The Girl on the Platform by Ellie Midwood
Genre: Historical fiction, True story, Wartime fiction, WW2
Read: 3rd October 2021
Published: 13th October 2021
★★★ 3 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Berlin, 1939: The inspiring true story of Libby Schulze-Boysen, a German girl who refused to back down to the Nazis. In the face of evil, she vowed to live by the truth––or die by it.
“Be brave. Don’t run. Fight.” With her eyes tightly shut, tears rolling from under her dark lashes, she felt his lips gently touch her burning cheek. The train on the platform whistled, and he disappeared into the steam.
Libby moves to Berlin to start a new life––as far away as possible from her family and their alliance with the Nazis. But in the city, there’s no escape from Hitler’s brutal regime. And when Libby’s friend vanishes into thin air, she decides she cannot stand back and do nothing…
After Libby makes connections with fellow anti-Nazis, she’s introduced to Harro. Instantly, she knows there’s a story behind his cornflower-blue eyes. The whip marks on his back, scars from the SS, tell his secret: he is a resistance fighter.
Harro draws Libby into the world of the resistance, and as they fall in love, their life grows increasingly dangerous. Becoming a double agent, Libby infiltrates the Ministry of Propaganda. By day, they smuggle classified documents. By night, they hold clandestine meetings by candlelight and plot Hitler’s downfall.
But in the frostbitten winter of 1942, Libby fears that the Gestapo is stalking them––their every move watched, their phone calls recorded. And one day, Harro simply disappears. Will they ever be reunited? Or will everything they’ve risked their lives for be in vain?
Fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Alice Network and The Lilac Girls will be utterly gripped by this heartbreaking page-turner. Based on a true story, this beautiful novel shows that even when our freedom is stolen, we still have a choice…
MY REVIEW:
There are a countless amount of books set within or around Germany during the rise and fall of Hitler and the second world war. Many are pure fiction whilst others are fictionalised accounts based on true events and people. Each of them are heartbreaking in their heartfelt recounting of life in Germany under Hitler's harsh regime or in the concentration camps such as Auschwitz. But THE GIRL ON THE PLATFORM is a little different in the fact that is based on the inspiring true story of one woman's refusal to live by the Nazi regime or to back down to them. Through her comes the story of a brave resistance fought to the bitter end as she lived up to her name - Libertas, a freedom fighter - for Germany's freedom.
She was just 19 years old when Libertas (Libs) moved to Berlin in search of freedom from her otherwise suffocating family. But what she finds there is a city under seige by the Nazis. A harsh regime that takes away freedom and liberties from those classified as sub-human - Jews, homosexuals, communists - and "deporting" or rehoming them to death camps or just killing them where they stand for the fun of it. Jewish books are burned, as are those who do not meet the Nazi propaganda requirements, shops are smashed and looted and innocent people disappear without a trace.
Libs gets a job working as a publicist for MGM studios, liaising with journalists and editors. She is horrified to see the stars and famous faces being pulled from the gallery and their nameplates removed only to be replaced with those supporting the new regime under which Germany now finds itself, simply for being or having Jewish ties. Libs believes in freedom but is quickly learning that in the new Germany there is no such thing.
Then whilst sunbathing on her friend's boat one day, wearing a two piece bathing suit made illegal under the new regime as it goes against the Nazi's personification of the good German woman, she meets Harro. Almost at once, the couple are dazzled by the other and begin an affair of sorts living a bohemian lifestyle, also frowned upon by the new regime. Libs know there is more to Harro than his dazzling smile and his blue eyes. The scars on his back, whipped by the SS, tell their own story. Harro is a resistance fighter. and together they will make Germany the people's again.
Working for the Air Ministry, Harro rises through the ranks, infiltrating Nazi secrets. He cringes each time he must laugh at their racist jokes and share in their combined thoughts unified to make Germany great again under the Nazi regime. His position is imperative to gain inside intel into government secrets which he can then move on through their resistance cell to stop Hitler's advance to power. Together, Harro and Libs smuggle classified documents and hold clandestine meetings with blackout curtains under the cover of darkness. And then, they begin to distribute leaflets exposing the Nazi's lies, sending them all over the city and beyond in the hope they will tear down the regime that now strangles their once beloved country.
But after nearly ten years of resistance fighting and three years at war, Libs begins to notice strange occurrences. The same man outside their apartment each night seemingly reading a newspaper, a click on their phone line, a prickling sensation that tells her they are being watched.
And then the unthinkable...Harro disappears. And Libs is frantic with worry trying to find out where he may be. Nothing else matters as long as she can see him again...and only then will they decide what is more important - to be free or to be brave?
THE GIRL ON THE PLATFORM is not what I expected, though I'm not sure what I did expect. After reading "The Girl in the Striped Dress" which I totally loved and bawled my way through, I guess I was expecting something similar, but this story is a different one. It is absorbing as you step into the past and live alongside Libs and Harro but I found it didn't engage me quite as much as "The Girl in the Striped Dress". It is slow to start as Libs begins work with MGM and I wondered what the significance of that was, and in some parts I did find the story drag a little. However, that being said, it is still a heartbreaking story where its end is inevitable, though I didn't find myself reaching for the tissues as I have in other similar tales.
Overall, THE GIRL ON THE PLATFORM is an eye-opening account of life as a resistance fighter living under the radar of the Nazi regime with the threat of death should you be caught. It is most certainly not a life I would embrace but it is one that I admire. They stood up for the truth, for the people and for the good of the Germany they loved and weren't afraid of the consequences. It was most certainly brave and very admirable.
THE GIRL ON THE PLATFORM is perfect for fans of historical fiction who enjoy stories surrounding the Holocaust and wartime Germany and readers of Suzanne Kelman, Lily Graham and Marion Kummerow.
I would like to thank #EllieMidwood, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheGirlOnThePlatform in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
In her free time, Ellie is a health-obsessed yoga enthusiast, neat freak, adventurer, Nazi Germany history expert, polyglot, philosopher, a proud Jew, and a doggie mama. Ellie lives in New York with her fiancé and their Chihuahua named Shark Bait.
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