I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by NetGalley. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.
Hidden Among the Stars by Melanie Dobson Published by NavPress on September 4, 2018
Genres: 20th Century, Christian, Fiction, Historical, Romance
Pages: 401
Source: NetGalley
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From the award-winning author of Catching the Wind, which Publishers Weekly called “unforgettable” and a “must-read,” comes another gripping time-slip novel about hidden treasure, a castle, and ordinary people who resisted evil in their own extraordinary way.The year is 1938, and as Hitler’s troops sweep into Vienna, Austrian Max Dornbach promises to help his Jewish friends hide their most valuable possessions from the Nazis, smuggling them to his family’s summer estate near the picturesque village of Hallstatt. He enlists the help of Annika Knopf, his childhood friend and the caretaker’s daughter, who is eager to help the man she’s loved her entire life. But when Max also brings Luzia Weiss, a young Jewish woman, to hide at the castle, it complicates Annika’s feelings and puts their entire plan—even their very lives—in jeopardy. Especially when the Nazis come to scour the estate and find both Luzia and the treasure gone.
Eighty years later, Callie Randall is mostly content with her quiet life, running a bookstore with her sister and reaching out into the world through her blog. Then she finds a cryptic list in an old edition of Bambi that connects her to Annika’s story . . . and maybe to the long-buried story of a dear friend. As she digs into the past, Callie must risk venturing outside the safe world she’s built for a chance at answers, adventure, and maybe even new love.
Truth. I love dual time line stories, when they are done right. Truth. World War 2 era fiction is a favorite historical time period of mine (after Civil War – hello Gone with the Wind!). Truth. Nothing can be wrong when a character in a book happens to own a book store, I mean all the books IN the book. I’m new to Melanie Dobson but this won’t be my only book by her. You can tell she did her research both historically on currently. Set at the cusp of WWII when Austria voluntarily let Germany into their borders and the Jewish population that had only recently been granted the opportunity for citizenship (again) scrambled to find their footing. You can tell she loved her people even when she had to weave in their hardships the love was evident. Loved people become loved characters in a reader’s hands. Just sayin’.
Let’s talk for a minute about the things that didn’t work for me however. Girl meets boy over an antique book with some unusual writing in it. Boy is a university professor studying the history of the time of the book. Girl is part owner of a book store whose hobby includes digging up information on writers of previous generations. Boy and girl meet a handful of times and he invites her to join him on the trip to Austria to dive for the Jewish treasures that history tells us the Nazis threw into the lakes when they were being closed in on. Boy trusts girl he barely knows to fly to a foreign country with his daughter. Really?!? Boy and girl share conversations about faith and God in settings and situations that just didn’t feel authentic. Awkward. Boy and girl fall in love in Austria. Now that I’ve given you the long story, the modern parts of the story is where I struggled. I can’t begin to imagine in the short time they knew each other with such brief meetings before he left that he was totally on board with letting his child fly to Europe with, for all reality, a stranger. The faith elements in the modern story felt forced and awkward as well, they lacked a naturalness.
For all the hiccups in the modern story the history engaged me. The authenticity of the relationships and the palpable fear and concern of the individuals at play. The true depth of all the emotions that brought these characters to life. Some of the twists I figured out before the revel, though a few kept me *thinking* but not certain until time to know. Overall, the truly is a well written book of two generations of individuals exploring life, finding themselves and to some degree finding out who they were. Healing the hurts of the past and reconnecting the faith of the future. This is a must read for anyone who has an interest in WWII history. It’s definitely one I know I’ll read again as I know there are more nuances I missed (sick reading ya know). But it’s also unique from the perspective of Austria which isn’t as common for history of this era.
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