Shari J. Ryan

The Bookseller of Dachau by Shari J. Ryan is an beautifully penned novel set in WW2 Germany and 2018.
In 2018 , Grace, an architect living in Boston, receives a letter informing her of an inheritance left to her in Dachau , Germany by her maternal grandmother Matilda whose existence she has been unaware of all her life. Grace travels to Dachau to find out more about her mother’s biological parents whom her mother had been searching for till her death a few years back.
Matilda‘s story takes us to World War II Germany where the atrocities of war and the Holocaust are wreaking havoc . 17 year old Matilda , a German schoolgirl, is in love with her friend Hans , a Jewish boy , who is she hides in her in her room to keep him from being taken away to the Nazi labor camps. They are eventually discovered by her father who deceives her and has Hans taken by the Nazis unbeknownst to anyone but Matilda that she is carrying his child. Their fate is slowly revealed to Grace through the letters and memories documented by Matilda and Hans during those years that have been carefully preserved by a family friend she meets and befriends while in Germany. While Matilda waits for news of Hans we are given a vivid picture what life was like for those living in the vicinity of the concentration camps - the confusion, the anguish and the sheer violence that these places and people were witness to.
“There is no other place in the world where one can stand before an eleventh-century abandoned palace cloaked by delicious sprigs of greenery while concurrently bearing witness to the ash-filled human remains funneling up into the crying sky.”
While unraveling her grandparents’ story Grace starts to take stock of her own life in Boston and in the process of discovering her family history is made to rethink her own priorities.
This engaging novel will break your heart and bring you to tears at times but will also make you believe in the enduring power and resilience that love instills in people even in their darkest days. As Hans tells Matilda when in hiding “Life is about lessons and what we can overcome.”
The author’s descriptions of the concentration camp and the surrounding towns and landmarks are vivid and will take you on a journey through history . I do feel, however, that Grace’s and her mother’s backstories needed to be delved into a bit deeper but ultimately the story does belong to Matilda and Hans and I could not put this book down until very end. Fans of WW2 historical fiction will definitely love this book!
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.… (altro)

In the midst of WWII, Sofia struggles to remain true to her virtues. Her father, a Protestant doctor working for the SS, does everything in his power to keep his Jewish wife and daughter safe. His religion and status help his family stay alive but Sofia can no longer stand and watch her fellow Jews be murdered. She knows she must do something. When she meets Isaac, a young man forced to work at a concentration camp hear her home, she realizes this could be her chance. She must risk everything for what is right.

Author Shari J Ryan had me on a deep and powerful emotional rollercoaster with this heart-tugging novel. We follow Sofia's inner battle between obeying her father's wishes to stay safe and longing to help those in need. She knows putting her thoughts into action could mean the end of her life, as well as her loved ones, too. Siblings Isaac and Olivia try to stay together while fighting for their very lives. Their struggles between giving up and staying hopeful are difficult to read, knowing abuse like this was very real at the hands of the Nazis. One critique I had was the pacing was not as smooth as it could have been. The large jumps in time could have been filled in with more detail and story as this is a fairly quick read. Overall, though, the suspense throughout and touching ending combined made for a great historical fiction book that would make a fantastic movie!… (altro)

When the Jews are rounded up and taken away, Matilda hides her childhood sweetheart Hans in an attic passageway. Months later, when Matilda's father betrays Hands to the Nazi's, Matilda is left pregnant. She leaves her family and travels to the town of Dachau, hoping to be near her love. In the present day, Grace is told that through DNA, she has been matched to a grandmother, who left her property in Dachau. Unhappy with her job and feeling adrift, Grace travels to Dachau determined to uncover her past.

The characters themselves were well developed but the story itself was slow moving. I could have done without Grace's point of view/timeline entirely. Grace's storyline felt very predictable and took away from Matilda's storyline. Overall, 3 out of 5 stars.… (altro)