Reviewed by Emma Crowley
France, 1939: When Jewish refugee Hannah Lerner and her beloved younger sister Lotte arrive in a small French town alone, with no family to turn to, Hannah takes her sister’s trembling hands in hers and promises they will not be separated, no matter what…
But when a children’s home offers refuge to Lotte, Hannah has no choice. To keep her sister safe, she has to let her go. And as she leaves Lotte weeping at the gates, she vows that one day they will be together again. Terrified and alone, Hannah is soon rescued by Michel, a charming Frenchman who welcomes her into his home. As the weeks pass, his warm smile and deep brown eyes slowly make Hannah trust in kindness again.
But when Michel is sent to the frontlines, Hannah’s heart shatters once more. And when a local Nazi officer identifies her as Jewish, she knows she has precious time to flee. Travelling south, she resolves to fight back against the Nazis. When she is approached by the Resistance, Hannah is determined to do what is right.
Soon Hannah hears of a plot that puts her sister and so many other innocent lives in danger. She knows she must act quickly, but with time running out and her own life at risk, how far is Hannah prepared to go to save those she loves most?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Girl Who Risked it All to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Girl Who Risked It All is the third book in the Emerald Sisters series by Kate Hewitt and I’m happy to say that this series continues to go from strength to strength. Each book has been so solid driving the story as a whole forward with not one book being slow or adding nothing to what the author is trying to convey. A brief prologue set in Paris in June of 1946 sees the women gathering at a café where they promised to reunite after the war. But there is shocking news which has been hinted at in the previous books but now further on in the book we get a solid answer with things falling into place. Or are they? I’m not quite sure how things are going to pan out. I know what my heart wants given how invested I have become in these characters and their intertwined stories but in another way I’m hoping Kate Hewitt might go against the norm and not have the all-round happy ending that many readers wish for. I’m being purposefully vague here as I don’t want to give anything away but suffice to say we are nicely set up for the concluding instalment and it will be interesting to discover how everything comes together.
This story focuses on Hannah and her younger sister Lotte. Their mother has more or less abandoned them to their fate as she is now married to a German officer. The sisters are mischlinges which means half Jewish and given the increasing dangers surrounding Jews in Germany and the fact that their mother has gone to the other side so to speak they are no longer safe in their home country. They board the St. Louis filled with German Jews bound for Cuba. Here they hope to reunite with their father who had went there many years before as persecution of the Jews increased. The journey onboard has been detailed in the previous books so I was glad there wasn’t a rehash of the same scenes as I felt it would have dragged the plot backwards instead of onwards. Ample information is provided for new readers so that they can slot right into Hannah’s story and there was the perfect refresher for those who have been with the series since book one. We see how Hannah makes friends with Sophie, Rosa and Rachel and that an emerald split into four pieces becomes their talisman in the hopes that one day they will reunite in Paris once the war has ended.
The much longed for new life in Cuba does not materialise. It was lie and a cruel trick had been played on them all. The four young women find themselves scattered with Hannah and Lotte being sent to France with little or no money and not being able to contact their father. Hannah is only 18 but she really steps up to the plate for Lotte and becomes the mother figure she so desperately needed. Hannah is strong, fierce and determined and has to grow up fast. She displays such incredible maturity as there is an awful burden placed on her shoulders but she deals with it admirably and responsibly. Through no fault of her own Hannah despite vowing to protect and keep her sister safe is separated from her sister which sees Lotte ending up in a home/orphanage for children. When Hannah locates her and tries to get her back she realises that perhaps it is the best place for her sister although it breaks her heart to be apart. The home is where she is with other children of her own age and considering the deteriorating situation and with the Germans advancing it is where she will be safe and cared for. Now Hannah has herself to look after and she can try and get to see Lotte whenever possible.
Hannah is determined that she will find a way to Cuba to her father but doors are closed in her face when she tries to get a new visa. Now she knows she is stuck in France for the duration of the war and she has no safe space to call home. When things are about to get a bit dicey, a chance meeting with Michel sees her fortunes change. She is taken in by his family and starts work as a seamstress with his father. Here the romance element of the book started to appear and yes let’s be honest it was too quick that the pair should fall head over heels for one another but I just went with it.
When France is invaded Michel goes to war and soon there is no news of him. The city of Lights is taken over by the Germans and once again life irreparably changes for Hannah. So much happens to Hannah and at times you forget that she was only 18 as she did things that no young women should have to do. Her story took many surprising twists and turns and at times I really felt that she was in the centre of the lions den and with one false move the game would be up and everything would come crashing down. When she is forced to flee Paris as her heritage is about to be discovered she finds herself in the Zone Libre and here is where I felt the book really took off as Hannah finds herself working with the Resistance. It still amazes me after having read hundreds of World War Two books that there is still lots more to be learned about what the everyday ordinary men and women did at the time with so few resources. Their ingenuity and the fact they were so brave and they put their lives on the line on a daily basis deserves nothing but admiration and gratitude. I often think would we in the present day being faced with the same situation do the same things?
The later half of the book moved along at a swift pace and the months and years pass as Hannah’s resistance work is detailed. Where she carries out this work was quite a surprise, but it just goes to show that no corner from society stood back and did nothing. Every person was involved no matter how they had been previously viewed for what they did. Again, I am being very vague here as I don’t wish to give anything away but if you had said to me at the start of the book this is where Hannah would have ended up I would have been very surprised. But it all worked very well and one aspect of the storyline involving a breakout from a prison was very well written and allowed for a more different side to Hannah to emerge which proved to be tantalising and surprising.
Hannah is selfless in her actions when it comes to Lotte. At times she has to let go and it is very difficult for her but Lotte undergoes a transformation. I would have loved just a chapter or two from Lotte’s viewpoint as it would have provided an even more well rounded picture than there already was. To see her experiences and learn her opinions would have been quite beneficial. I loved how one strong element of a past book came into force as we raced towards the conclusion and like Hannah I was shocked but then things made sense and it answered a burning question that I had had since book one. There is a sense that with only one book left to go that the author is beginning to weave all the loose strands together but yet there are still plenty of unanswered questions and of course we still have to learn of Rachel’s story.
Hannah was a fabulous character, extremely well written and full of grit, strength, determination and courage. She was a young woman who kept ploughing on fuelled by the love she had for both her sister and Michel. She pushed herself beyond her limits time and time again and I really grew to like and admire her as a character. Hannah was someone who was hellbent on ensuring that evil would be defeated for humanity’s sake. She knew that many sacrifices would be made and suffering and loss would occur but she kept enduring on in the hopes that peace would one day rein and she would be reunited with the Emerald Sisters as promised. The Girl Who Risked It All was another excellent instalment in this series and it has only whetted my appetite for the conclusion and thankfully there is not long to wait as The Girl Who Never Gave Up will be published in January.
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