While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious women's concentration camp. Trapped in horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that’s in store for her?
I just finished this book. Like, literally minutes ago. And I actually read the Author's note! I only do that sometimes, when I really don't want the book to end. I didn't want this book to end. Just like I didn't want my other favorite book by Elizabeth Wein: Code Name Verity (which I've read twice now!) to end. They're just so good. They're SO GOOD.
(Wow, I just realized I should be tagging all these reviews with labels and such to be found by anyone searching them up.)
First up I will explain the setting of this one. It's set during WWII (towards the end), in Germany. Well 2/3rds of it is set in Germany. And half of the time it's set in Germany, it's also set in a women's concentration camp called Ravensbrück (I had to copy and past that little U with the umlauts above it, I don't know how to do it otherwise!). Ravensbrück did exist, and there is a Memorial Site there now. I've made a little bucket-list in my head, and visiting Auschwitz is on there, but now I'd also like to visit Ravensbrück too. It's specifically a women's prison. Maybe that makes it different.
The main character is Rose Justice, as you probably read from the description. She's fantastic, really. I'm fascinated by WWII stories--real or fiction--and this one was great because it was like an actual account of Rose's time at Ravensbrück. Sidenote: this is a fictional story. I hope I didn't confuse anyone into thinking this was a real story of someone at Ravensbrück. Rose Justice is not real. Though, okay, maybe I'll confuse someone again, she certainly seems real. And there are poems! Rose Justice creates poems! I loved all of them, too. Especially . . . Well, all of them! There's one where she talks about a kite needing lift and I think that's my favorite. It makes me want to be good at poetry. I guess I can always write a haiku . . .
The next couple of main characters are prisoners, along with Rose, in Ravensbrück. Most of them are what are called "Rabbits"; women and girls experimented on to test the different affects of war injuries. Like, what would happen if they left bacteria to spread inside one's leg. Or what dirty bandages do to an open wound. Awful things.
So, Rose befriends the Rabbits even though she isn't one herself and the whole book follows her through her times at Ravensbrück, via notebook pages. Kind of like Code Name Verity--a journal, of sorts.
And you know what? Maddie Brodatt stars in this book as well! Except of course her part in Rose Under Fire is much smaller than in CNV, but it's still cool! Some other things repeat, but I won't be the one to spoil any of it (hopefully nothing gets spoiled--but if it does, it won't be me!).
Any-hoo, I hope Elizabeth Wein continues with historical fiction, it suits her well! Or maybe she suits it well. Though I can understand why it would take a lot of work to write a historical fiction story, so much research! But the research would be fun for me, I love history! Maybe I'll write some historical fiction at some point in my life.It's easier to go out and research when you're not 15 and without a job (I'm looking for one, okay).
In the Author's Note, Wein said something about going and staying at Ravensbrück for some type of . . . I don't know, learning-visit? I'm not sure what it's called, but that would be so incredibly interesting. I think it'd be fun too, but also very, very sad to think about what happened there. I would be crying, no doubt. Quick fact about me: I can't look at my notes from the Holocaust section of our history class without crying or coming close to it. We were writing "6,000,000 Jews and 6,000,000 others were murdered," and I had to stop and try to breathe again. With every zero I wrote--there were thousands dead. Very sobering. I don't know how Wein got through writing an entire story about it.
Overall, you'll see I find this subject very interesting. And other wars, too, but this book is specifically about WWII so that's what I'm talking about now. So if you have any suggestions for books like this please, please, please send me an e-mail at readinglistreviews@gmail.com, or on GoodReads (click here to go to my profile).
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