Sweet romance at its (nearly) best.
With a workforce decimated by World War II, farms throughout the United Kingdom begin relying on Land Girls and prisoners of war for help, but when a German soldier arrives at Lorna’s family farm, he ends up being both an answer to prayer and a source of trouble for the Anderson family.
Seventeen-year-old Lorna dreams of seeing the world, but until the war is over and her brothers return, she is stuck working at Craigielaw. Her prospects for romance look equally bleak. At least until the army truck arrives delivering Paul, the quiet son of a German clockmaker. The two begin an uneasy friendship, which slowly morphs into something more. However, even if her father grudgingly approves of their relationship, the same cannot be said of the local villagers. Clandestine meetings and stolen kisses will satisfy die-hard romantics, while history buffs will be drawn in by the details of war-torn (and unsurprisingly largely white) Scotland. Further, the themes of prejudice, anger, and violence will resonate with readers familiar with current events. A few missteps, such as one-dimensional characters and a simplistic resolution, are not enough to destroy the magic of first love.
Sweet romance at its (nearly) best. (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-245988-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful.
January 1945: as Russians advance through East Prussia, four teens’ lives converge in hopes of escape.
Returning to the successful formula of her highly lauded debut, Between Shades of Gray (2011), Sepetys combines research (described in extensive backmatter) with well-crafted fiction to bring to life another little-known story: the sinking (from Soviet torpedoes) of the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff. Told in four alternating voices—Lithuanian nurse Joana, Polish Emilia, Prussian forger Florian, and German soldier Alfred—with often contemporary cadences, this stints on neither history nor fiction. The three sympathetic refugees and their motley companions (especially an orphaned boy and an elderly shoemaker) make it clear that while the Gustloff was a German ship full of German civilians and soldiers during World War II, its sinking was still a tragedy. Only Alfred, stationed on the Gustloff, lacks sympathy; almost a caricature, he is self-delusional, unlikable, a Hitler worshiper. As a vehicle for exposition, however, and a reminder of Germany’s role in the war, he serves an invaluable purpose that almost makes up for the mustache-twirling quality of his petty villainy. The inevitability of the ending (including the loss of several characters) doesn’t change its poignancy, and the short chapters and slowly revealed back stories for each character guarantee the pages keep turning.
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful. (author’s note, research and sources, maps) (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16030-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
PROFILES
A pleasant romance hindered by some curious choices.
Opposites attract after tragedy strikes.
Autistic white teen David Drucker spends every lunch period eating alone. When Indian-American popular girl Kit Lowell joins him one day she’s just looking for a quiet place to sit. It’s been one month since Kit’s father, a white dentist, died in a terrible car accident, but Kit is still flailing. As the two teens get to know one another and eat lunch together each day, they find themselves bringing out their own best qualities. Slowly but surely, romance blooms. There’s a warmth and ease to their relationship that the author captures effortlessly. Each chapter alternates perspective between Kit and David, and each one is fully rendered. The supporting characters are less well served, particularly Kit’s first-generation-immigrant mother. There are two major complications in Kit’s story, both involving her workaholic mother, and the lack of development defuses some potential fireworks. The central relationship is so charming and engaging that readers will tolerate the adequate tertiary characters. Less tolerable is a late-in-the-game reveal about Dr. Lowell’s accident that shifts the novel’s tone to a down note that juxtaposes poorly with everything that came before. The author pulls out in the final few pages, but it still leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
A pleasant romance hindered by some curious choices. (Romance. 12-16)Pub Date: July 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-553-53568-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
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