“[A] remarkable saga…. Engrossing.” —Booklist, starred reviewIn this triumphant debut inspired by true events, a ragtag gang of journalists and resistance fighters risk everything for an elaborate scheme to undermine the Reich.The Nazis stole their voices. But they would not be silenced.Brussels, 1943. Twelve-year-old street orphan Helene survives by living as a boy and selling copies of the … 1943. Twelve-year-old street orphan Helene survives by living as a boy and selling copies of the country’s most popular newspaper, Le Soir, now turned into Nazi propaganda. Helene’s world changes when she befriends a rogue journalist, Marc Aubrion, who draws her into a secret network that publishes dissident underground newspapers.
The Nazis track down Aubrion’s team and give them an impossible choice: turn the resistance newspapers into a Nazi propaganda bomb that will sway public opinion against the Allies, or be killed. Faced with no decision at all, Aubrion has a brilliant idea. While pretending to do the Nazis’ bidding, they will instead publish a fake edition of Le Soir that pokes fun at Hitler and Stalin—daring to laugh in the face of their oppressors.
The ventriloquists have agreed to die for a joke, and they have only eighteen days to tell it.
Featuring an unforgettable cast of characters and stunning historical detail, E.R. Ramzipoor’s dazzling debut novel illuminates the extraordinary acts of courage by ordinary people forgotten by time. It is a moving and powerful ode to the importance of the written word and to the unlikely heroes who went to extreme lengths to orchestrate the most stunning feat of journalism in modern history.
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Art and artifice, life and death, collide powerfully in The Ventriloquists, a novel about a colorful band of resistance fighters who risk everything to publish a subversive newspaper mocking the Reich while at the same time pretending to work for it. Eloquently reminding us that self-expression is the truest form of survival, E.R. Ramzipoor has made an unforgettable and important contribution to the canon of Holocaust literature.
The skills of Aubrion and his miss-matched gang of conspirators is matched by the exquisite weaving of this story by E.R. Ramzipoor. Funny, sad, and poignant in its telling, The Ventriloquists reminds us that so much of what we read, hear and watch is propaganda–for someone, for some organization, some country. I cannot recommend this story high enough.
I was very excited that this was a historical fiction WWII story but I had a very hard time trying to get into it. There were numerous characters and the story line was confusing at times. At the half-way point, I started skimming hoping that it would capture my interest but it did not. I was very disappointed in this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Given the wide range of ratings on The Ventriloquists, it appears it’s one of those books that you either love or really don’t like it.
I was so excited when NetGalley authorized me to read and review this book. I love historical fiction, and when it’s based on true events, even better!! Sadly, this book was not a good match for me. It just didn’t work for me in so many ways:
– the beginning was very confusing to me. So many characters introduced in a short time span, not making them come alive (yet, or since it was a DNF for me, not sure they ever did).
– I kept having to reread the beginning to try to figure out who was who and what the heck was going on.
– the pace was very slow. I kept waiting for it to pick up, or for me to care about the characters.
When I was still struggling after 100 pages, I just closed it and put it aside.
If the publisher’s blurb catches your attention, please don’t let my review keep you away from the book. Your experience may be totally different than mine.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin/Park Row for allowing me to read and review this book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions here are my own.
I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book had so much promise. The cover is intriguing, the title invites you to explore its pages, the summary is full of compelling tidbits. Now that I have finally finished it, I’m sorry to say it didn’t live up to any of that promise.
I finished the book because I was at least a little interested in how the story would resolve. I loved that it was based on a true story and that Aubrion is a real person. It’s great that these people have a voice now, that their story has been told. But it was a bit boring. I’ve read many a historical fiction set in Europe during World War II and they usually tug on my heartstrings a bit. This one did not elicit much emotion. I was happy at the end not because of how it ended but because it was over.
The biggest problem I had with it was the narrative. It didn’t work for me. The parts in “present day” were uninteresting and seemed to only be there to further the telling of the Faux Soir storyline. And when Helene would break into the Faux Soir storyline to interject, it would throw me out of the little bit of atmosphere it had built up.
It’s an inspiring bit of Belgian history told in an uninspiring way.
Well written, places you right into characters shoes.
The clock starts hammering on page one as Ramzipoor brilliantly gives a lost moment of history voice, flesh, and soul. This frighteningly relevant look at what happens when the news is controlled by biased and antagonistic forces becomes spellbinding as masters of subterfuge risk everything in order to carry forth their own trembling truth.