The Girl From Krakow
The life of the title character, Rita Feuerstahl, carries her from 1935 to 1947, from her restless student days to an ill-suited marriage, a love affair and a child who changes her life forever. Heightening the drama of Rita’s life is the fact that she is a Jew in Eastern Europe, hiding in plain sight as she keeps a powerful military secret entrusted to her early in the war. Always engrossing, at first Rita’s life is overpowered by the more free and colorful adventures of her lover as he changes identities and countries and falls into positions of comfort and power in wartime Europe. But motherhood transforms a vain and directionless ingénue into something more: a woman of substance, with a strong desire to live and learn from her hard-won survival. Ghetto life, separations, loss of her loved ones to the Holocaust, a hidden identity that tries to conform to German overlords’ expectations – all try her mind and spirit.
In this episodic, traumatic, and thrilling novel, Rita’s heart, resilience and redeeming sacrifice shine through a compelling story with one of the most satisfying conclusions this reader has experienced in a long time.
