35. The Enemy's Daughter

 

35. The Enemy's Daughter. Anne Blankman. 2025. 288 pages. [Source: Library] [MG Historical fiction, MG coming of age, MG fiction,  3 stars]

First sentence: Marta leaned back against the ship's railing as far as she could go without falling over the side.

Premise/plot: Marta and her father are Germans aboard the Lusitania--secretly. Though not spies, they know that using their own papers to travel would be problematic--to say the least. They had been in America visiting family and now with the war--World War I--they are having difficulty traveling back safely. The sinking of the ship coincides with their discovery. Soon, Marta finds herself in England on her own. Her father is imprisoned and/or detained. Somewhere. She has no way of knowing where he is or what steps to take to find out where. Essentially on her own in a foreign country with whom she has some biases. Germany and England are at war after all. Germany is right all the time, isn't it? So what's a girl to do to survive without her identity becoming known?

My thoughts: I wanted to love this one. I did. I wanted to feel swept up, up, and away. I wanted to feel it to be an incredibly compelling stories where I cared deeply about the characters. And there is a chance--since reading is subjective--that it may be exactly that for another reader. I felt strangely detached from the characters and the story. I don't know if it was all me or if the book perhaps is more tell than show. (As opposed to more show than tell). One thing I can still appreciate is that Marta's friendship comes through a shared love of books. With that I can relate 100%. Books can build bridges across cultures, etc. And a shared love of specific stories can help encourage friendship to bloom. 

 

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