough that she was saved by the Allied invasion that began a day later on Tuesday June 6th, 1944. 

For Freedom is a short, high interest novel about an important French heroine in World War II. It is recommended for students who might not be avid readers and need something that is high interest or who require a short historical novel for English class. A map showing the location of Cherbourg and the beaches involved in the Normandy Invasion would have been helpful.

Book Details:
For Freedom. The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf           2003
181 pp.

exposed by Kimberly Marcus

Once again my appetite for novels in verse was well satisfied by exposed, a debut novel from Kimberly Marcus.

Sixteen year old Elizabeth Grayson is Photogirl- photographer extraordinaire. Her forever-best friend is Kate, Mistress of Modern Dance.

Kate comes over to Liz's home for their once a month sleepover. Instead of having a great time together however, the two girls fight. Liz insists that Kate should dump her boyfriend Trevor and that she is afraid to take risks. Kate accuses Liz of hiding behind her camera. The evening ends with Kate sleeping alone downstairs. When morning comes, Liz finds her best friend gone.

As the days pass by, and Liz tries to repair her friendship with Kate, she finds herself being pushed away. When she finally gets up the nerve to confront Kate, her shocking revelation is the beginning of the unraveling of both girl's lives. As rumours and accusations fly, Liz is consumed with guilt as she tries to sort out fact from gossip.

Kimberly Marcus has written a a beautiful short novel that deals with a sensitive topic. How does one sort out who is telling the truth, especially when one of the versions of truth comes from a family member? Here is a sampling of some of the poems found in exposed:

Letting Me Have It

She's silent
for a long minute.
Then she looks straight at me,
straight through me,
and tells me
why
it was such a big deal.


Empty

I run,
not knowing where I'm going, but I run.
Around the building, down the street,
my sneakers smacking the pavement so hard,
shooting fire up my shins.

I run past twelve years of friendship,
matching clothes and birthday parties,
jumping on beds and catching crickets,
too-long phone calls and belly laughs,
passing notes and building dreams.

This was a well written novel in verse that I managed to read in a few hours.
I look forward with great anticipation to more from Kimberly Marcus.

Book Details:

exposed by Kimberly Marcus
New York: Random House 2011
255 pp.

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

Gayle Lemmon came to Afghanistan in the winter of 2005. She was on winter break during her second year of an MBA at Harvard Business School when she decided that she wanted to act on her desire to write about stories no one else was covering. The stories Lemmon thought she might want to tell were those of women working in war zones. Previously she had written a piece about women entrepreneurs in Rwanda - a country whose male population was completely decimated as a result of the genocide.

In 2005, Lemmon arrived in Kabul looking for the stories of women who had survived the numerous wars, invasions and cultural changes of Afghanistan. She was looking for women who had not just survived the Soviets, the Taliban and the post-Taliban eras but those who had successfully initiated entrepreneurial projects.

"Most stories about war and its aftermath inevitably focus on men: the soldiers, the returning veterans, the statesmen. I wanted to know what war was like for those who had been left behind: the women who managed to keep going even as their world fell apart. War reshapes women's lives and often unexpectedly forces them - unprepared - into the role of breadwinner. Charged with their family's survival, they invent ways to provide for their children and communities."

Initially the author was looking for a story about Afghan women post 9/11 and what sort of businesses these women were developing. Eventually she learned of Kamila Sidiqui, a young entrepreneur who got her start as a dressmaker during the Taliban regime. Sidiqui, whose family is Tajik, Afghanistan's second largest ethnic group, lives in Khair Khana, a northern suburb of Kabul. Her father, Woja Abdul Sidiqi whose family hailed from Parwan in the north, was a senior military officer for the Afghan army.Together, he and his wife Ruhasva were the parents of 11 children, nine of them girls!

Essentially the Dressmaker of Khair Khana tells the story of Kamila Sidiqi as she struggles to survive during the Taliban occupation of Afghanistan beginning in 1996. Sidiqi's story wouldn't be so exceptional if it weren't for the fact that she overcame enormous obstacles - ones North American women couldn't even comprehend, in the most imaginative and determined way.

Sidiqi's story begins at the point where she has just received her teaching certificate from Sayed Jamaluddin Teacher Training Institute and is about to commence her studies at Kabul Pedagogical Institute, a coed university in the capital. It is 1996. Afghanistan is rocked by civil war now that the Soviets have left. The triumphant Mujahideen are now fighting amongst themselves for control of the capital, Kabul. And it is the Taliban who are winning control over more and more areas of the country.

Kamila's hope was to earn a bachelor's degree and eventually become a professor of Dari or literature. If the Taliban win and take over Kabul, Kamila realizes that this will not happen. She has heard rumours that when a city is overtaken by the Taliban the women must leave school and cannot even leave their homes unless they are accompanied by a mahram. Taliban controlled cities require women to wear the full length burqua, known in Dari as a chadri. When the Taliban finally do overrun Kabul, all this comes to pass.

Kabulis watched helplessly as the Taliban began reshaping the cosmopolitan capital according to their utopian vision of seventh-century Islam. Almost immediately they instituted a brutal - and effective - system of law and order. Accused thieves had one hand and one foot cut off, and their severed limbs were hung from posts on street corners as a warning to others...Then they banned everything they regarded as a distraction from the duty of worship: music, long a part of Afghan culture, and movies, television, card playing, the game of chess, and even kite flying, the popular Friday afternoon pastime....
But of all the changes the Taliban brought, the most painful and demoralizing were the ones that would fundamentally transform the lives of Kamila, her sisters, and all the women in their city. The newly issued edicts commanded: Women will stay at home. Women are not permitted to work. Women must wear the chadri in public."

The effect on the women of Kabul and even on Afghan society itself was disastrous. Girl's schools closed and women vanished from the streets. Forty percent of civil servants and more than half of the teachers in Kabul were women. They were now unemployed. For families headed by widows the consequences were particularly devastating. Many of these women were the sole support for their families, often having lost their husbands in the many years of war. These families had lost their principal breadwinner. The loss of so many workers also affected the general day to day running of the government.

Many families decide to leave Kabul for Pakistan or Iran, but the Sidiqi family decides to stay. Eventually Mr. Sidiqi decides to move to his hometown of Gulbahar in Parwan and his wife eventually follows. They decide that it is too dangerous for the remaining daughters to travel north so they will remain in Kabul. But it is clear that Kamila and her sisters need to find a way to support themselves. What they initially thought would be a short-lived edict restricting women in society, was now becoming ridiculously entrenched with further rules such as prohibitions against walking in the middle of the street, mixing with strangers, wearing chadri which showed the outline of arms or legs, or going out without a mahram (male relative). What Kamila needed was "a plan that would allow her to earn money while staying within the Taliban's rules...."

Kamila decided tostart her own dressmaking venture. She had her older sister Malika teach her how to sew and how to use a sewing machine and then she and her sisters prepared samples of dresses to take to shop-keepers with the intent of securing orders. Her younger brother Hajeeb was her mahram and together the two of them were able to navigate through the Taliban rules to start a flourishing dressmaking business. Eventually, the business expanded to teaching other women how to sew and how to set up their own businesses.

Kamila was eventually asked by two Afghan women who worked for UN Habitat to join Community Forums in which women took part in jobs and social programs they designed and supervised. Profits earned were redirected back into the forums to fund more projects. The Taliban allowed these forums as long as only women participated but this was still a risk for Kamila. But Kamila's desire to help other women especially when the need was so great meant she could not refuse.

Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Kamila has focused on women and business, training women in microfinance, and in entrepreneurship. Eventually she launched her own company, Kaweyan which is responsible for training people how to turn their ideas into a business plan.

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana is a story of one woman's desire to help not only herself but other women too and of her brilliant accomplishments. It was amazing to read how these young women helped each other - their wonderful warmth and deep concern for neighbours and those around them. Whenever women in need came to the Sidiqui house, the family always responded by taking them in to work.

Lemmon has told Kamila Sidiqi's story because in her own words,

"Brave young women complete heroic acts every day, with no one bearing witness. This was a chance to even the ledger, to share one small story that made the difference between starvation and survival for the families whose lives it changed."

Book Details:
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
New York: Harper Collins Publishers 2011
256 pp.

Traitor by Gudrun Pausewang

Fifteen year old Anna Brunner lives in Stiegnitz, a small village located in the Sudetenland - a predominantly German speaking border area of Czechoslovakia that was annexed by Hitler in 1938. Steingnitz is a mere 10 miles from the border of the Czech Protectorate. During the week, Anna studies at a school in Schonberg where she boards with Frau Gisela Beranek. On the weekends she travels home via train to Mellersdorf and then walks to Steignitz where she lives with her mother Marie Hanisch, her grandmother and her 14 year old brother Felix. Her father, Felix Brunner, a circus conjurer, committed suicide when Anna was young and her older brother Seff is away fighting on the Eastern Front.

One day on her way home to Stiegnitz, Anna Brunner discovers tracks in the snow weaving in and out of the forest. She follows them home to her family's barn where she discovers a cold, emaciated and ill man hiding their hayloft. Puzzled and believing him to be a lost mental patient from a nearby institute, Anna gives him shelter and clothing. Her family doesn't know and Anna still doesn't clue into who she is helping even when she learns that seven escaped men have been shot and the eighth man is still being sought.

However, Anna is horrified to discover that the man in the barn is the sole survivor of eight Russians who escaped from a prisoner of war camp days before. Anna now faces a serious dilemma. If she turns him in, he will be shot. If she helps him, she is helping an enemy of Germany and she will be a traitor and executed.

"To deliver up a terrified, half-starved man to shot like an animal -- how could she reconcile that with her conscience? She couldn't live with guilt like that, and she didn't want to!"

Anna experiences intense inner conflict based on what she sees in the escaped Russian soldier - a helpless man who is grateful, respectful and suffering and what she has seen in posters that portray Russians as bloodless murderers. She recognizes that people can have both bad and good in them and that this is not just restricted to people of a certain race.

"Frau Bernaek had objected that all the good was never on one side, not all the evil on the other. Not even now. She was of the opinion that 'Next to the good in every individual, there is also evil."

Unlike Felix who acts as a foil to Anna, she does not have others tell her what is right. She is not so accepting of the indoctrination of the Hitler Youth and the German Girls League and the German government and tries to think for herself. While thinking about what her father would have done with the Russian soldier she ruminates on the problem of good and evil:

"You knew it too, she thought, this problem of good and bad. If you were still alive, you could see it in your son. In Felix, whom you never knew. He's convinced that anything that benefits the German people is good. But he lets others dictate what that is....But he leaves it to others to decide for him what's good and what's bad. That's why I'm afraid of him, Father. I'm afraid of my little brother!"

Anna sees that Felix is becoming more and more radical and that her grandmother and mother are afraid of him. For Felix, Russians and Czechs are not people. They are expendable. Hitler is Felix's hero and he would die for him.

Eventually as her emotional burden increases and Anna struggles to find food for the soldier, she tells a friend about what she has done and this woman agrees to help her supply the hidden soldier with the necessities of life. But as the Germans lose the battle after battle and their country is invaded by the advancing Russians, Felix becomes more radical and Anna, although happy that the Russian soldier will finally be able to meet up with his advancing army, is worried about how she and her family will survive into the peace.

This novel has a shocking ending which I won't reveal and which the reader would never anticipate. Gundrun Pausewang has written a stunning psychological thriller right to it's unexpected and horrific end. I highly recommend this novel, although don't be surprised if teen readers are not satisfied with the ending.

Book Details:
Traitor by Gudrun Pausewang
New York: Carolrhoda Books 2004
220pp.