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Joan Robison
Author
Edelweiss
Joan Robison, author

Adult; General Fiction (including literary and historical); (Market)

Eva Abrams thought leaving her relatively normal and uneventful life in suburban Utah for a summer internship in Europe was what she needed. A break from her normal everyday life and unwanted memories. She arrives in England excited for the next three months, but little does she know it will soon throw her into a time of war and chaos- where men fought and died for total domination. She soon learns that the real job is to travel back in time to the 1940s. She knows it will be an experience like no other, but she must first overcome her fears of the unknown. While living in the past her world is plagued with fear, loss, and uncertainty- revealing the hidden ugliness of war by a proud country who has once again engulfed the world in another conflict, allowing her eyes to see things she never thought they would. Unable to escape main land Europe before the Germans invade, her greatest fear materializes when she witnesses the arrival of the German army in the town square. All she wants now is to go home back to her mundane life, but she doesn’t know when or if that will ever happen. Now trapped in the 1940s France, she stumbles into an unexpected romance with the person she should keep firmly at a distance, one that opens her mind to the understanding that people are not always as they seem- good or bad, which gives rise to the decision that puts everything else into motion. Her life takes a drastic turn when the love she feels for the family she lives with and the suspicions of an SS Major put her in unimaginable danger, leaving the path in front of her treacherous and murky at best. She is now tangled in the grim realities imposed by war as the walls close in on her. She must choose between the life she knew and the past she now feels drawn to.
Reviews
Amazon

 

 

4.0 out of 5 stars enticing

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2023

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This is a fascinating time travel romance with themes of love and desperation woven throughout. Particularly interesting was all the research behind what it was like to live in France in the 1940s.

This book is long and very involved, so get ready to make quite the commitment here. Even more so because there is a sequel!

 

 

 

 

5.0 out of 5 stars A non-typical story about a common internal struggle among people

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2022

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This book showcases a non-typical story about a common and constant internal struggle that most of us understand. We all want two contradictory experiences in life. We want the adventure of the unknown, but we also want security in our lives. Usually, this unknown is the future. However, this story puts the unknown in an unfamiliar place – the past. Specifically, the protagonist goes to Europe during WWII, only to discover that changing one’s times and places don’t change the person. For example, the protagonist falls in love with the same type of man, whether it’s the 2000s or the 1940s. Even more interesting, this story explores the question of whether people learn from their mistakes, or are simply destined to be drawn into bad circumstances and repeat those mistakes. History is doomed to repeat itself is a theme that plays out while reading on. This is an enjoyable read that puts the reader on a thought-provoking journey to determine if people have self-determination or if destiny is already written out, or if it’s something between.

 

 

5.0 out of 5 stars Good empathy with the protagonists in wartime, good written style

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on 1 December 2021

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I usually read mostly non-fiction - including a lot about World War II already.
Here I give 6 points as to why the book is worth reading.

- The cover, title and subtitle appealed to me. There is a well-known German soldier's song about the flower Edelweiss. The title and subtitle arouse excitement and tension.

- The author puts herself very well into the minds of the characters, into the uncertainty, into the constant dangerous situations, into personal fates of wartimes.

- You read an interesting mixture of thoughts of the characters and dialogues

- even unimportant things like dealing with laundry is told in an interesting and appealing way

- The hostility between the enemies becomes very tangible

- Different groups of characters and their actions are explained from SS officers over refugees to ordinary people from England or France.

As a fan of non-fiction books I miss a table of contents and a more reader friendly layout e.g. with more paragraphs and thick print.
For fans of fictional stories, which are set close to reality, it is absolutely worth reading.

 

 

 

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