An impossible love during war, impossible choices to make…

Synopsis

A forbidden romance in occupied Norway…

Narvik, 1940. After Laila awakens to the sight of warships in the fjord, it isn’t long before she turns resistor to the brutal Nazi regime. She is horrified when local girls begin affairs with enemy soldiers, yet against her own principles, she finds herself falling in love with German soldier, Josef.

Josef is not like the others. He becomes involved in helping her and the locals with resistance activities, risking his life on more than one occasion.

But then Laila finds out she is pregnant. With Josef sent to the Russian front, and Laila cast out by her family, she turns to a home for women which promises to care for her and her unborn child. But instead, she finds herself caught in a system of evil far beyond what she thought possible…

My review

In 1940, many lives were changed, just like Laila’s life. Even in Narvik, Norway the Nazis find their way and occupy the place. However, Laila and many others try to find ways to resist the German occupation.
But not everyone is keeping their distance, and Laila is horrified when she learns that local girls are having affairs with the Germans. And this is just unforgivable!
Yet Laila also sees that not all Germans are the same. While some are convinced of their right, there are others that are just following the rules but are seeing the injustice and even help the locals. And one of them is Josef…
Before she knows is, Laila is falling in love with Josef and the feeling is mutual…
When she falls pregnant, not only when Josef is being sent to the Russian front, but also cast out by her own family, she has no other option to seek refuge in a home for women in her condition, with the promise of being taken care of.
However, Laila learns that there is more going on at the home, something more evil than she could ever imagine… 

We have all learnt about the horrors of the war. Yet with this story, I have learnt more disturbing aspects of the war I wasn’t aware of before. 

This book starts rather innocent, as Laila and whole Narvik are living all in peace and enjoying life. Laila herself is a young woman, with a great sense of responsibility yet also wondering when she will fall in love.
She still has this innocence over her, as she hopes in vain that perhaps even when the Germans invade, a lot will stay the same. 

I admired her courage when realization strikes and she sees the terrible things the Nazis are doing to her hometown. She sees the injustice, and wants to do her bit with helping the resistance activities.
We see Laila turn from a kind of gullible girl to a young woman seeing injustice and being unable to just stand there and watch. 

But she also turns into a young woman who sees that not everyone, even Germans, is the same. There are several characters in this story just confirming the horrendous things that happened during the war, but there are also characters that show us that there are people, Germans, seeing how wrong it all is, and are even risking their own lives to help out. 

Laila has very strong thoughts about familiarizing with the Germans, and she even despises the girls who are having affairs with Germans, just for the advantages.
Yet, as part of her growth, she falls in love with Josef, a German, but with his heart at the right place. 

This book is divided in several parts, showing also the different stadia Laila is going through. While the first part is mainly about her life in Narvik, falling in love with Josef, the second part takes an even darker turn.
Because now Laila has to live with the consequences of her love for Josef.  

I never heard of Lebensborn before, showing only my ignorance. Yet even if it’s thanks to this book I learnt more about it, when things are too good to be true, they mostly are.
I was very wary of when Laila arrived at the Lebensborn home, yet I was truly shocked by what happened there. 

Yet there were also small silver linings, as Laila befriends other girls in the same situation. Here again we see Laila maturing. She knows which fights to fight or when to keep silent. And she knows that something terrible is going on at that place, and is determined to not only discover the truth but also to get away from it as soon as she cans. 

This book was for me an eye – opener in many different occasions.
I saw the determination for fight for love. Because Laila is ready to lose everything she has for the man she loves and the child she carrier.
But I also understood that we cannot paint everyone with the same brush. Even at the most gruesome bits of history, people on the wrong side of the war are trying to undo the injustice.
And I learnt more about those horrors of the war, counting my blessings that I am living in a place and time without war.
However, mostly I learnt about the courage and determination people had. No matter what they had to endure, they would never stop fighting against abuse and crime… 

A really gripping story about the terror of the war, but also about the power of love and hope… This author managed perfectly to show us the brutality of it, yet also managed perfectly to keep shining the light of good things happening in a terrible time…