The Girl with a Secret (The Emerald Sisters)
This is Book Two of The Emerald Sisters series. In 1939, with World War II looming, young German Rosa Herzelfeld boards the ship St. Louis with her parents and hundreds of other emigrating Jews. They are being sent to Havana, Cuba, one of the few places that should accept them; disastrously, they are turned away. Finally winding up as penniless refugees in London, England, the Herzelfelds try to build new lives. Rosa adapts better than her parents, but as the Nazi threat increases, all three are interned on the Isle of Man. From there, Rosa is recruited to assist in top secret British war efforts. She finds new love in England, but secrets she carries about her family’s behavior in Hitler’s Germany may derail her romance.
I couldn’t put this book down. The tension never stops as multi-layered, very human actors make difficult, pragmatic decisions and react in different ways to hardships and uncertainties. We know how the war eventually played out, but Rosa and the large cast of characters have no idea. They all—especially the Jews, of course—are facing a chilling, black force of evil with no safe ending in sight. Their fight for freedom is both frightening and inspiring. Highly recommended.
