The Secrets of the Notebook

Author: Eve Haas
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Arcade, 2013
Pages: 280
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Eve Haas is the daughter of a German Jewish family that took refuge in London after Hitler came to power. Following a terrifying air raid in the blitz, her father revealed the family secret, that her great-great grandmother Emilie, was married to a Prussian prince. He then showed her the treasured leather-bound notebook inscribed to Emilie by the prince. Her parents were reluctant to learn more, but later in life, when Eve was married and inherited the diary, she became obsessed with proving this birthright. The Secrets of the Notebook tells how she follows the clues, from experts on European royalty in London to archives in West Germany and then, under threat of being arrested as a spy by the Communist regime, to an archive in East Germany that had never before opened its doors to the West. What she unearths is a love story set against the upheaval of the Napoleonic wars and the Anti-semitism of the Prussian court, and a ruse that both protected Emilie's daughter and probably condemned her daughter - Eve's beloved grandmother, Anna, to death in the Nazi camps.

Review: Since this book is not a new release, I don't know why I'm just learning of it now. I have generally sworn off WWII novels, but this was different. I was intrigued from the Prologue, and found much of this fascinating.

The author is of my grandparents' generation, which I think help drive this home as well. It's just heart breaking, and brought a very real and very human side to the Nazi atrocities.

This is a must read, particularly in light of the troubling times our own country is facing. It's a slippery slope.