Those Who Save Us

This past month's pick for my book club was Those Who Save Us. It is a rare occasion when everyone in the group likes the book, but the only thing said that could be construed as negative was one reader's dislike for the lack of quotation marks (something which everyone else enjoyed). Jenna (the author) is actually a friend and client of mine, and I've taken care of her wonderfully energetic black lab, Woodrow, a few times.

The book is captivating. I had trouble putting it down. It was to the point where I would grab the book and read a paragraph while a program was loading on my computer at work.

The book is about two women, a mother and her daughter. The story takes place in Nazi Germany during World War Two where Anna is in her late teens/early twenties and Trudy is a baby, and also, fifty years later in Minnesota where Trudy, now a woman, struggles with her roots of which her aging mother refuses to speak. The book travels back and forth in time revealing the horrors of war, but even more poignantly unveiling the lengths a mother will go to protect her child.

I had never read a story told from the perspective of an Aryan during this period and it was a welcome one. I don't feel I can do the story justice to write more synoptic descriptions, so I will just say be prepared to go for an emotional ride with this book.

I definitely recommend this book to everyone (it was recently added to the New York Times Bestsellers List, congrats Jenna)!