Erinna

Everything about this read felt deeply uncomfortable. From the sexualization of certain characters and sex itself having very purposeful, toxic intention to the apathetic and cruel remarks made about these small town murders of two young girls to the main character's history, relationship with her mother and her coping mechanisms, I felt very on edge throughout this whole book. With that being said, I really enjoyed it and had a hard time putting it down towards the end!

The author did a great job of pointing at certain conclusions then steering you away from them, making you feel as unsure and unsteady as the wildly unhealthy characters in the book.

Great twists and turns until the very end with the perfect amount of follow up/ tied ends to feel conclusive. Highly recommend as long as you're not looking for a “feel good” book!!

What a ride this story is! This author shows such a beautiful development of the characters from beginning to end, emphasizing this concept of growth through tough wartime, the maturing of naive girlhood to womanhood through necessity, the premature maturing of childhood to adulthood through trauma, the growth of maternal and paternal love and sacrifice through time and forced reflection.

While initially it may seem to be just another war love story, it definitely is not! It is such a stronger, far more important story of women and the many secretive ways they fought in the war from home. They weren't the ones getting the medals and accolades from returning from the war but they fought thanklessly from behind closed doors.

Although the book is quite large, the first half beautifully sets the scene and introduces to you the broken and naive characteristics of the characters that enable them to play the important roles they do throughout the war. Then comes the second half, which absolutely flies by! I was at the edge of my seat throughout the rest of this book constantly playing emotional catch up and coming to terms with the inevitable continuous loss for all of the characters throughout their horrific situations.

I also couldn't pick a more beautiful, conclusive and tear-inducing end to this story. It is everything I wanted it to be yet I couldn't stop myself from bawling all the way through it.

Historical fiction is new to me, so for anyone on the fence about it, absolutely give it a read and stick with it!! It turns into an incredible read!

I really enjoyed this story and the way in which it was told from three different perspectives all seemingly unrelated and as you read learning how they all strongly intertwined through flash backs and present times.

Although with those siloed perspectives and lots of holes in timelines it felt like it took a long time for the book to really take off once things started to connect. I also had a hard time keeping the many characters and storyline straight, and kept having to Google a character's name hoping I wouldn't read a spoiler to try to keep up with how they fell into the story.

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly rushing into the next book because I did enjoy the story, it just wasn't a smooth read for me.

3.5 stars if that were possible.