Genres: Drama, Historical, Romance, World War II
Format: Kindle, Paperback
The Munich Girl – A Novel of the Legacies that Outlast War by Phyllis Edgerly Ring
Synopsis:
Anna Dahlberg grew up eating dinner under her father’s war-trophy portrait of Eva Braun.
Fifty years after the war, she discovers what he never did—that her mother and Hitler’s mistress were friends.
The secret surfaces with a mysterious monogrammed handkerchief, and a man, Hannes Ritter, whose Third Reich family history is entwined with Anna’s.
Plunged into the world of the “ordinary” Munich girl who was her mother’s confidante—and a tyrant’s lover—Anna finds her every belief about right and wrong challenged. With Hannes’s help, she retraces the path of two women who met as teenagers, shared a friendship that spanned the years that Eva Braun was Hitler’s mistress, yet never knew that the men they loved had opposing ambitions.
Eva’s story reveals that she never joined the Nazi party, had Jewish friends, and was credited at the Nuremberg Trials with saving 35,000 Allied lives. As Anna’s journey leads back through the treacherous years in wartime Germany, it uncovers long-buried secrets and unknown reaches of her heart to reveal the enduring power of love in the legacies that always outlast war.
Anna Dahlberg’s mother, Peggy, has something important that she wants to tell her daughter. However, Peggy dies before Anna gets a chance to find out what her mother was going to reveal.
In Anna’s family home, where she grew up, hangs a picture of Eva Braun. Anna ponders why there is was a picture of Eva Braun, Hitler’s mistress, in their dining room.
We come to find out that Anna’s mother Peggy was lifelong friends with Eva Braun.
Soon after Peggy dies, Anna and her husband Lowell move into her mother, Peggy’s, home. Anna’s husband Lowell is writing a book about Hitler and World War II. He directs Anna to help him promote his book by writing some articles for the magazine that he owns called “The Fighting Chance.”
There, Anna meets a German man that runs the magazine named, Hannes Ritter. Hannes appreciates Anna’s work, but her husband, Lowell, doesn’t. Anna and Hannes hit it off and have much in common, and they come to discover that they also have past family connections.
While Anna is going through all of her mother’s belongings, she uncovers some evidence of her mother’s relationship with Eva Braun, and begins to feverishly investigate with the help of Hannes and a new employee at the magazine.
What ensues is an exciting account of who Eva Braun was, and her influence on Hitler, and certain events during World War II. She definitely had her own ideas and agenda concerning the war.
I loved The Munich Girl and read it through quickly. Phyllis Edgerly Ring weaves the past with the present in this engrossing fictional story. I was caught up in Anna’s investigation and the eventful things that she uncovers about, not only her mother and their family secrets, but also about Eva Braun and her relationship with Hitler and World War II.
I was astounded by the research that author Phyllis Edgerly Ring has done in order to write this fabulous novel. It is a powerful story that will cause readers to contemplate who Eva Braun was and how she lived. Through the eyes of her friend Peggy, Eva Braun is cast as a loyal friend with talents, strengths, sensitive feelings, and loving dedication to Hitler.
The Munich Girl is a captivating historical account of Eva Braun, but it is also an entrancing love story. It is about women, friendship and the mystery behind family secrets and secret lives. It also touches on how life was for the Germans after the war. It is an extremely interesting and entertaining read.
I couldn’t put The Munich Girl down. It is a compelling read and I highly recommend it. It is written with knowledge, skill and creativity. It is an original novel, fascinating and compelling.
The characters are all well developed and fleshed out. The main characters are multifaceted and fully characterized. I found people that I cared about and whose lives and individual struggles were painstakingly, and beautifully detailed. They are realistic and very thought provoking. I was impressed by the way Phyllis Edgerly Ring wrote the dialog between them.
The descriptions of the scenery, people and places made me feel like I was right there watching on as the story progressed. A true delight for the imaginary senses.
Overall, The Munich Girl is one fabulous read and I commend Phyllis Edgerly Ring for the amount of research she put into writing it, and for her talent and skill as an exceptional writer. It is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I will be reading this one again.
Reviewed by Chick Lit Cafe
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