The internationally bestselling author of The German Girl delivers
an unforgettable family saga of love and redemption during World War II, based
on the true story of the Nazi massacre of a French village in 1944.
New York City, 2015: Elise Duval, eighty years old, receives a phone call from
a woman recently arrived from Cuba bearing messages from a time and country
that she’s long forgotten. A French Catholic who arrived in New York after
World War II, Elise and her world are forever changed when the woman arrives
with letters written to Elise from her mother in German during the war,
unravelling more than seven decades of secrets.
Berlin, 1939: Bookstore owner and recent widow Amanda Sternberg is fleeing Nazi
Germany with her two young daughters, heading towards unoccupied France. She
arrives in Haute-Vienne with only one of her girls. Their freedom is
short-lived and soon they are taken to a labor camp.
Based on true events, The Daughter’s Tale chronicles one of
the most harrowing atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis during World War II: the
1944 massacre of all the inhabitants of Oradour-Sur-Glane, a small, idyllic
village in the south of France. Heartbreaking and immersive, The
Daughter’s Tale is a beautifully crafted family saga of love, survival,
and hope against all odds.
April 15, 2019
3 of 5 stars
The Daughter’s Tale by Armando Lucas Correa
A special thank you to NetGalley, and Simon & Schuster for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The story overall was very nice. The characters were easy to believe, and the story flowed well. One thing I was thankful for, especially having read The Tattooist of Auschwitz not that long ago, it wasn’t as graphic as I feared.
I actually had a nice block of time to read this book, and so I wasn’t going three chapters forward, one back. Unfortunately, I did cram the ending in shortly after midnight one night about a week ago. Note to self: Don’t do that! I missed key phrases that would have made the ending make sense and not left me feeling gypped and grappling for answers when it was already well past my bedtime.
Fast forward to today, where I took an hour to go back to the last section of the book for a thorough reread. It all became clear in a checklist kind of way, unfortunately I find this quite common in fiction; answering all the questions in the last few paragraphs.
That said, it was an enjoyable read and I learned a little bit more about the history of this time period because the author employed some facts and added a note at the ending referencing them. A nice touch I thought.