Stormi's Review: The Plum Tree by Ellen Marie Wiseman
APC
PUBLISHER: KensingtoN
RELEASED: December 24, 2012
GENRE: HISTORICAL FICTION
LENGTH: 401 pages
FORMAT: EBOOK, PAPERBACK, AUDIBLE
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A deeply moving and masterfully written story of human resilience and enduring love, The Plum Tree follows a young German woman through the chaos of World War II and its aftermath. “Bloom where you’re planted,” is the advice Christine Bolz receives from her beloved Oma. But seventeen-year-old domestic Christine knows there is a whole world waiting beyond her small German village. It’s a world she’s begun to glimpse through music, books—and through Isaac Bauerman, the cultured son of the wealthy Jewish family she works for. Yet the future she and Isaac dream of sharing faces greater challenges than their difference in stations. In the fall of 1938, Germany is changing rapidly under Hitler’s regime. Anti-Jewish posters are everywhere, dissenting talk is silenced, and a new law forbids Christine from returning to her job—and from having any relationship with Isaac. In the months and years that follow, Christine will confront the Gestapo’s wrath and the horrors of Dachau, desperate to be with the man she loves, to survive—and finally, to speak out. Set against the backdrop of the German home front, this is an unforgettable novel of courage and resolve, of the inhumanity of war, and the heartbreak and hope left in its wake.
FIVE BOUNDLESS STARS
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Christine finds herself in love with a man above her in the station, Isaac. She is poor and works for his family, yet he is rich. Despite this, he is also in love with her. When the war begins the stations, they hold mean nothing. The only thing that matters now is that Christine is German and Isaac is a Jew. This story follows the hardships of war and the hope for young love.
I want to say that I rated this is a five because that's the highest we rate, but it is more a 10. This book was wonderful. It is written in such detail that you can imagine being there. The characters are real and relatable. Christine and Isaac face so much hardship. Between the stations they hold to the religions they follow, they encounter such trouble in being together. The determination these two show is inspiring. Christine is followed more than Isaac, and her story is inspiring. The War takes this story to new light. I thought this was going to be a book about romance in hard times. While it was that, it was also a book of survival and hope in a country ravaged by war. It was a new view on the horrors that the Germans and the Jews faced. Bombings, death, persecution, love, survival, and hope for a better future are all part of this story. This story was indeed a marvelous read about a horrible time. This story provides so much emotion that at times I was so happy while others just broke my heart and brought me to tears. This certainly was an emotional read, but that makes this an even better story. This was a story filled with love, loss, hope, and a world war that changes the lives of so many.
This is the second book I have read by this author and each book is fantastic in detail and written in such a way that you can't help but be sucked into the story. I am so glad I was able to review this story for such a talented author.