“It was very dangerous for him, and he knew it. But his love for me was stronger than fear.” – Ilse SteinThis novel is based on the inspiring and moving love story of Ilse Stein, a German Jew, and Willy Schultz, a Luftwaffe Captain in the Minsk ghetto, who risked his life to save the one he loved the most.When the last of the Jews’ rights are stripped in 1941, Ilse’s family is deported to a Minsk … rights are stripped in 1941, Ilse’s family is deported to a Minsk ghetto. Confined to a Sonderghetto and unable to speak the locals’ language, Ilse struggles to support the surviving members of her family. Befriended by a local underground member Rivka, Ilse partakes in small acts of resistance and sabotage to help her fellow Jews escape to the partisans.
A few months later, after losing almost his entire brigade of workers to one of the bloodiest massacres conducted by the SS, a local administrative officer Willy Schultz summons the survivors to form a new brigade. Ilse’s good looks immediately catch his eye, and he makes her a leader of the new unit and later, an office worker. Soon, an unlikely romance blossoms amid death and gore, moving a Nazi officer to go to great risks to protect not only Ilse but as many others as possible and allowing a Jewish girl to open her heart to the former enemy. Knowing that the ghetto would soon be liquidated, Willy Schultz swears to save Ilse, even if the cost would be his own life.
“We live together, or we die together,” – an ultimate oath of love in the most harrowing setting.
Dark, haunting, but full of hope, “No Woman’s Land” is a testament to the love that is stronger than fear and death itself.
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As I expected, Ellie Midwood has once again given us a novel that is truly fantastic. Unlike her other works (or at least most of them) Ellie tells the true of Ilse Stein and Willy Schultz, a Jewish girl in the Minski ghetto and a Luftwaffe captain who fall in love despite their circumstances. One talent that Ms. Midwood has is that she is able to create romantic couples that are both realistic and ones that the reader cheers for. I thought she had achieved this the most with Ernst and Annalise in The Girl from Berlin series (highly recommended btw) but her portrayal of Ilse and Willy very nearly beats them out.
As my rating suggests, there is nothing that I would change about this book. Perhaps I would suggest giving the reader a longer epilogue which explains what happened to Willy and Ilse in more detail but that is such a minor suggestion that it would be wrong to downgrade this book because of it (and yes I did spend fifteen minutes after finishing the book researching what happened to them).
No Woman’s Land can be a hard read at times because of its subject matter but Willy and Ilse’s story gives the reader hope that one day everyone will be accepted for their differences and that is perhaps the best thing about it.
A stunning tribute to love and life
“As long as you’re alive and I’m with you.” “Everything was dead to him; the family, the army, the loyalty.” This kind of love is in the center of this masterfully crafted book.
Based on real events and people, painfully moving, it tells the story of the Holocaust through the life of a young woman, Ilse Stein. Her emotions, worries, fears, and hopes are so vividly conveyed, I too suffered with her the oppression and dehumanization of victims of Nazism and rebelled against it. This is an exceptional tale which you will not be able to erase from your mind and, hands down, one of the best about the Holocaust. As all other books of this author, I highly recommend this one.
A Nazi concentration camp is an unlikely place for two people to find love, however , more unlikely is the love between a Nazi officer and a Jewish girl. This is the story of Willie and Ilse. Willie is a reluctant Nazi in that he does not believe in the murdering of the Jewish people and abhors the SS in their terror tactics. He falls in love with Ilse and protects her, her two sisters Lilly and Lori and his 200 Jewish women workers under his command from being slaughtered by the SS.
Their love story, survival and escape is contained in this book. Lizzie a communist and soviet Jew is one of the main characters with the partisan group smuggling out prisoners 5 at a time to join the partisan’s in the forest.
The book is very well written, the characters are human and believable good and bad. The situation is sad and tragic but it is a story that needs to be told and remembered. My heart hurt at times….and a few tears fell especially when reading about the children and the pit. Even with such horrible events taking place there are so many good human qualities that the good mixes with the bad and one does know that humanity still existed.
This book needs to be read I would highly recommend it.
A new standalone novel taking place during the Holocaust.
In this story we follow Ilse who after a mostly carefree childhood is shipped off with her family to Minsk Ghetto. It shows the absolute horrors of life in the ghetto, but also that love and friendship spring and flourish in the most unexpected places.
Ilse is wonderful characters. Smart and strong. She dreams, but is also very practical and fierce to the people she loves.
War isn’t black and white, just as people aren’t either. There are good on bad people of both sides. One of my favorite lines was “ Who would have thought that words could hold so much power, to stir so much hatred that it would eventually lead to genocide?”.
The author grabs you early on and you can easily see yourself in the story. It’s an eye opening account of what many people had to live thru during WWII.
Slow to start. Another WWII story. Once engaged was a powerful story
I didn’t read very far into this book because more would stir up memories of Nazis and Jews and concentration camps that I don’t want to awaken.
Not exactly what I expected but very informative about the Holocaust.
In an ongoing tragic time of mankind, love still remains.
Based on facts, not entirely fiction, No Woman’s Land tells one of hopefully a hundred or more stories of a love triumphant. A government may rile its people against a section of itself, but as long as there is love, hatred will not win out.
Hoping this is the first of a series. I want to know how Ilyse & Willy’s love story finishes out.
It’s about a time it many can relate too any more ! So we should all try to read about this history before all the people of that time are gone !
This book is horrifying because it is based on fact. While it is fictional, the main characters really existed and some of the events described really happened. It is realistic and could easily be mistaken for a true account of someone who lived during the war. This author does a lot of research instead of just making things up and it shows in her writing. She has an amazing ability to make you feel as though you are living the lives of the characters not just reading about them. This book affects your emotions.
If you want a fun read that will make you feel good, this isn’t the book for you. However, if you want a book that is actually worth reading, I highly recommend this one.