Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Germany, 1939: When Rachel Blau’s husband Franz is released from Dachau, she barely recognizes the man she married. But she knows in order to keep him safe they must leave the country they call home and pray a life far from the Nazis will heal him. Until he is better, she must be brave for both of them…
As Jewish refugees in the Netherlands, terrified and without a word of Dutch, Rachel and Franz watch helplessly as the Germans march closer to the border. And after the Nazis invade, they are forced, with the help of courageous Corrie ten Boom and her family, to hide from the Gestapo. Then their worst fears are realized when they are sent to a camp and—with a final whispered “I love you”—separated.
In the darkness that night, Rachel makes a wondrous yet terrifying discovery. Brushing a hand over her stomach, she realizes she has more than just a memory of her husband. In a heartbeat, she becomes determined to survive for the sake of her unborn child. But with the Nazis showing no sign of defeat, how will she protect the precious life inside her?
If the guards discover her secret, Rachel knows her baby will not live. But if she manages to smuggle her newborn from the camp, there is a chance her baby will survive. With tears streaming down her face, Rachel clasps her newborn tightly to her chest. Can she find the strength to give her longed-for child to strangers? And if she lets her baby be taken from her arms, how will she ever find her again?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalleyfor my copy of The Girl Who Never Gave Up to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Girl Who Never Gave Up is the fourth and final instalment in the Emerald Sisters series by Kate Hewitt. I’ve loved this series since the very beginning and this story provided me with all the answers to the burning questions which have only increased with each book. It was a brilliant and fitting conclusion to what has been a well-developed and well written series based on four young women who shared their intriguing and at times heart-breaking life experiences during World War Two. Each book can be read as a standalone but I would suggest to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the work gone into the overall series start with book one and work your way through them.
This story opens as the women gather in June 1946 to meet at a café in Paris, a year after the war had ended. It was a promise the four had made to each other after meeting on the SS. St Louis which left Hamburg in 1939 bound for the safety of Cuba. As the women gather after being through such turbulent times over the last seven years they are keen to share their stories but there are a few shocks and surprises in story. One big question is will all the women make the meeting that has been set in stone for so long?
I enjoyed how there wasn’t a specific overly long and detailed rehash of the women’s time on the ship. I’d read this before and knew what had happened so I really wanted to get stuck straight into Rachel’s story. But suffice to say enough of an explanation is given so that readers new to the series will understand what has already occurred. The promise of a haven in Cuba for so many Jewish people wishing to evade persecution in Germany did not materialise and the ship is forced to turn back with Sophie, Rachel, Rosa and Hannah all scattered to different parts of the world. Before they separate they break an emerald into four pieces and this becomes their talisman which they cling to through the good times and the bad. On that designated day in Paris hopefully all four shards will be placed together. But before that can happen there are a lot of trials, tribulations, suffering, uncertainty and dark times to get through.
Rachel is a German Jew married to Franz. She has left behind her mother and grandmother who were not able to travel and this is one thing that she will always regret. She wishes desperately that they were by her side but she must traverse her path with Franz. Although a lot of the time I felt she was flying solo as Franz was and could not be the husband she wanted him to be. Franz is recently released from Dachau having spent seven months at the internment camp. He is a shell of his former shelf and no longer the man Rachel married but she clings to the hope that she will be able to penetrate the walls he has established around himself and she will find the Franz that she fell in love with. Franz was once reckless, passionate, defiant, brave and had fierce convictions but now he barely speaks or interacts with Rachel and is in a state of just existing rather than living. Rachel is despondent and struggles to deal with this new Franz but she knows that her loyalty always lies with her husband and that when they married it was for better for worse, in sickness and in health and that she must never give up on him. She is the strength and pillar now of the relationship. She has taken over the role that a man usually occupies and without Rachel by his side he would quite simply cease to exist and go down without a fight.
Rachel tries everything to get through to him whilst on board the boat and when they are shipped back to a quarantine camp in the Netherlands. She is persistent and loyal despite the lack of interaction, support, affection and encouragement that a spouse should offer. I admired how she kept going and never gave up on him. I understand why he acted the way he did, for God knows what he must have witnessed and experienced in the camp but at the same time I thought should he not have been grateful that he was still alive and back in the arms of somebody who had missed and loved him very much? I wanted him to step up and shoulder the burden with Rachel. She couldn’t do everything on her nor should she have had to. Rachel kept trying with him, for if you don’t with regards to both Franz and their deteriorating situation there is no other choice but to curl up and die.
I found the chapters set in the Netherlands detailing Rachel and Franz’s new challenging life very well written, interesting and absorbing. I didn’t feel the chapters going by and the way the years slipped by too felt right and the pacing was good. Sometimes when there is a jump forward in years in a book or months moving by very quickly it can feel jarring to the story but here it felt natural and fitting. The themes of survival and resilience start coming to the fore as war is declared and over time Hitler extends his power and soon the Netherlands finds itself invaded and times grow ever more precarious for Rachel and Franz. I felt they were living on the edge all the time. That they could never fully relax because there was always the threat that they would be detained and shipped off to a concentration camp. Rachel had done her best to create some sort of life for them in the town of Haarlem and the new characters at this point added to her story especially the Ten Boom family whom I only discovered were real people when I read the historical notes at the end. I can’t imagine how it must have been living your life on your nerves in daily fear that at any time the Nazi’s would come for you and then what fate would await you.
The later half of the book was fantastic despite its harrowing nature. As mentioned in the blurb as the Nazi’s draw ever nearer and Rachel and Franz are discovered hiding along with others they are taken away on a cattle train. Their destination being Auschwitz. Here is where I felt Franz truly changed and a glimmer of his former self was beginning to make itself known. So cruel that just when their relationship was softening and maybe could get on track the gates of hell opened up and swallowed them. Whether they would emerge unscathed remained to be seen.
Rachel thought she had been through it all but little did she realise that her strength, bravery, courage and her power of endurance would be tested more than ever within the walls of the camp. She has a secret that she is holding close to her heart and she hopes that given it is late 1944 and there are rumours of the Soviets advancing through Germany that both herself and Franz might survive. But there are a lot of harrowing things to go through and I was glad the author did not spare any details when it came to describing what went on at the camp and to specifically Franz and Rachel. An outstanding picture as built by the author that only had my compassion and admiration growing by the page for Rachel. Dare I say it I think she was my favourite woman out of all four even though at the time of reading each book it was that woman that I liked. But Rachel was a standout character and I crossed my fingers that she would be one of the women that would be there on the right date at the café in the City of Lights.
Kate Hewitt has done herself proud with this series. It seemed slightly ambitious in its scope at the beginning and I wondered would it hold my attention throughout given some of the story had to be repeated with each book as it was necessary to do so. But I needn’t have worried at all, the characterisation, the settings and all the plotlines were superb all combining to make the series as a whole and in particular The Girl Who Never Gave up is an unmissable read that will leave every reader deeply satisfied.
No comments:
Post a Comment