Prisoner of night and fog by Anne Blankman
Headline, 2014. ISBN 9781472207821.
In just a few hundred pages, Anne Blankman has truly unravelled a
unique story which is both compelling and sympathetic. With fresh
and original characters, she manages to revive a piece of history
with an engrossing original storyline intertwined with true events.
From the very beginning, Anne delivers a beautifully crafted
masterpiece and seduces readers to fall in love with every
character, good or bad. It's a coming of age story that's prominent
for its historic settings and disarming plotline which stimulates
the main character's growth.
The book takes place in Munich 1931, a few years prior to Hitler's
utmost height of power. The National Socialist Party holds Munich in
their tight hands and Hitler is hypnotizing his audiences with
patriotism. After the chilling event of her father's death,
seventeen year old Gretchen Muller dwells in the shadow of her Uncle
Dolf. Fallen victim to Hitler's patriotic deceit, she disarms the
lies of her father's death bit by bit and hunts for the truth. With
ploys and ferocity brandished at the ready, Gretchen joins forces
with quick-witted Jew reporter, Daniel Cohen much to the utter
dislike of her family.
As each chapter begins, Anne Blankman grants the reader lyrical
storylines entangled with disbelieving plot twists and world
building backgrounds. She presents us with a tale like no other and
charmingly bestows us with characters we love to hate or we just
simply adore.
An additional few pages of the Author's Note provides keen readers
with an insight to Anne Blankman's fictional and non-fictional
characters with bonus content on Gretchen's Munich. Teaching this
novel to a class will bestow them an alternative view on Munich in
1931 and those who allied themselves with Adolf Hitler. The book can
be well compared with The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak
as they both offer a young and unpredictable girl's view on this
exclusive part of history.
Samantha May (Student)