Book Review: The Jewel of Berlin by L.E. Levens
Ah, I loved this book! I don’t know if I have ever been looking forward to a new book release as much as this one! Here are some of the things I loved about it:
The setting. I will often decide to read a book based entirely on the setting! Sometimes, I’ll be telling my family about a new book I ordered or put on hold at the library, they ask what it’s about, and my response is, “well, it’s set in ___ during ___,” and I honestly don’t remember much else from the book’s blurb except that I loved the setting!
Anyway, this book is set in Nazi Germany, which is what first drew me to it, as I’m quite fascinated with that era right now (my next book is going to be set in Nazi Germany!).
The cover. It is a gorgeous cover. I couldn’t tell just by looking at the cover that it was World War II fiction, but the cover is very fitting to the story and simply beautiful!
The characters. I believe there is a lack of really good female characters in books, but Eva von Lindner was excellently done. She was human with flaws and weaknesses, but with a self-sacrificial spirit that made her a real heroine. I found her to be a very relatable character and enjoyed her a lot. I also really enjoyed reading about Dr. Sigmund Brynner. For some reason, he reminded me of the veterinarian Siegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great & Small. There were also several other characters I enjoyed. The main characters were a bit older than they usually are in Young Adult books, but the book still felt like a YA book, not an adult book, which I loved. (Even though I’m older than the target audience for Middle Grade and Young Adult books, I love reading them, usually more so than books written for adults!) Since the book focuses more on Eva, I think it will likely appeal more to girls than to boys, though some boys might enjoy it, too.
The Dietrich Bonhoeffer references. Anyone who knows me or has perused my writing for long knows I’m a big fan of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, so I enjoyed the reference to him in the book. There’s even a character who was a student of his at Finkenwalde! I came up with the idea several years ago to write about a character who was a student of Bonhoeffer’s (and plan to do it in my next book), but I’d never read a historical fiction book that included that before, so that was fun! I also recognized some similarities to things Bonhoeffer said in the story’s themes.
And the themes! I loved the theme of surrender woven throughout the book and of recognizing that you’re not enough, but God is. I thought the themes were very well done.
The writing. I thought the writing was beautiful. I loved the author’s style. It’s written in third person, past tense, which is what I write in, but it doesn’t seem to be done a lot in YA books these days. I did notice a few typos, misspelled words, etc., but it wasn’t enough to lessen my enjoyment of the story!
And finally, the story itself! I’ve read quite a few World War II Resistance stories, where people are rescuing Jews and working to thwart the Nazis, but I haven’t found many that are set entirely in Germany, which is part of why I was so excited about this one! I thought the story had a great combination of action, mystery (I was just dying to know exactly what had happened in Eva’s past!), and sweet, cozy scenes (including a Christmas part, which I loved!). There were also some very sad bits, but I think a World War II story has to have those to be realistic. I thought the author did a great job of accurately showing the evil of the Nazis, without going into gruesome detail. There is some violence–several people get shot, mentions of someone being beaten and interrogated by the Gestapo, though not actually shown, etc., but it never gets graphic, and there was no language or other inappropriate content. There’s a little romance, but it was all very pure and sweet and not the main focus of the story.
This book is definitely on my favorites list, and one of the best WWII fiction books I’ve read by an indie author. (We Gave Our Tomorrows by Phoebe Hinkle would be the other one up there at the top of the list for me. I think they’re both equally well-written, just different, as Phoebe’s is about an American soldier and written in first person.)
The Jewel of Berlin is the first part in a duology, and now I’m very much looking forward to reading Book Two!
Overall, I thought it was a beautiful story of surrender and courage set against the backdrop of Nazi Germany, and I highly recommend it!
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