Saving Amelie

Saving Amelie

Cathy Gohlke

Tyndale

Increasingly wary of her father's genetic research, Rachel Kramer has determined that this trip with him to Germany--in the summer of 1939--will be her last. But a cryptic letter from her estranged friend, begging Rachel for help, changes everything. Married to SS officer Gerhardt Schlick, Kristine sees the dark tides turning and fears her husband views their daughter, Amelie, deaf since birth, as a blight on his Aryan bloodline.Once courted by Schlick, Rachel knows he's as dangerous as the swastikas that hang like ebony spiders from every government building in Berlin. She fears her father's files may hold answers about Hitler's plans for others, like Amelie, whom the regime deems "unworthy of life." She risks searching his classified documents only to uncover shocking secrets about her own history and a family she's never known. Now hunted by the SS, Rachel turns to Jason Young--a driven, disarming American journalist and unlikely ally--who connects her to the resistance and to controversial theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Forced into hiding, Rachel's every ideal is challenged as she and Jason walk a knife's edge, risking their lives--and asking others to do the same--for those they barely know but come to love.

I've quickly discovered that picking up a book by Cathy Gohlke is pretty much a sure way to experience heartbreak. This is the third book I've read by her, and while all three are good, they also twist your emotions into one helpless pile of rubble. Saving Amelie was no exception.

I thought Saving Amelie was interesting because although there are many books about the persecution and murders of the Jewish people during Hitler's control of Germany, there aren't many about the other groups he despised- such as the disabled or the mentally impaired. This book takes a look at not only that, but also the horror of "racial hygiene" and the science experiments that were going on for the purpose of creating the physically and mentally "perfect" human race. Though it does have a happy ending, it's still not a "feel-good" type of book- but that's a good thing. Saving Amelie is a hard look at the depravity mankind is capable of, and a good reminder that we should never forget history's past mistakes, lest we repeat them.

Rating: 8

objectionable content: I would definitely not recommend this for younger readers. The book was powerful, but could also be disturbing.

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review