Those Who Save Us by Jenna Bloom

Those Who Save Us is Jenna Blum's debut novel. It follows two stories at once - Anna's and Trudy's. The story takes place in both the present day, and also in Germany at the onset of WWII.

Anna Schlemmer is the pretty young daughter of a lower level Nazi lawyer. Unbeknownst to him, his daughter falls in love with a Jewish man she ends up hiding, and eventually she violates the Reich's prohibitions against carnal relationships with Jews. This results in Anna's pregnancy with her daughter, Trudy, and her father's subsequent repudiation. Forced out into the world alone and pregnant, Anna is forced to make heart-wrenching choices at the hands of an SS officer to ensure her survival, and later, that of her precious daughter.

Trudy's story takes place half a century later. She knows nothing of the truth of her mother's life during those dark days. Her only clue is a photograph of Anna, Trudy the SS officer, which leads Trudy to believe this man is her father. She believes herself to be "pure German," and she does not know the truth of her origins - she is half Jewish. Trudy begins to unravel bits of the past through interviews she does with Germans who were alive during WWII.

What I liked about this novel was the new perspective it gave me regarding the situation in Germany for the German people during the war. Little in history is covered on the average person's struggles and hardship during the war.

It's a beautifully written book that left me in tears many times over.