War is a horrible thing. But sometimes, war is necessary. Towns, villages, and cities are destroyed. Many lives are changed, some for the better and some for the worse. Anna is about to discover just how World War II changed her life.
Instead of focusing on the horrors of the crimes the Nazis committed during the war, this book focuses on Anna and the discovery that her mom knew Eva Braun. It focuses on Anna’s relationships with other people and how this war has affected their lives since.
When Anna is given the job to write an article, she is delighted. Her research leads her into unexpected territory though. She discovers more than she had ever hoped. There are secrets that have been floating around in her family for many, many years. When she finds them out, it changes her entire life.
Her assignment is to write about Eva Braun. To me, that was like a prequel to her discovering that the identity of the young woman in the portrait, the one that had decorated their dining room for as long as she could remember. The young woman in the portrait was the infamous Eva Braun, the mistress then wife of Adolf Hitler.
When Anna finds a journal that her mom had written during this tumultuous time in history, she discovers part of her mother’s life that she never knew existed.
Once the journal is found, the time skips back-and-forth from the modern time to the time that Anna’s mom lived in Germany, which was during the time of Hitler, political correctness, concentration camps, and great fear among the Germans. The horrors that happened during the war are both shown and hinted at.
I’ve always thought of Eva Braun as a merciless woman. I mean, anyone who could love Hitler had to be a monster, right? But as I read this book, I realized that Eva had been a woman with feelings. She just happened to fall in love with the wrong man.
The 1936 Olympic games were held in Berlin, Germany. How did Hitler feel when Jesse Owens set world records in four different events? Since Jesse Owens was black, I don’t imagine that he was very happy about it.
This historical fiction novel is written really well. Bit by bit, the story draws you in. Wanting to learn more about Hitler and his significant other as well what happened with Anna and her love interest kept me entranced and made it hard to take a break from reading.
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you would like a copy of this historical fiction book, I’ve provided an Amazon link for you below.
Amazon Link: The Munich Girl
Recommended Article: Phyllis Edgerly Ring Interview – The Holocaust, Eva Braun, and Friendship
The Improbable Life of the Inventor of the Modern Bra – Eva Braun is mentioned in the thirteenth paragraph of this interesting article.
Favorite Sentences:
The hours since she’d regained consciousness felt like a cottony cocoon, a long, waking dream.
The shy duckling I’d met that cold February day, face as doughy as the cream cakes and sweet noodles she’d eaten at the convent, was now a regal confident swan.
Food shopping is like an unpaid second job—standing in line two hours for a clothespin-sized piece of cheese.
More exhausting than the physical discomfort is how we have to constantly choose our words as if the whole world is listening.
chrysalis of a common crow butterfly, wikimedia commons
New Words Learned:
chrysalis – I knew one definition of chrysalis: the pupa of a moth or butterfly. A chrysalis is also anything in the process of developing.
coffered ceiling – A coffered ceiling is a pattern of indentations or recesses in the overhead surface of an interior. In architecture, a “coffer” is a sunken panel in a ceiling, including the interiors of domes and vaults.
What is a coffered ceiling?
parsing – analyzing
About the Author:
As she writes fiction and nonfiction, Phyllis Edgerly Ring watches for the noblest possibilities in the human heart. She’s always curious to discover how history, culture, relationships, spirituality, and the natural world influence us and point the way for the human family on our shared journey.
Her newest novel, The Munich Girl: A Novel of the Legacies That Outlast War, traces a pathway of love and secrets in WWII Germany when protagonist Anna Dahlberg discovers that her mother shared a secret friendship with Hitler’s mistress, Eva Braun. Her journey to discover the truth about this, and her own life, will challenge most every belief she has about right and wrong.
The author has worked as writer, editor, nurse, tour guide, program director at a Baha’i conference center, taught English to kindergartners in China, and served as an instructor for the Long Ridge Writer’s Group. She has written for such publications as Christian Science Monitor, Ms., Writer’s Digest, and Yankee, and also published several nonfiction books about creating balance between the spiritual and material aspects of life. More information can be found at her blog, Leaf of the Tree: https://phyllisedgerlyring.wordpress.com/.
The Munich Girl looks like my kind of read. I love historical fiction and early 20th century is something I have a keen interest in.
Glad you enjoyed the read.
I’m so glad you enjoyed ‘The Munich Girl’!
Just stumbled on this – thanks so very much, Lisa! 🙂
I greatly enjoyed reading your book. Like I said in my review, I had always thought of Eva Bruan as merciless. Thank you so much for showing me the kind of person Eva Braun really was.