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The kommandant's girl [a novel]  Cover Image E-book E-book

The kommandant's girl [electronic resource] : [a novel] / Pam Jenoff.

Jenoff, Pam. (Author).

Summary:

Based in part on actual events, The Kommandant's Girl is a compelling tale of love and courage in a dangerous and desperate times. Unique in voice and evocative in historical detail, this stunning debut faithfully explores the gray area between right and wrong and the timeless themes of home, stuggle and defiance in the face of overwhelming odds. Nineteen-year-old Emma Bau has been married only three weeks when Nazi tanks thunder into her native Poland. Within days Emma's husband, Jacob, is forced to disappear underground, leaving her imprisoned within the city's decrepit, moldering Jewish ghetto. But then, in the dead of night, the resistance smuggles her out. Taken to Krakow to live with Jacob's Catholic cousin, Krysia, Emma takes on a new identity as Anna Lipowski, a gentile. Emma's already precarious situation is complicated by her introduction to Kommandant Richwalder, a high-ranking Nazi official who hires her to work as his assistant. Urged by the resistance to use her position to access details of the Nazi occupation, Emma must compromise her safety--and her marriage vows--in order to help Jacob's cause. As the atrocities of war intensify, so does Emma's relationship with the Kommandant, building to a climax that will risk not only her double life, but also the lives of those she loves.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781552549179 (electronic bk. : Adobe Reader)
  • ISBN: 1552549178 (electronic bk. : Adobe Reader)
  • ISBN: 9781552549179 (electronic bk. : Mobipocket Reader)
  • ISBN: 1552549178 (electronic bk. : Mobipocket Reader)
  • Physical Description: 395 p. ; 20 cm.
  • Publisher: Don Mills, Ont. : MIRA, c2007.

Content descriptions

Reproduction Note:
Electronic reproduction. Toronto, Ontario : MIRA, 2007. Requires Adobe Digital Editions (file size: 5782 KB) or Mobipocket Reader (file size: 279 KB).
Subject: Jewish women > Poland > Kraków > Fiction.
World War, 1939-1945 > Jewish resistance > Poland > Fiction.
Nazis > Fiction.
False personation > Fiction.
World War, 1939-1945 > Atrocities > Fiction.
Kraków (Poland) > History > 20th century > Fiction.
Genre: Love stories.
Historical fiction.
Electronic books.

  • Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2007 February #2
    Emma had lived in the closed orthodox Jewish community of Krakow, Poland, until she began working at the university library and met Jacob. He sweeps her off her feet, and they marry on the eve of the Nazi invasion. Jacob immediately leaves to join the Jewish underground, and Emma returns to her family, now locked in the Jewish ghetto. Jacob provides false papers, enabling Emma to become Anna Lipowski and move in with his Catholic aunt Krysia, posing as her niece. Krysia works for the underground while maintaining her status as a leader in the arts community. During a dinner party, Emma/Anna is introduced to Nazi Kommadant Richwalder. Smitten, he asks her to come work for him. She agrees, knowing such access will aid the underground, and even becomes intimate with the enemy to gather information. In her moving first novel, Jenoff offers an insightful portrait of people forced into an untenable situation and succeeds in humanizing the unfathomable as well as the heroic. ((Reviewed February 15, 2007)) Copyright 2007 Booklist Reviews.
  • Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2006 August #1

    With luminous simplicity, Jenoff's breathtaking debut chronicles the life of a young Jewish bride during the Nazi occupation of Krakw, Poland, in WWII. Emma Bau, a shy librarian, escapes the city's Jewish ghetto with the aid of the underground resistance movement that Jacob, her activist husband, has already joined. Emma assumes a new gentile identity as Anna Lipowski and goes to live with Jacob's elderly aunt, a wealthy Catholic widow who has also taken in Lukasz Izakowicz, the only surviving child of a famous rabbi and his murdered wife. As Anna, Emma catches the eye of Kommandant Georg Richwalder, second in charge of the General Government, at a dinner party. The handsome Nazi is so impressed by her German language skills (and her beauty) that he asks her to become his personal assistant. Emma accepts, hoping to secure valuable information for the resistance, but the chemistry between them presents challenges that test her loyalties to Jacob and her heart. This is historical romance at its finest. (Oct.)

    [Page 30]. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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