The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy

from goodreads

5 stars

Do you ever find yourself in a reading theme. Like all the books you pick out seem to be in a similar setting or other parallels? That happened to me a few weeks ago when I took out books from the library. Little did I really realize at the time but all three were set in WWII. My book club and I have a little joke about books written in WWII because it seemed that one year about a third to half of our books were set in that time period. We were a little tired of it by the end and so the next year we did our best to limit WWII period books. (There is nothing wrong with historical fictions based in that time period. It is a great diverse period to be able to write about. I just don't want to be reading about it all the time.)

It is funny how sometimes you get hooked into a reading theme. That is what I like about doing the blog. I feel like I need to provide a diverse amount of books so it really stretches my reading and almost forces me to diversify. And I'm so glad. I have been reading some really great books lately because of that and I am very grateful.

Synopsis

It is Poland 1943. After being given German sounding names by their step-mother Hansel and Gretel are left in the woods to find people to help them, while the step-mother and their father flee from the Nazis. In the woods they meet Magda, who is known by some of the villagers as "the witch". This is a book with a beautiful cast of characters that make this story alive and rich.

My Thoughts

What a beautiful tale. While it doesn't shy away from the horrors of occupied Poland or the holocaust, it shows how normal people did what they could to get through the war. It was not acts of bravery or colluding with the enemy. It was doing their best to stay true to themselves that helped them get through this dark time.

This was definitely an ensemble cast piece. While Hansel and Gretel are the titular characters, they were not the sole focus. Their story was equally interwoven with the other villagers, the partisans and the Nazi occupiers.

Murphy tells sides of the war and the Nazi world vision that is not always discussed, but is worth being mentioned It is amazing/horrifying how thoroughly thought out the Nazi world vision was and how this world vision gave so many different facets to WWII. No wonder this time period gives us such diverse books. She does a great job of not being sensationalist. She is real and tells of some of the hard things or horrible things not to shock us but because to do justice to the story it is necessary.

I loved Nelka and Telek's story. It was so lovely and heart wrenching.

I liked how she showed us the step-mother's and father's side of it. It was interesting to see what they were doing at the same time as Hansel and Gretel.

There was only two things that made the story be a bit off to me, but not so much so for me not to give it a full five stars. It was what happened to Gretel and what happened when they first got to the city. I get why its there, it just felt a bit weird to me. I don't really know how to explain it.

This is definitely a must read. Especially if you like WWII historical fiction.