Author submission in exchange for an honest review.
Title:
A Beautiful Cage
Author:
Alyson Reuben
Release Date:
September 2, 2011
Publisher:
The Wild Rose Press
Word Count:
approx. 96,000
Purchase Links:
Author's Website:
Description:
A BEAUTIFUL CAGE: Wanted by the Gestapo, Rebecca Bloomberg is on the run for her life. Sheltering in the home of a reporter who writes absurd lies for a Nazi propaganda newspaper is hardly an ideal solution. Irresistibly drawn to the man, she dares not trust him, until she discovers his journalist position is a mask for involvement in an anti-Nazi resistance ring.
Gustav Von Furst has done all he can to perfect his mask. Neither his family nor his close friends know the truth. Hiding a Jewish girl is the most foolish risk, yet there is something about her that makes him want to protect her.
Eager to forget the outside world, Rebecca and Gustav are caught up in a private world of forbidden passion—until unexpected danger lands on their doorstep and they’re faced with a decision that will change everything. Will love demand a sacrifice too great to give?
Deniz’s Review:
It sounds odd to say, but one of my favourite eras to read about is the period of WWI, Between the Wars, and WWII. Whether fiction or non-fiction, I love the simple heroism of the ordinary people that lived through that time, and the heightened significance of the most ordinary emotions - and most weighted choices - when faced with the prospect of catastrophic loss.
Reuben's story features two such ordinary people, Gustav and Rebecca, who are doing their best to survive, and act according to their morals, in a world that's turned upside down. The story is told from both their points of view which, though lessening the tension slightly (since Rebecca might wonder, but we know she's safe in Gustav's house), lets Reuben explore both sides of the 'cage'; the man who hides his true motives while keeping others protected, and the woman who's forced into hiding to save her life.
Flashbacks of all that Rebecca suffered before she came to Gustav's are deftly woven in, despite some anachronistic phrases, and the ending - well, I won't give anything away. Speaking purely subjectively, I wanted these two to realise their feelings for each other that much quicker, but that's because they were such well-drawn characters, and it's easy to see from the outside that they're meant to be together.
Deniz's Rating:
Thank you, Deniz.
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