Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Margarete lives as Annegret Huber would have, in a beautiful rural mansion by a forest in northern Germany. She is the heiress to the entire Huber fortune—one which she has devastatingly discovered includes a factory and Nazi prison camp. Margarete has done everything she can to help improve conditions there, and to reduce suffering for the prisoners who remind her so much of her own lost family and friends.
However, as the war rages on and the Nazi party becomes more brutal in its treatment of Jews, she realizes she must do more. She has to help the prisoners escape to real safety, because they will never be safe in Hitler’s Germany.
She’s heard of a route to freedom through Sweden. Although that means secretly reaching out to the resistance. With the risk of betrayal at every turn, her enquiries lead her to a man named Stefan, who she instantly feels a powerful connection to. But she fears he will never trust her… unless she reveals the secret that keeps her safe.
At the same time, a Nazi officer begins to show romantic interest in her, making it harder to keep her identity a secret. His loyalty to the party is beyond question, so if he finds her out, not only will her plan be at risk, but also her life and those of everyone she cares for.
But can she let that fear stop her from saving others? Because she knows she herself could so easily be one of the faces on the other side of the fence. And that, in the darkest times, sometimes the only person who can rise up is the girl in the shadows…
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Girl in the Shadows to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Girl in the Shadows is book three in the Margarete’s Journey series by Marion Kummerow and I am still as deeply enthralled as I was by book one. Margarete, masquerading as Annegret Huber, has come a long way since she took on the identity of her former employer’s daughter yet her life is still lived on a precipice with the fear of being exposed ever present daily. The author is developing this series nicely, just when you think perhaps is she running out of steam or in what direction she could next take the plot in there are more unexpected turns thrown in that really do you leave you on the edge of your seat. The climax to this story was fantastic and nerve wracking and at one point I was almost screaming out loud - no this can’t be happening. So much drama was spilling forth and it was like all the hard work was coming undone. This book can be read as a standalone but I do feel to truly appreciate the journey that Margarete has undertaken in the most dangerous of times you should begin with book one to bring you bang up to date. Although there is plenty of background information provided in the first few chapters for those that are joining Margarete at this point.
Margarete or Annegret as she is now known resides on an estate near Gut Plaun near to Berlin. Her life has been transformed since she was caught in a bomb which killed her employer, his wife and his daughter and subsequently his two sons met their fate. Margarete is an incredible character who has displayed such strength, courage, bravery and fortitude since we first met her. She has been through the mill and is playing a very clever game and if the cat is let out of the bag than the repercussions do not bear thinking about. All she wants to do is make it safely through the war without her Jewish heritage and true identity being discovered. Along the way she hopes to help as many Jewish people as possible who are forced to work in the ammunition’s factory hidden deep in the forest on her land.
Her life is one of subterfuge and only a select few are privy to the real Margarete. She plays the game to perfection and has fooled many people that she is in fact the spoilt and selfish Annegret Huber but the game could be up at any time and she is conscious of trying to achieve some good for the people in such desperate need while she holds some power in her hands. Suspicion and intrigue and the fear of being uncovered emanate from every page and you never know what each new chapter will bring and that’s what keeps you turning the pages as rapidly as possible as you are so eager to see will things come crashing down and the inevitable happen or can she continue this life that she has adopted and hold out for as long as possible ?
Margarete detests the Nazi’s and everything they stand for and their determination to eradicate the Jews through starvation, exhaustion and disease only intensifies the further the story develops. She maintains the façade that she too hates all Jews and that she is firmly on the side of the Nazi’s because she knows she must do this in order for her to survive. Outwards appearances have her mixing with the local Gestapo and obeying all their rules and regulations but deep down she knows she can’t go against the regime but any way that she can work within its constraints for the better then she will do this.
I loved the introduction of Thomas who has been promoted and is newly arrived in the district. He is determined to upset the apple cart although he does not know the true extent of Margaret’s story for if he did it would mean instant death for her. Thomas is a model Nazi and he wants to rise further through the ranks. He believes by sending more Jews to camps and riding the district of them completely than he will earn the praise and admiration of Hitler and his position will be increased and solidified. He believes himself to be dashing, intelligent, strong, valiant and virile and he wants Margarete by his side as the model of the perfect Nazi wife. He has visions for their future and marriage and a family feature in this. It’s like they will make the ultimate Nazi power couple. Needless to say Margarete is horrified when she discovers his true intentions and a game of cat and mouse ensues. She knows she needs him onside to continue her work but at the same time she is repulsed by his beliefs and what he stands for.
Every time Thomas appeared in the book I was fearful for what he would say and do. Given how clever he was I wasn’t sure how he would react if he found the true extent of what was going on right underneath his eyes. He could have flipped either way given his love for Annegret. The consequences of discovery didn’t bare thinking about and only added a tense and fraught atmosphere to what was a dangerous and awful situation in the first place. Margarete’s actions only served to increase my admiration for her as a character. I desperately hoped that she could continue to pull the wool over his eyes. His obsession with her was dangerous and frightening and when she has to try and stop Jews being taken away she becomes involved in what would appear to the Nazi’s as being traitorous actions. In fact, I was wary that she could keep the entire pretence up but she is a woman not to be underestimated once she puts her mind to something. Engaging and interacting with the Gestapo is not what she wishes to do but for the sake of her fellow men and women and her Uncle Horst whom she has found in the factory she will doe everything in her power to play the Nazi’s in their game and hopefully emerge triumphant.
Margarete can’t fully confide in anyone. If she is to survive the war she must try and keep herself to herself whilst at the same time running the estate of which she has no experience of. She must rise above her own insecurities and doubts and fight strongly in the battle of good against evil. She does have Oliver the estate manager and his partner Dora, who is her maid by her side, but the exact truth can never be fully revealed. She knows one slip of information or one false move and the whole game will be up and so many lives will be in such danger. I loved the strand of the story which further developed Dora and Oliver’s relationship. Dora, originally from Ukraine, has received her Germanisation papers and is free to marry Oliver but still her life too is lived on a knife edge. I couldn’t help but think as I was reading this here, we are again not even close to 100 years since the end of World War Two and the continent of Europe is once again experiencing war as the result of a mad man. It seems no lessons have been learned and given Dora was from Ukraine I felt such an affinity with her given the dreadful situation unfolding there. The events and the torture I was reading about in this book were even more heart-breaking given I was reading more or less the same scenarios unfolding in the present day on the news. I felt like have we learned nothing at all? Did all those people fight in vain?
This series is going from strength to strength and I really can’t get enough of it. The author provides plenty of new details and subplots which blended brilliantly with the overall arc of the story so carefully developed since book one. Margarete is on a roller coaster of a journey and I am with her every step of the way through the ups and downs in the battle to rid themselves of oppression and suppression in the hopes that love and hope can triumph. As previously mentioned, that edge of your seat climax was excellent. Days after finishing this book, I am still thinking about it. There is a fourth book in the works and I don’t think this series is in danger of becoming stale because of some elements that have been added in, most notably Stefan. I’m interested to see how that angle will develop but the over riding plot of Margarete’s ‘mission’ will always be the dominant force and I can’t wait for the next instalment to see will she succeed or have other forces evil pans in mind? I hope the wait for book four is not too long.
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