Daughters of the Occupation: A Novel of WWII

A woman doing her best to survive the Nazi invasion of her country. Her descendant (another woman) following scraps of information to uncover the truth of what happened to her ancestors. This is growing to be a familiar pattern in historical fiction, and one which I don’t always like. Not every story needs a framing device; people can understand the past without needing it translated through the present.

At first, I thought Daughters of the Occupation would only be more of the same. As the book went on, though, I found it was strikingly different. Miriam Talan is no cookie-cutter spunky heroine. Her story is one of struggle; her triumph is that she survives. More importantly, her granddaughter Sarah Byrne has her own story told. She isn’t just the lens through which we learn about Miriam’s story. She has her own life, which is appropriately shaken by the revelations she discovers.

Though I give this book five stars, I also want to give it a warning. Dealing, as it does, with both Nazi and Soviet history, it is often painful to read. This is not a book to be read lightly.