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Digital Reads Reviews

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Many thanks to Noelle Holten and publisher Bookouture for my spot on this Blog Tour.

I don’t read many historical fiction as I do not know much about history. Having got an opportunity to read this book, I would try to put words to my thoughts.

1941, Amsterdam, Nazi invasion, a Professor Held, who taught advanced mathematics saw brutality occurring everywhere. His niece started dating a German soldier. Michael his pupil was banned from attending his class. In order to save his life, impulsively, the professor offered Michael a safe place to hide.

My first book by Susanne Kelman, the book read fast. The characters soon took up all my attention, and emotions were wrenched when I read about the atrocities on humanity. The author created an aura of the World War II, and life of the people living in those times and their struggle to survive.

All the characters, Professor and Michael and their love interests, told me their tale poignantly. At times, I had to tell myself to breathe as the scene would suck in all my emotions. This was a heartbreaking captivating story where sacrifice and love on the backdrop of WW2 made it a compelling read.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley and publisher, and this is my journey into its pages, straight from the heart!! STRICTLY HONEST AND UNBIASED.

All my reviews can be read here

Suzanne Kelman is the Amazon International Bestselling author of “The Rejected Writers’ Book Club”, published by Lake Union, which is the first book in the Southlea Bay series. Also in the series, “Rejected Writers Take the Stage” and “The Rejected Writers’ Christmas Wedding”.

In 2019 Suzanne is releasing her first Historical Fiction book inspired by a true story called, “A View Across the Rooftops”, published by Bookouture, an imprint for Hachette U.K.

Kelman is also an award-winning writer/screenwriter whose accolades include the Best Comedy Feature Screenplay Award from the L.A. International Film Festival, the Gold Award from the California Film Awards, and the Van Gogh Award from the Amsterdam Film Festival.

In 2015 her script, Held, was regonized by the Academy of Motion Pictures and was shortlisted to the top ten in the Academy Of Motion Pictures Nichols Fellowship competition.

As well as an screenwriter and a published author, Suzanne is also a playwright and her award-winning comedy play, “Over My Dead Body”, has its World Premiere at Outcast Theatre in Washington, Fall 2019.

Born in the United Kingdom, Suzanne now resides in Washington State.

1941, Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. An unforgettable story of love, hope and betrayal, and a testament to the courage of humanity in history’s darkest days.

University professor Josef Held has never recovered from the loss of his beloved wife – and has no intention of ever letting anyone new into his quiet, safe world. It is a world where the clock ticks steadily in his mathematics classroom, even as the sinister beat of Nazi soldiers’ boots threaten to drown it out.

Terrified, Josef tries to keep his eyes on the ground as Jews across the city are forced into ghettos. But then Michael Blum, his most reluctant, infuriating pupil, tells Josef Jews like him will no longer be allowed to study at all. Josef can ignore the situation no longer. And, after the shock of seeing his neighbour killed on his own doorstep, he offers Michael a place to hide in an impulsive act of courage.

Michael is everything Josef is not: spontaneous, poetic, and unafraid to love. Even though his passionate relationship with a Dutch girl is strictly forbidden – for he is Jewish, and she is not. Somehow, in the quiet gloom of the attic, Josef doesn’t mind things about Michael that annoyed him in the classroom, and a bond begins to grow.

Remembering the pain of his own heartbreak, Josef is desperate to give Michael and his girlfriend a chance. He must go on as if nothing has changed: teaching his class, bowing to the Nazis. Beneath the fear, a thrill of defiance begins to bloom. But then Michael becomes perilously ill, and there is no way to get him the help he desperately needs.

As the dark days of war continue, with danger and betrayal at every turn, no-one can be trusted. If Michael is to survive and get back to the woman he loves, it will be down to Josef – to find the hero inside himself, and do whatever it takes to keep Michael alive. Even if it means putting his own life on the line.

Publication Date: October 2019

Publisher: Bookouture

8 Responses

  1. Great review. This sounds like a work of historical fiction worth looking into. When I read books like that I wonder if I could be one of the ones who risked it all under those circumstances.

  2. No one knew how bad it would get in Amsterdam. We started listening to a bio about Audrey Hepburn, but had problems with the audio and finally gave up. Still it was a spell-binding book. She was offered, but could not, play the part of Anne Frank.

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