A sweeping story of survival during World War II Amsterdam, May 1943. As the tulips bloom and the Nazis tighten their grip across the city, the last signs of Dutch resistance are being swept away. Marijke de Graaf and her husband are arrested and deported to different concentration camps in Germany. Marijke is given a terrible choice: to suffer a slow death in the labor camp or–for a chance at … chance at survival–to join the camp brothel.
On the other side of the barbed wire, SS officer Karl MYller arrives at the camp hoping to live up to his father’s expectations of wartime glory. When he encounters the newly arrived Marijke, this meeting changes their lives forever.
Woven into the narrative across space and time is Luciano Wagner’s ordeal in 1977 Buenos Aires, during the heat of the Argentine Dirty War. In his struggle to endure military captivity, he searches for ways to resist from a prison cell he may never leave.
From the Netherlands to Germany to Argentina, The Dutch Wife braids together the stories of three individuals who share a dark secret and are entangled in two of the most oppressive reigns of terror in modern history. This is a novel about the blurred lines between love and lust, abuse and resistance, and right and wrong, as well as the capacity for ordinary people to persevere and do the unthinkable in extraordinary circumstances.
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A Dutch Jewish couple was arrested by Nazis. He was sent to a work camp where those who were unable to work were executed. She was sent to a work camp where she was forced to work in a brothel as a reward for male prisoners who did their work as was expected of them.
Details in this book were disturbing at times, but they really made me think about how horrible conditions were for people in Nazi concentration camps.
Amazing.
A breathtaking literary debut. A tale that is both heartbreaking and life affirming.
Three lives intertwine through time and circumstance.
A tale of what people will do in order to endure extraordinary circumstances.
Amsterdam, 1943: Marijke de Graaf and her husband are taken away by Nazis from their home in the middle of the night for collaborating with the Dutch resistance.
They are sent to camps in Germany. Her to Ravensbruk. Him to Buchenwald.
While there Marijke is offered the chance at better conditions if she volunteers to work in the prisoners brothel at Buchenwald. She might be able to find Theo, her husband. So, she does.
Once there she meets…
SS Officer Karl Muller is the new Deputy Kommandant at Buchenwald Concentration Camp.
Up till now he’s been a desk jockey. He’s a loyal party member and soldier and wants to honor is father, a distinguished WWI veteran.
Before long he is sickened by the horrors and brutal routine of the camp.
He himself wants to escape. He finds that escape in Marijke.
Buenos Aires, 1977: Luciano Wagner, the son of a German father and an Argentinian woman, is a journalism student at university.
He is imprisoned for involvement in demonstrations against the government.
He struggles with torture, starvation and guilt over his own sexuality.
He just wants his father’s approval.
A beautifully told story that is painful and redemptive.
About the strength of the human spirit.
I will never forget the ending of this book.
It will reverberate with me forever.
“You get what you deserve.”
Wow. Just, wow.
A superbly engrossing read! The story of Marijke, her husband Theo, Dutch resistance fighters during WWII, and Karl, an SS officer. Marijke and Theo are arrested and sent to different concentration camps. When given the choice to become part of the camp brothel or take her chances slowly starving to death, Marijke chooses to work in the brothel. She survives her guilt and disgust, managing to get through the indignities that come with her new “job” but she is always hoping to hear of her husband’s fate. When SS office Karl Muller sees her and begins visiting her at the brothel, her life takes another turn. Karl falls in love with Marijke and brings her all manner of treats, edible and otherwise. Against her wishes she forms a type of attachment to Karl. When the Americans arrive and begin the liberation of the camps, life once again takes an unexpected direction. A concurrent story line running through the book is that of Luciano Wagner in 1977 Argentina, who is imprisoned and tortured by the military for his role in protests against the current government.
Wonderfully and realistically written, I highly recommend this book. I could not put this one down.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a review copy. This is my honest opinion.
A very good novel. A sight into the horrific life of woman in the concentration camps. I was unaware of the brothel situation in those camps! The author handled the plight of these woman as delectably as was possible. It’s hard to read these books but you must not turn away.
I’m so impressed by the ambition and bravery of this novel. It confronts the very central ethical concerns and questions about what it is to be human in the world today, what good and evil are, what can be forgiven and what cannot. Literature at its very best tasks itself with these questions, and The Dutch Wife places itself in that noble tradition.
My genre of choice is WWII fiction. I was looking forward to reading Ellen Keith’s The Dutch Wife. I also like stories set in two time periods. The story lines immediately engulfed the reader. Then, the book sort of fell apart for this reader. While life in Buchenwald was informative and Marijke suffered terribly, I think the author should have included Theo’s storyline. For me, the storyline of Luciano just did not work. I think the author should have used the character iof Luciano as a second book while following what happened to Karl when he escaped being taken by the Americans. Thanks to NetGalley for a review copy.
This amazing book has 3 main characters. Marijke de Graaf living in Amsterdam in 1943, is part of the resistance and she and her husband are arrested and sent to 2 different camps by the Germans. SS officer Karl Müller is in charge of one of the concentration camps that Theo de Graaf and eventually Marijike are poisoned in. Luciano Wagner lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1977 during Argentine Dirty War. Luciano is part of the resistance and ends up in prison. All three of their stories are unique in their own way and yet tied together. This is a story of tremendous loss, of perseverance, of tragedy, and of hope. I devoured every word of this book and wanted more. I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley and HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada)
Park Row. All opinions are my own.
4.5 for me.
This book is not what I expected.
Their is such a realism to the book, the characters are all strong even if not likable.
The story is told from 3 different characters, 2 , Karl and Marijke during World War 2 and the Nazi concentration camps . The 3rd character is Luciano a captive during the Argentine Dirty War in the 1977 era. I must admit I knew little of that era.
You want to find out what happens to the 3 of them. Can their be forgiveness after such atrocities, how do you learn to live again.
The book was well written and drew you in from page 1
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my advanced copy. I saw that the book was out in Canada when I was half way through my ebook so I went and bought my own copy.
This story will stay with you for a longtime.