Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini @jchiaverini ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

"Students, SA, SS, Hitler Youth - toward the Opernplatz they marched, row after row of them, their faces sinister in the garish light.  In their arms were books seized from school libraries, from book shops, from shelves in homes were Mildred imagined bewildered parents lamenting the strange fanaticism that had transformed their beloved children into frightening strangers.  A thunderous roar of voices drew her attention back to the square, where torches were flung upon the pile of books, smoldering and smoking, rising into flame." (p 117)

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

May 2019; William Morrow; 978-0062841100
audio, ebook, print (608 pages); historical fiction

My last three books were about the horrors of WWII - first in Shanghai (read my review of The Song of the Jade Lily) and then in Singapore (read my review of How We Disappeared) and now in Berlin. All three books have been excellent but I think my next book is going to be light and fluffy to counteract all the terrible things that happened in the three WWII books.

Resistance Women is well written and extremely well researched. Two of the three main women characters are based on actual women who worked in the resistance during the war - Greta and Mildred. Several of the minor characters are also based on real people during this time period. I also enjoyed the fact that the book started in 1929 so that the reader had a better understanding of the rise of Hitler's power and what Germany was like after WWI.

The three main characters in the novel are Mildred, an American who moved to Berlin to be with her German-born husband Arvid, Greta, a German woman who marries Adam and Sarah who works in the resistance with her brother. Helping these women for several years was Martha Dodd who was the daughter of the US Ambassador to Germany and also based on a real person. Most of the main characters were intellectuals working on advanced degrees and teaching language at the university. As Hitler rose in power and the German people began to follow him, they knew that they had to work against him and try to let the world know what was happening in their country. Even as their lives became more difficult with no jobs and food shortages, they continued to do what they could to halt what was happening.

Even though there are a lot of people to keep up with in this novel and the novel is over 600 pages long, it was a wonderful book to read. The most interesting part to me was seeing how the German people began to change after listening to Hitler's rhetoric. I was also very emotionally impacted by how hard this small group of resistors worked to try to do what they felt was best for their country despite the dangers to themselves and found myself wondering what I would do in a similar situation.

Jennifer Chiaverini has written a fantastic and well-researched book about a group of women who came alive on the pages of this book. Be sure to read the author's notes at the end of the book to get more detail about the lives of the real people that these characters were based on.

Buy Resistance Women at Amazon

About the Author

Jennifer Chiaverini is the New York Times bestselling author of several acclaimed historical novels and the beloved Elm Creek Quilts series. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago, she lives with her husband and two sons in Madison, Wisconsin.

Find out more about Jennifer at her website, and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.

Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter.

Get even more book news in your inbox, sign up today! Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small commission is earned when purchases are made at Amazon using any Amazon links on this site. Thank you for supporting Girl Who Reads.