This novel has excellent reviews nevertheless, I was a little reluctant to read it based on the storyline...young Irish girl leaves Ireland and goes into service to wealthy family...as it turns out its an excellent story of this young woman's life during WWII while in service to a wealthy and eccentric German couple that has retreated to their country estate outside of Berlin hoping to weather the war. The novel is on par with other WWII novel told from the German perspective such as "Stones from the River" and "The Book Thief". I could not get invested in these characters or this story. I plugged along, through the horrors of occupied life in WWII, but did not connect with anything. If the author was intending to mimic the void of human connection that allowed the atrocities of the Holocaust, mission accomplished. Disengaged, I finished in the hope that I might grow to care for Beatrice and her desperate and isolating journey to adulthood. That never happened.
An interesting study of life during Nazi Germany. However, not as emotionally engaging as I enjoy.
—coltomac
The same familiar story, but told from a unique perspective.
—Vamlover12
It was okay and the ending was horrible.
—Cat
Dull & unexciting
—bushpastor
