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Three Reasons You Should Read This WWII Historical Fiction:
- The Edelweis Sisters by Kate Hewitt is an emotional story about the Eder family and their three daughters during World War II that is equal parts dramatic, thrilling, and romantic.
- Each of the three sisters goes through a journey that allows them to find deep parts of themselves they never imagined existed – and each one is unique.
- A few of the “bad” characters were different from what I expected and made several surprising choices.
About The Edelweis Sisters by Kate Hewitt
Title: The Edelweis Sisters
Author: Kate Hewitt
Genre: WWII Historical Fiction
Johanna Eder and her sisters Birgit and Lotte have always lived quiet lives, working in their father’s clockmaking shop and helping their mother in the house. But they find it impossible to ignore the changes in the world around them.
At first Johanna finds it hard to believe the Nazis pose a real threat. But then her father hires Franz. He’s soulful, with dark eyes that twinkle with intelligence and humor. But he’s Jewish, and as Johanna falls for him, she realizes that loving him puts them all in danger.
The only way to save Franz is to get him to the safety of Switzerland. For this, she needs her sisters’ help, and they join the resistance. As the world turns dark around them, they must slip unnoticed right under the noses of the Nazi soldiers filling their cobbled streets.
Johanna knew she and her sisters would die for each other, but as their hearts are broken afresh each day and the lives of beloved friends and family are threatened, she discovers they would also die for the man she loves, and for what is right.
Johanna could never have foreseen how falling for a dark-eyed man would take her from an innocent girl to a fearless woman; from her quiet clock shop into the very depths of hell.
In the concentration camps of Ravensbruck and Mauthausen, Johanna and her sisters must show the strength of human spirit like never before. If they are to survive, they must prove that even in the darkness, the tiniest seeds of hope can bloom…
My review of The Edelweis Sisters:
The Edelweis Sisters by Kate Hewitt follows the story of the three Eder girls, Johanna, Birgit, and Lotte. Each one very differnt in their own ways, they’ve lived a relatively peacful and normal life until World War II approaches their doorstep. The invasion of Austria is swift and mostly non-violent, and suddenly life is drastically different.
Lotte – the youngest believes she will find peach at the convent through a vocation. Birgit finds herself falling for a soldier, and Johanna falls in love with her father’s apprentice, a Jewish man. The story of each sister wraps its way around the others – showing how connected the three are even when physical distance separates them. Each story is uplifting and heartbreaking its own way, and none of them end quite the way I expected.
The Edelweis sisters really highlighted how the lives of everyday people were altered by the war – and not everyone made it out alive, healthy, or able to return to life as it was before. Work camps, interrogations, worrying about those you care for the most, and trying to find a way to do what you think is right all take a toll on the girls, and the toll was a real one.
Kate Hewitt did not shy away from the horrors of the Nazi regime, but she did find the very delicate balance between showing what happened and being too graphic for many readers. So many very heavy topics were addressed beautifully and in a manner that really showcased how life during war might have been.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
