The Winter Guest

Author: Pam Jenoff
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: MIRA, 2014
Pages: 352
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Life is a constant struggle for the eighteen-year-old Nowak twins as they raise their three younger siblings in rural Poland under the shasow of the Nazi occupation. The constant threat of arrest has made everyone in their village a spy, and turned neighbor against neighbor. Though rugged, independent Helena and pretty, gentle Ruth couldn't be more different, they are staunch allies in protecting their family from the threats the war brings closer to the their doorstep with each passing day.

Then Helena discovers an American paratrooper stranded outside their small mountain village, wounded, but alive. Risking the safety of herself and her family, she hides Sam - a Jew - but Helena's concern for the American grows into something much deeper. Defying the perils that render a future together all but impossible, Sam and Helena make plans for the family to flee. But Helena is forced to contend with the jealousy her choices have sparked in Ruth, culminating in a singular act of betrayal that endangers them all, and setting in motion a chain of events that will reverberate across continents and decades.

Review: Pam Jenoff wrote my favorite book of 2017, The Orphan's Tale, but the other two novels I read that she's written weren't on that level. This particular novel opens in present day and then flashes back, a technique I usually love. It's always good to know the main character is going to survive World War II.

Something about this novel moved slowly. I was never fully drawn in, anxiously turning pages. I hadn't realized that I could in fact read a World War II novel and not have my heart race, or be reduced to tears at some point. The constant push and pull of the main characters, twin sisters, over-complicated the story and didn't propel it forward.

I'm not giving up on Jenoff just yet though, and you can expect to read more reviews of her books in the future.

Other Books by Pam Jenoff:
The Orphan's Tale
The Lost Girls of Paris
The Kommandant's Girl