An ocean away from Caroline, Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement. In a tense atmosphere of watchful eyes and suspecting neighbors, one false move can have dire consequences.
For the ambitious young German doctor, Herta Oberheuser, an ad for a government medical position seems her ticket out of a desolate life. Once hired, though, she finds herself trapped in a male-dominated realm of Nazi secrets and power.
The lives of these three women are set on a collision course when the unthinkable happens and Kasia is sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi concentration camp for women. Their stories cross continents—from New York to Paris, Germany, and Poland—as Caroline and Kasia strive to bring justice to those whom history has forgotten.
Last week, I finished reading another war book, but that one had been about World War I (a fact that eluded me throughout the entire book until someone finally said a year). When I started reading this one, I thought it would be too much war for me. I'm not too keen on war fiction, mainly because it makes me too sad and angry, and those are not good feelings for me to have while trying to read a book. You should see me trying to read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It's a mess.
This book brought up all those feelings, but not until more than halfway through the book when I went to the author's website. She wrote about the real Caroline Ferriday (a name I knew, but couldn't place) and Dr. Herta Oberheuser (a name I definitely knew, but didn't realize it). At first, reading about these characters was like reading any other book: I was sad when they went through upsetting things, and happy when they saw a ray of sunshine. But after I went back to the book from the author's website, all my emotions...tripled.
Kasia is sixteen when she goes into Ravensbrück, the notorious all-women's concentration camp, with her sister, mother, and friends. She spends four years in this hell, four years of being beaten, starved, and worse: she is one of the "Rabbits", a test subject for the Reich, operated on by the only female doctor at Ravensbrück, Dr. Herta Oberheuser. Caroline Ferriday has her hand in the war, but she doesn't come into the Rabbits story until they come to her.
Before I realized these people were real (Kasia is based on a real life person), I was sitting there, thinking, Gosh, I could really do without this Herta woman. She seems terrible. Well, yeah, good job, Bree. She is terrible. She was terrible in the book, and she was terrible in real life. She's cold, methodical, and I realize that this makes her sound like a serial killer, but really. She operated on these young women without a moment's hesitation, all because it was for the good of the Reich. There are moments where Herta seems to have feelings, where she realizes how ridiculous and cruel this all is, but she manages to push those emotions aside so she can become the top doctor at Ravensbrück.
The younger Kasia was most relatable, because her anger fed her throughout her four years at the concentration camp. She planned revenge and knew that she would get out, if for nothing more than to avenge her friends. But after she was out and grew older, she became like a painting: a frightening image of what can happen when one allows black hatred to eat one up. Kasia gets out, has her sister, marries the love of her life, has a child, and she is still unhappy. Her anger consumes her and it destroys everyone around her. She doesn't understand how to move on from Ravensbrück and the horrors she went through there. Even though I have no idea of the pain that place caused her - and I will never understand - the lesson that she teaches is so universal, and I prayed for her to find some semblance of a life.
Caroline was hard to read, mainly because the happy ending I wanted for her, I knew she wouldn't get. Her love story is beautiful and romantic, but heartbreaking. What I adored about her story, though, is that the love part was just that: a part. She had so much more going on in her life and she never let it stop her. Sure, she would wallow in bed for awhile after a particularly bad episode involving a certain man, but she always picked herself back up and went on with her life, because she knew there were others out there that needed her help. She sent care packages to orphans in France and opened her home to some of the Rabbits when they traveled to America. She wasn't perfect, but she was strong and independent, and it was so lovely to read about someone like that during those times.
I started off this book wondering if I would like it at all, but it ended up adoring it. I think knowing the backstory of the characters helped a lot. This usually doesn't do anything for me, but this time, I don't know. It adds another layer of tragedy to an already terribly tragic story.
Now for the good news. Since I procrastinated so much on this book, you only have to wait another week before it comes out! So, seriously, get your butt to your nearest bookstore (or just open a new tab) and buy this book. It's beautifully written, each character has his or her own voice (frustrating at times, but in the most wonderful way), and the story will send you to tears multiple times.
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