Tag Archive for "FamilySaga" - Teddyrose Book Reviews Plus

Munich Girl by Phyllis Edgerly Ring

Publisher: Whole Sky Books (November 14, 2015)
Category: Historical Fiction, WWII, Germany, Family Saga
Tour date: Feb 1-Mar 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-0996546980
Available in Print & ebook, 356 pages

Description of Munich Girl by Phyllis Edgerly Ring

The Munich Girl: A novel of the legacies that outlast war.

The past may not be done with us. What secrets is a portrait of Eva Braun hiding?

Anna Dahlberg grew up eating dinner under her father’s war-trophy portrait of Eva Braun. Fifty years after the war, she discovers what he never did—that her mother and Hitler’s mistress were friends.

Plunged into the world of the “ordinary” Munich girl who was her mother’s confidante—and a tyrant’s lover—Anna uncovers long-buried secrets and unknown reaches of her heart, to reveal the enduring power of love in the legacies that always outlast war.

Fiction Finalist in 2016 Eric Hoffer Book Awards

My Thoughts Munich Girl by Phyllis Edgerly Ring

Anna Dahlberg’s mother, Peggy has asked her to come over to talk. She has something important to tell her. However, Peggy dies before Anna can get there. What did she want to tell her? Not long after, Anna moved into her mother’s house with her husband, Lowell. Lowell has been writing a book about Hitler and also owns a magazine called “The Fighting Chance”. Although Anna has a job lined up, Lowell demands that she write some articles for the magazine to help the promotion of his upcoming book.

A German man by the name of Hannes runs the magazine for Lowell and he respects Anna’s work, unlike her husband. Anna and Hannes decide that she should write an article on Eve Braun, Hitler’s mistress. She gets to work with research and is surprised at what she finds. It turns out that Eve was friends with Anna’s mother. As she digs deeper, Anna unearths many family secrets.

The Munich Girl is told by Anna and her mother, Peggy, via a manuscript Anna found. It shifts back and forth from the 1990’s to World War II. It is a story of the self discovery of Anna Dahlberg, lost family, history, romance, and of course, the real life person from history, Eve Braun.

I was a bit worried about how I would feel reading about Hitler’s mistress. How could anyone have cared for the monster, let alone slept with him, willingly. However, woman throughout history have made poor choices in men. I included, my first husband was not a nice person. So over the course of the book, I did build some sympathy for Eva. I would have liked an author’s note at the end of the book to find out if that sympathy was really warranted. I loved Anna’s character and how she developed and grew over time. Actually all of the characters were well drawn out. The sense of time and place were also well written and Phyllis Edgerly Ring’s descriptions of World War II Germany were excellent. I highly recommend ‘The Munich Girl’!

4.5/5

I received the Kindle ebook for my honest review.

About Phyllis Edgerly Ring

Author Phyllis Edgerly Ring lives in New England and returns as often as she can to her childhood home in Germany. Her years there left her with a deep desire to understand the experience of Germans during the Second World War. She has studied plant sciences and ecology, worked as a nurse, been a magazine writer and editor, taught English to kindergartners in China, and served as program director at a Baha’i conference center in Maine.

She is also author of the novel, Snow Fence Road, and the inspirational nonfiction, Life at First Sight: Finding the Divine in the Details. Her book for children, Jamila Does Not Want a Bat in Her House, is scheduled for release by Bellwood Press in early 2017.

Blog: http://phyllisedgerlyring.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PhyllisEdgerlyRing?ref=hl
Twitter: http:// www.twitter.com/phyllisring