The Orphan's Tale: A Novel About the Sisterhood We Choose

I didn't know what to expect when I picked up this novel. "The Nightingale meets Water for Elephants in this powerful novel of friendship and sacrifice, set in a traveling circus during World War II, by international bestselling author Pam Jenoff." First of all, I thought The Nightingale was just okay and I didn't like WfE at all, but except for one novel about two sisters, Pam Jenoff's novels have been winners for me. And that is somewhat funny. In The Winter Guest, Jenoff wrote of two biological sisters who didn't get along well. In this novel, we meet two women who are not sisters, who only know each other not even a year, yet are willing to sacrifice everything for each other. It's the sisterhood of choice...

And it was thoroughly engrossing. I loved it. I loved meeting two strong-minded women determined to fight the Nazis in what little ways they can. Astrid, a Jew, chooses to hide in plain sight, on the trapeze! Right in front of their faces.. That's sticking it to them! Noa fights back in a not-so-in-your-face-way by rescuing a Jewish baby. In a time of war and terror, each woman finds love and lets their formerly-hurt selves love again.

The circus was interesting too. It didn't go crazy with details. I didn't learn about elephants and tigers, or even about the freak show, but I did learn about flying acrobats, the traveling town to town, the way they pitched the big top. (I'd love to see that)

I enjoyed the friendship and bond the girls developed. Even though distrust reared its ugly head at times, they bonded and looked out for each other and the rest of the circus.

What I didn't like was the sudden romance with Luc. It came abruptly and too fast to be believable. I also didn't like that in the last quarter, it's like both girls lose their blooming minds. Noa loses her marbles over Luc and Astrid loses it over Peter. Astrid and Peter, I could understand, but screaming that you're a Jew and letting yourself be kicked where it matters...really? What the heck is wrong with you? All of a sudden, two intelligent girls both lost their minds.

But the fact I got mad enough at them to scream and nearly throw the book shows how deeply I cared and that's the sign of good, engaging writing.

If you're tired of the traditional WWII tales...do check this one out.

I got this via Amazon Vine.

Extreme Sibling Rivalry Overshadows the Seriousness of War in The Winter Guest by Pam Jenoff

"We are showing the Germans, and our people, that as long as there is spirit in the heart, we are not defeated."

I rarely waste too much time on books I don't like, but I was curious enough about what was going to happen to Sam and Helena in this book, that even though I disliked it already at 17%, I kept chugging along, only to come to regret that decision.

Having read and enjoyed for the most part Ms. Jenoff's work before (see my review of the Ambassador's Daughter), I am surprised to be saying this, but I hated this book. Been a while since I disliked a book as much as I dislike this one, especially one I read all the way through. That being said, however, the fact I feel so strongly about it and what the characters do within its pages is actually a point in the author's favor. At least it evoked strong emotion in me.

I enjoyed Helena and her romance with Sam and this being a Harlequin book, I expected a nice romance, but something happens in the story that makes what starts beautiful turn into ugliness. I couldn't stomach it. There's a lot of things I can handle, but this was a sick twist I seriously disliked to the point it ruined the story for me. It was also utterly ridiculous. What woman is overtaken by lust at the sight of a man she doesn't know, who's hairy, stinky, and starved?

That being said, there's a war on, all right. It's Poland and the Germans/Nazis have taken over, the Jewish community is disbanded, trains are roaring past full of Jews on their way to the camps, there's very little food to be had, but in the middle of all this trauma and war, the book focuses on a stupid sibling rivalry and loads of resentment between two twin sisters. Sadly, that's where all the emotion of the story is: resentment between sisters. Helena resents that Ruth has been coddled, favored, considered prettier, etc. Ruth resents Helena having a romance while she's stuck at home raising three kids due their being orphaned. And it goes on and on.

I loathed, with an extreme passion, Ruth. What a horrid woman. I wanted to gouge her eyes out and sadly, she's half the story.

There are bad things happening and Helena witnesses them, yet there's so little emotion here that even things that should have been frightening just fell flat. Example: the hospital. You hide under the bed while a nurse is raped on top of it and it warrants a mere three or four sentences? Then it's never mentioned again? I would think the trauma of that would evoke a lot more reaction. As I said above, there's a lot more emotion when it comes to the sisters hating on each other or blabbering about their family history than actual traumatic events.

And Helena just traipses around all this danger unscathed. That was also a killer. I was like, seriously? Nobody stops to check your papers? You just waltz around the Jewish hospital, the ghetto, the blackmarket, and nothing happens? It's WWII, lady...and you're occupied.

And the ending....the book went on and on and on about their parents, their past, their surprising heritage (*****spoiler************************that's something else I didn't care for. How can one suddenly feel any passion about something they know nothing about? All of a sudden, you're Jewish when you know nothing about the religion?************) and yet the most important stuff was wrapped up in a few pages.

Just a disappointment for me.

I received an ARC of this via Netgalley.

The Ambassador's Daughter by Pam Jenoff

This was a very unique read. I'm surprised by what happened within its pages and I'm surprised by the ending.


I walk away from this novel very enlightened on the Treaty of Versailles. WWI and its consequences sadly seem to go largely unnoticed in history and in school. Ms. Jenoff does a remarkable job educating while entertaining.

The setting is France. A young woman who'd been rather...coerced into agreeing to marry a man when war hit is trying to postpone her impending marriage by staying with her ambassador father for the conducting of the treaty. She's German in a country that at the moment, hates Germans.

There's so much going on here... there's duty. Does she do her duty because it's the right thing to do or does she follow her heart? Is it wrong to just want to LIVE for a while before typing oneself down? When does doing the right thing really become doing the wrong thing? There's information falling into the wrong hands. Betrayal: the act of committing and the act of being betrayed. There's the after effects of war, how people are treated. There's politics. And above all it's the story of how lies...no matter how small...often have the most dire of consequences.

There's spying, intrigue, romance, and history.

I really enjoyed it thought at times I struggled with the heroine and her decisions. I'd like to have seen her handle some things differently, namely her fiance Stephan, but had t his story not gone the way it did, the moral would not have been as strong.

Wonderful writing. It really planted me in France during the signing of the Treaty. I didn't find the love was all that passionate as in a previous book I read by Jenoff, but I could feel the heroine's guilt and turmoil just pop off the page.

Four bikes. Brace yourself for lots of surprises. And that's hard to do nowadays, what with every plotline being done over and over and over. Ms. Jenoff really pulled this off. I received this from netgalley.