White Rose, Black forest by Eoin Dempsey

Author : Eoin Dempsey
Title : White Rose, Black Forest
Published : 2018
Publisher : Lake Union Publishing
Pages : 270
Genre : Historical Fiction

     December 1943. In the years before the rise of Hitler, the Gerber family’s summer cottage was filled with laughter. Now, as deep drifts of snow blanket, the Black Forest, German dissenter Franka Gerber is alone and hopeless. Fervour and brutality have swept through her homeland, taking away both her father and her brother and leaving her with no reason to live. That is until she discovers an unconscious airman lying in the snow wearing a Luftwaffe uniform, his parachute flapping in the wind. Unwilling to let him die, Franka takes him to her family’s isolated cabin despite her hatred for the regime he represents. But when it turns out that he is not who he seems, Franka begins a race against time to unravel the mystery of the airman’s true identity. Their tenuous bond becomes as inseparable as it is dangerous. Hunted by the Gestapo, can they trust each other enough to join forces on a mission that could change the face of the war and their own lives forever?

     While I have read a great deal of historical fiction to do with the second world war, this book took a different tacked. With a great many books dealing with this topic, they tend to focus on the Holocaust. It is a worthy cause and one that anyone should spend a little time with. But here the author picks up a tread that is not often talked about. We get to go into the world of Germany during the war and those that called it home. I suppose it is a difficult subject to take on. Our minds to often jump to the conclusion that all Germans were Nazi's.  It is an easier option to right everyone who was there as being bad. But this would be greatly unfair. Not everyone bought into the ideology of the Fuhrer. Some saw passed the propaganda and tried for something more. 

     It is through the eyes of Franka that we are pulled into this world. It is not often that I get to experience such a story through the female gaze. When it comes to stories of war we are usually shown it through the eyes of heroic men, fighting for freedom and liability. So for me, it was a refreshing look at such a plot. Franka is someone who has built up a strong will. She has not always been on the path of the righteous. She, much like us had to have her eyes opened to the true horrors of what was taking place. While most of us have a generally good idea of what took place the author gives you enough that should you not be he will guide you through. I realize that it is unlikely but it's worth mentioning. The author delivers a hero that is both brave but also greatly troubled by what is taking place. Dempsey delivers a hero that for me came of the page and set out to answer the question of if you were there would you have stepped up and tried to do something.  

     The book speed by in no time as I got deeper and deeper into these two's relationship. I found so much tension within myself as I witnessed the distrust between them. As you would imagine it is hard to trust someone when you are both hiding secrets. With so much of the story taking place with just the two of them, it would be easy to slip into a book that became boring and monotonous. But once again the author shows that he was able to keep up my interest throughout. With the book moving between their present and how they came to be in this predicament it adds a lot of substances.  It is a book that is also one of contrasts. While dealing with the heavy subjects of war and everything that took place at that time. It also moves into something more gentle and soft. It was something I wasn't expecting.  The story really moved me, and that is a great credit to the author. The way in which he unfolds his story allowed me to get deep under the skin of these charters in a short space of time. 

     Overall this is a book that showed me another side to Germany during world war two. While a work of fiction it incorporates a lot of true events. It showed me that some did try and fight the Nazi regime. No matter how futile it would seem. That sometimes people are simply people and are looking for a better future. That the smallest of acts are still worthy of there time and any act of rebellion is a worthy cause to fight for.