Her Darkest Hour by Sharon Maas
Genre: Historical fiction, WW2
Read: 19th November 2020
Published: 22nd May 2020
★★★ 3 stars
DESCRIPTION:
In the small French town of Colmar, swastikas hang from lampposts, tanks are lined up outside the town hall, and fifteen-year-old Victoire dreams of adventure. She is desperate to defeat the Germans but is dismissed as too young to help. But her family has always fought to do the right thing, and when a desperate mother and child seek refuge, Victoire doesn’t hesitate to hide them in the family wine cellar.
Her sister Marie Claire is unaware of Victoire’s actions. Rejected by her childhood sweetheart, Marie Claire has turned her back on those she loves. She is catapulted into a new and frightening life, seduced by the power the Germans can offer, forcing Victoire to cut all ties with her sister.
But when Victoire learns someone she loves is in terrible danger, her only choice is to trust the sister who betrayed her. Marie Claire’s cruel and heartless husband has key information and Victoire must persuade Marie Claire to obtain it, even if it means risking Marie Claire’s life. As secrets come to light and close bonds are broken, will the sisters be able to heal old wounds?
An unforgettable and unputdownable story of two sisters ripped apart by World War 2. Fans of The Nightingale and The Ragged Edge of Night will fall in love with Her Darkest Hour.
MY REVIEW:
Despite having "The Violin Maker's Daughter" on my TBR list I have yet to read it, so therefore HER DARKEST HOUR is my first read by Sharon Maas. I went in without any preconceived notions as I have done in the past, based on previous WW2 novels, and have been disappointed. Like most novels set during such a dark time in history, it is heartbreaking and bittersweet. I did, however, find it to be a little drawn out in parts and slow moving to begin with but the gallop to the end made for riveting reading.
Alsace, France 1939: When the German army arrive in the Alsatian town of Colmar in rural France, they quickly take control of everything - property, food, wine, houses. Swastikas adorn buildings and hang from lampposts and soldiers intimidate frightened locals into acquiescence.
Juliette Dolch (a Frenchwoman whose family name was changed during the last German occupation) lives and studies in Colmar, residing with her grandmother...until she dares to stand up to a German officer who then takes it upon himself to requisition her grandmother's house and belongings for the good of Germany. Although they had the option to remain and share their home with German officers, Juliette and her grandmother then return to the family farm in the winemaking region of Alsace.
At Chateau Gauthier, Marie-Claire lives with her younger sister Victoire and their mother Margaux at the family winery. Her two brothers Lucien and Leon are reportedly prisoners of war. Their estranged father lives in Paris with his mistress and is all but absent from their lives. He makes no secret that Marie-Claire is his favourite child, sending her high end Paris fashion clothes and expensive make-up in his absence. Though she lives at the Chateau, Marie-Claire works in Colmar at the Mairie which had also been requisitioned by the Nazis. Marie-Claire and her colleagues had a choice - to leave or to remain and work under German command. Marie-Claire, who is bilingual in both French and German, chose to remain. After all, it is only a job...and one that would give her the independence she craved.
All her life Marie-Claire has been in love with her neighbour and childhood friend, Jacques Dolch. But Jacques sees her only as a sister and his only love is to join the Resistance and fight for France's freedom from the Nazis. When his sister Juliette returns, she too secretly joins him in the Resistance movement, along with her beau Nathan who is also Jewish.
Then Jacques approaches Marie-Claire with the offer to work for the greater good for France by using her position as personal assistant to a high ranking German officer, Deitrich Kurtz, to filter information (many of which is highly classified) back to him via a third party (also in the Resistance). Marie-Claire is ecstatic. At last she can prove her worth and her love for him by undertaking this task for him...which provided them with a wealth of information. However, when she makes another seductive advance on Jacques, she is left humiliated and angered at his rejection once again vowing to cease her involvement in helping his movement.
No one in Marie-Claire's family approves of her working for the Nazis but have come to accept it as a means to an end. It is a job, after all. But then terrible circumstances lead to an even more shocking result - Marie-Claire becomes engaged to her boss, Deitrich Kurtz, and the family is aghast at the depths to which Marie-Claire would stoop. Her mother Margaux wants nothing to do with her, despite her younger daughter's pleas not to be so hasty. In their mother's eyes, Marie-Claire was no longer her daughter.
But life is not all that it seems to be as Marie-Claire, who once dreamed of nothing more than fleeing to Paris and living the high life, was to discover. Only her younger sister Victoire knew the secrets she kept to herself. Only Victoire knew her pain. Only Victoire seemed to care. For as Jacques had so blatantly put it "She has made her bed. Now she must lie in it." Literally.
HER DARKEST HOUR had many facets and subplots that at times it was hard to keep up...but in the end, they all tapered into the most important one of all. What started out as a slow story about a self-centred, fickle young woman who thought of no one but herself ended up being one of survival. It ended cleverly and with a resounding cheer from myself as I discovered their fate. I couldn't decide whether I liked Marie-Claire or not. She was incredibly vain and selfish to begin with that she did end up in a bed of her own making in a way. But I ended up feeling for her and the predicament in which she found herself married to such an evil brute of a man. Victoire was probably my favourite. She yearned to do so much more for the Resistance and yet she was too young...but still her heart was in the right place. And in the end, she became the strongest of them all.
An emotional story that is heartbreaking and bittersweet, HER DARKEST HOUR is a book that will break your heart as you find yourself completely immersed within this captivating tale of family, impossible choices and courage.
Recommended for fans of WW2 historical fiction.
I would like to thank #SharonMaas, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #HerDarkestHour in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Sharon Maas was born in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1951.
She was educated in Guyana and England. After leaving school she worked as a staff journalist at the Guyana Graphic and the Sunday Chronicla in Georgetown. Sharon has always had a great sense of adventure and curiosity about the world we live in, and Guyana could not hold her for long. In 1971 she set off on a year-long backpacking trip around South America. Her travel articles were published in the Chronicle.
In 1973 she travelled overland to India through Europe, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and spent two years in an Ashram in South India.
Her first novel, Of Marriageable Age, is set in India and Guyana and was published by HarperCollins in 1999. Subsequent novels were published in 2001 and 2003.
At present she works as a Social Worker in a hospital in South Germany.
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