Book Blurb:
The intense, gripping conclusion of the Resilient Women of WWII Trilogy, sweeps across Nazi Germany, Bratislava, and the Tatra Mountains, as two young women face high stakes to find their way home.
1943 When a safe house in Nazi-occupied the Netherlands becomes too dangerous for Edith, she flees. Injured, she meets Erich who promises to take her to his family’s home for medical attention. En route she awakens to discover that they’ve entered Nazi Germany—the last place she wants to be as a Jew.
In need of concealing her faith, and with limited choices, Edith becomes the private teacher to Erich’s young brothers. Her roommate is a Roma with a tragic past and also hides from the Nazis in plain sight. When the new friends learn that Erich’s father is a senior member of the Nazi party, they know it is time to escape. Yet, Nazi patrols complicate their travels. Then, the last person imagined supplies a means to not only leave the house but from the Reich, altogether, though their safety is at risk as they cross several national borders.
Following We Shall Not Shatter and Our Daughters’ Last Hope, the new friends, brought together by a common enemy, must courageously look into the eyes of evil and begin a gutsy journey to search for their families they’ve left behind during the war, and to help others through these dark times of prejudice and hatred.
Book Buy Link: https://geni.us/fjJGWzo
Author Bio:
Elaine Stock writes Historical Fiction, exploring home, family and friendships throughout time. She enjoys creating stories showing how all faiths, races, and belief systems are interconnected and need each other.
Elaine’s grandparents, on both sides of her family, narrowly escaped World War II by immigrating from Poland and Austria to the US. Fascinated by the strong will of people to overcome the horrors from this era, she wrote We Shall Not Shatter, Book 1 (out in May 2022) of the Resilient Women of WWII Series, inspired by her deaf great aunt who was left behind as a teenager in Poland and perished in the Holocaust, while her other deaf siblings were permitted to enter the US when their young ages helped them to circumvent medically-revealing exams. Other extended family members also remained in Poland to lose their lives in the Holocaust.
Although multi-published in award-winning Inspirational Fiction, and a past blogger and online magazine contributor, Elaine now pens novels for the General reading audience. She is a member of Women’s Fiction Writers Association and The Historical Novel Society. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she has now been living in upstate, rural New York with her husband for more years than her stint as a city gal. She enjoys long walks down country roads, visiting New England towns, and of course, a good book.
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Editorial Review:
When we Disappeared is a riveting novel set during the horrors of World War II. The author immediately draws the reader into a world torn apart by hatred and fear. Despite the adversities the main characters face, they manage to cling to little kernels of hope throughout the novel. It is this hope that propels them forward, that keeps them fighting, and ultimately that keeps them alive.
The novel opens with the tragic decision a Jewish mother must make. She has to send her daughters away into hiding. First, Krista leaves the family home and then Elsa. Elsa has a difficult time with this decision. She feels deeply abandoned and betrayed by her mother. Elsa has to learn many life lessons the hard way and throughout the novel, readers see her maturing throughout her journey. Not only is she able to come to terms with the terrible decision her mother made but she is able to appreciate that she did it to save her daughter, Elsa’s, life.
Resilience is a theme which is constant throughout the novel. Those who managed to survive the horrors that befell them tapped into an immense amount of strength and resilience. This is beautifully conveyed through Elsa’s reflections on her own fortitude, “Strength? Since her childhood days in Berlin when antisemitism escalated to the horror of Kristallnacht and forced her family to flee the country, she’d believed each daily action she’d undertaken, whether making a small decision or carrying out a larger task, was out of a primeval need to survive. Might her strength be summoned from a deeper, more human level of wanting to live a more fulfilling life rather than mere existence? She didn’t know whether this desire was ignited by selfishness or a fiery resiliency to make the most of life.” The instinct to live and persevere amidst turmoil is something all of the characters face.
The Nazi regime not only persecuted the Jews, but also the Roma, homosexuals, deaf, blind and mentally ill. We see many characters facing different aspects of this persecution. Adela, who became separated from her family on a mission to find her missing father, finds herself in a Nazi pledged household. Once her Roma identity is revealed, she finds she must leave that dangerous place. Adela spends much time thinking about the persecution of her people and the unfairness brought down upon them. Her dreams are to return to her vista and to be left alone to live in peace as is evidenced by her thoughts on the matter, “Soon enough they’d arrive home, back to their own vista. Her people had beautiful dark eyes, gleaming hearts, and a love of family so large and fierce that others should weep with jealousy. That was, if these outsiders would take the time to get to know the Roma rather than paint pictures of hackneyed and false people.”
In an interesting turn of events, as Elsa is escaping a safe house which turns out to be not so safe, she is rescued by Erich. Erich is a member of an elite Nazi family. Fear grips her heart once she makes this connection. However, she has little choice but to remain in his household since when she was running from the safe house, she fell and badly injured her ankle. She finds herself stuck in a household surrounded by people who have sworn allegiance to Hitler and would like nothing more than to see her demise if they knew her true identity.
However, there is more to Erich and his family than meets the eye. Despite being high ranking Nazi’s, Erich and his brother seem to be involved in some form of resistance movement. Elsa finds herself increasingly drawn to Erich who watches over her convalescence with the care and kindness Elsa would not have expected from a Nazi.
Knowing one’s identity seems to be something which all of the main characters struggle with on some level. While Erich is a German, son of a high-ranking Nazi and has been schooled and educated based on Hitler’s brainwashing schemes, he finds he rejects this part of his identity. Despite rejecting this part of himself, he is unable to reject his family. His parents will always be who they are and will also be a part of him.
The search for inner knowing and identity is also evident when Adela talks about how she feels her identity was snatched from her when she went out to look for her missing father, “But, right up to the time my father and sister disappeared, I knew who I was, what people I belonged to, where I lived. I knew what tomorrow would bring. And most of all, I had what I needed in life—people that loved me.” War, persecution, separation from faith, family and community all contrive to make the characters uncertain of who they are or where they belong in the world. This is also tragically evident as Elsa crafts a letter to her mother in her head and is confused on how to sign it at the end, “But how should she sign the letter? Sincerely? Yours? Love? Did she feel any of those? And with what name? Edith? Elsa? Like many things she’d lost during this war, she no longer knew her identity.” This disconnection from oneself is a tragic psychological and emotional burden which the characters must carry and work through. The very title of the novel, When we Disappeared, seems to reflect this notion. Not only did Elsa, Adela and other Jews and Roma physically disappear, go into hiding, change their names, but in addition to all these losses, a large part of their soul must also have felt as if it completely vanished.
Overall, this is a heart-breaking novel written in a poised, eloquent and gripping way. I appreciate how the author portrayed the cruel horrors of war but also offered reprieve for readers in the form of hope and love. This is mirrored in Elsa’s words to Erich, “Anger in the form of retaliation or revenge makes matters worse, not better. Hatred only and always begets more hatred. What this world needs is love and kindness. And that’s what we need to spread between us—this love.” Additionally, I found the love story between Erich and Elsa to be extremely touching. It shows that even individuals from the most diverse backgrounds and in the most terrible circumstances, can see past their differences, find meaningful connection, and fall in love.
*****
“When We Disappeared” by Elaine Stock receives 4.5 stars from The Historical Fiction Company
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