The Kommandant's Girl

Author: Pam Jenoff

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: MIRA, 2007

Pages: 400

Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: 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 aunt, 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, Emma must make choices that will force her to risk not only her double life, but also the lives of those she loves.

Review: I was so excited to read another Pam Jenoff novel, but when compared to The Orphan's Tale this is lacking in plot and depth. The Orphan's Tale seemed like a fresh new story line; not your typical WWII era novel or love story. 

The Kommandant's Girl was also impossible to put down and I was emotionally invested, but at it's core, it's a story you've read before. This is why it receives a Do Not Recommend rating. There are too many fantastic novels out there to settle for something that's good not great.

The sequel, The Diplomat's Wife, takes a supporting character, Marta, from this novel and provides her with a platform to have her voice heard.  I need to take a break from novels set during WWII and I didn't love Marta so I am ending the series here, at least for now. Emma is also mentioned in the sequel and I did some digging online to see how her story line resolves.