This historical fiction about WWII provided a new story I hadn't heard before about the war, so that was nice. The book was sad all the way through as one can imagine from a story about the holocaust and parts just absolutely broke my heart.

I didn't love it and the only way I can think to describe it is that it didn't feel genuine. And the reader has to wait to long to find out what happened to characters. It also seemed like ideas were introduced too suddenly. But these are just writing preferences so that isn't to say others wouldn't love it, so if you love these types of books like me I would recommend giving it a read to see what you think.

Written in gray language that evokes the bitterness and palpable fear of the Nazi book burning and other attempts to eradicate an entire segment of the population. This story, based on true events, examines the agony of a mother forced to part with one of her daughters. which reminds me of the anguished mother in Sophie's Choice.

Amanda flees to Southern France with her remaining daughter, and throughout the fall and winter, the gray rainy season, feels more and more like she's back in Berlin. Germany advances further and further into France. History is repeating itself as new laws prohibit Jews from many employments and activities. And then, in the deepest grayest, nearly black days, as the unspeakable happens over and over, comes an unexpected ray of sunshine and hope.

Don't fail to read this testament to the courage and perseverance of the human spirit.

I read this EARC courtesy of Net Galley and Atria books. pub date 05/29/19

WWII story centered around a young girl and her family’s experiences. I never felt connected to the characters or their struggles and felt the writing lacked an emotional edge to it.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

I’m so grateful to review Armando’s new novel, “The Daughter’s Tale”. His last book, “The German Girl”, stole my heart and haunted my quiet moments for weeks.
Well, Armando, you’ve done it again.
I enjoy reading and supporting books about the Holocaust; it’s a bleak period of history we must keep alive and respect. Armando has a knack of detailing the sorrow and pain with such a compassionate and caring touch. He makes no secret of the Nazis’ lack of empathy but he doesn’t grandstand the brutal treatment of the persecuted. He treats them with respect and tenderness while walking that fine line of conveying how soul-less the Germans and their allies were. This story of the Sternberg family, their complete desecration and the eventual final chapter shines much brighter than "the final solution" ever could. Armando, if I could hug you I would. Please keep writing.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for making it available.)

The Daughter’s Tale is an emotional page-turner that will have you seriously reflecting on family, choices, and personal resilience. Armando Lucas Correa is a gifted storyteller who delivers valuable insights into the terrors and tensions in Germany and France under the Nazis and the difficult circumstances and choices people had to make to survive. Readers will be challenged with their own preconceptions as they are introduced to a variety of characters faced with life-changing and life-ending circumstances.

An extraordinary and harrowing piece of historical fiction from Correa, with two timelines in the narrative. It is based on little known events that occurred in WW2, and on 80 year old Elise Duval in New York City who begins to receive information about a past she has tried hard to suppress, receiving letters written in German from her mother, from which long held secrets begin to tumble out and question her fundamental sense of identity. In 1939, bookseller Amanda Steinberg's life begins to disintegrate, and she is forced to escape with her daughters. This is a moving story of what a mother will do to keep her children safe, sibling relationships, what it takes to survive and the terrors of WW2. It is beautifully written, covering such despairing events, and the specific details of their impact on the characters. A wonderful read for those interested in this period of history with its compelling characters. Many thanks to Atria for an ARC.

I love historical fiction, especially WWII. The Daughter's Tale is based on true events as well, which I find even more enthralling. I loved the first half of this book, the pace, plot and characters. The second half of the book introduced so many new characters I didn't have the same connection to, it ending up falling flat for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This book was told from the mother and daughters point of view where so many books about the Holocaust are from a mans or boys. The feelings of the characters can really be felt, I could really sympathize with them. The story told what a mother is willing to do to save her daughters.

"The daughter's tale" centers around Amanda Sternberg and her quest to keep her daughters safe from Nazi Germany.

2015- Eighty-year-old Elise Duvall is living in New York when she receives a call from a stranger telling her that she has some letters for Elise. 1939- Amanda Sternberg and her husband were having a good life when the WWII starts and suddenly all things fall apart. She is forced to flee and survive in the context of the war.

Told in dual timeline, I was compelled by the storyline connecting both timeline. The harshness and precarious conditions that people suffered during the WWII were well described by Correa. Pesonally I didn't feel emotionally invested in the characters - there were some parts that the emotions weren't completely explored and other parts that I felt the plot a bit confusing. Having said that, this book approaches well the feelings of sacrifice, survival, sisterly bond and love - thus, I enjoyed more Amanda since the author delivered vividly the mother's love and willingness to save her daughters throughout the story.

The first half part of the novel moved at good pace, on the other hand, in the second half there were some secondary characters added to the storyline that quite distracted me from the main plot. I wanted to know more about Danielle, Marie-Louise and Viera. Lastly, the ending was fairly rushed.

This historical fiction based on true events is interesting and the emotions conveyed are genuine and moving.

Amanda and Julius Sternberg were soon to be first time parents to a baby girl they would name Viera in 1933.
They owned a book store in Charlottenberg, Germany. Amanda was supposed to get rid of all the books that were considered offensive, unpatriotic, or not sufficiently German. The intention was to eliminate all Jewishness from the printed universe.

Julius had just started a new medical practice which was growing nicely.
Amanda ran the bookshop.
Bookshelves were piled high with Amanda brother’s books. He was a Russian poet but he had left Germany several years earlier for a Caribbean island.
She also had many of her father’s storybooks that he had read to her when she was a child.
She was trying to figure out which book she would save - only one. The others she was going to be burned.
She decided to protect the French botanical album with its hand-painted illustrations of exotic plants and flowers that her father had given her.
Getting rid of all the wonderful books felt like a mother casting her child into oblivion. Devastating!!

“The era of extreme Jewish intellectualism has come to an end, and the German revolution has again opened their way for the true essence of being German”.
National socialists were boasting the new era

Frau Strasser was part of an army of women pretending to be soldiers. They never had actually been called to arms.....
but Frau Strasser put the death of threat to Amanda - a last warning - she needed to burn all those books. Horrific bonfires of burning books were going up in flames around the city.
Tears rolled down Amanda’s eyes as she began throwing books onto the floor preparing them for the worst.

“Where they burn books, they will also end up burning people”.

Being Jewish themselves - with friends in France - Amanda and Julius could secure a safe passage and leave everything behind starting new in Paris or some small town. However, Julius felt he could not abandon his cardiac patients.

Viera was born in 1934 in Berlin.....born into a hostile world.
Amanda had saved that botanical album and would often read to her baby in French or Latin.

A year later, in 1935, another daughter, Lina, was born in 1935.

Lina had the most prominent blue eyes with golden curls.
Viera had reddish hair and honey-colored eyes.

Julius was worried about Lina. She was tiny and weak. She had little interest in food.
Lina was smart-as-a-whip though and seemed more mature than Viera.

The city was in uproar. Things were getting worse. People rushing and bumping into each other.
Frightening times.
A Jewish synagogue went up in flames.
Julius was nowhere to be found - was kicked out of his medical building.

When Amanda was nervous-afraid - or worried she counted in silence.
One..two..three..four..five..
six—( she later taught her children this calming exercise).
Eventually- Amanda learned the unspeakable - shocking truth.
Julius was in Sachsenhausen: “a forced labor camp on the outskirts of Berlin. No one came back from Sachsenhausen.

My heart continued to break as this story went on.
Amanda received a beautiful letter from Julius. He could no longer walk.
I wanted to cry ....
This story is soooo intimate...
Julius was in a dark cold place where you knew he was going to die - but the way he expressed his love to Amanda and their little girls - just wrecked me.

The last thing Julius said to Amanda was:
“My Amanda, I want you never to forget we were happy once. Your Julius”.

The cruelties of war are impossible to fully climb out of. I’m always left with war is war is war ... HORRIFIC - i never understand it. It’s NEVER GOOD!!!
Innocent people - German children - have been shunned by the whole world . Jews are still recovering.
Generation after generation innocent people have been wiped clean.
It’s just SAD!!!!

I’m going to stop here as I don’t want to give any of the main specifics away of what happens as the story continues.

.....You’ll meet 80-year-old Elise Duval in the year 2015.... and learn how she fits into this story. BASED ON TRUE EVENTS!!!

Thank you to Goodreads friends, Katie and Tammy. When I read their wonderful reviews- I knew I wanted to read this.
Thank you -to my reader- friends before me. I was inspired.
Glad I didn’t miss this story. The ending was so deeply felt. The authors notes excellent too.

Page turning! It’s easy to inhale this book in one or two sittings.

Thank You Atria Books, Netgalley, and Armando Lucas Correa.

This is my first book by this author and. It won’t be my last.
If you like Historical fiction , do not let this book pass you by .

4.5 Rating

I enjoyed The German Girl and when I saw that there was another work of historical fiction coming out by Armando Lucas Correa, it quickly made my must-read list. I have read so many WWII/Holocaust books that I was hoping this would be a bit different/unique. It was. I just finished this beautiful book and know it will stay with me for a long time. It was a well written, engaging story of a German Jewish family broken apart by WWII and the Nazis and includes a devastating and actual event which took place in a small village in France. The focus is on the younger of two sisters and their mother who must make a heart wrenching decision while trying to save her daughters. The story of Lina is well explored yet being so invested in this story, I wished that there were more details provided about Viera, the older sister, and her life in Cuba. I had also hoped to learn more about the life of Danielle, the daughter of Claire, after the two were separated.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC of The Daughter’s Tale in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the opportunity to review! Historical fiction is my favorite genre to read!

- Your mom would do anything for you, and this book is proof of that. The first third explores the mother-daughter relationship and it’s definitely heartbreaking.
- As with any historical fiction book, you get to learn about real events that took place and I’m glad to learn about the specific stories highlighted here. I truly think books like this help expose the atrocities committed in this war, force us to remember even when we want to forget, and hopefully help us better empathize with other human beings. However, from a readers prospective, it didn’t have the same powerful punch as other WWII stories I have read before. It had a more passive storyline than an active one. However, I do get it because her entire childhood (Lina’s) had been full of devastation and she had no choice but to go through the awful circumstances she found herself in. As she recalls her number of deaths throughout her life, it completely made you understand her numbness to the pain she’s gone through. I thought that phrasing was one of the most powerful points of the book. Another strong theme was the counting of heartbeats, and the last letter made me cry a little bit.
- Overall, historical WWII fiction books are always emotional and I’m thankful for learning more about the power of human resiliency in this devastating part of our history. Would I say this is one of the top books in this category? Not quite, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t worth reading and learning about a different piece of the puzzle.

Another wonderful WWII novel centered around a German Jewish family who flees Germany and the lengths the mother will go to in order to save her children. I really loved this story - although any WWII novel is harrowing and difficult to read, it is amazing to see the strength that people possessed and read about those who risked their own lives to help others. This book was written very well and I immediately was engrossed in the story and felt connected to the characters. Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC.

Jacob Sternberg was a cardiologist in Berlin in the late 1930s. He saw many of his friends and neighbors leave the country as restrictions on Jews increased throughout Germany. He did not want to leave his patients so he, his wife, Amanda and their 2 daughters remained. However when Jacob was detained by the Nazis and sent to a work camp, Amanda discovered that Jacob had made plans for her and their daughters, Viera and Lina, to leave the country on the St. Louis, a ship bound for Cuba. Amanda could only get 2 exit passes and planned to send both girls to their uncle in Havana. At the last minute she sent Viera alone and asked a friendly couple to care for her on board.
Viera was one of the few people allowed to disembark at Havana and the ship eventually returned to Europe with many of the passengers still on board.

Amanda and Lina then went to a small village in Southern France where they were taking in by Claire Duval, the wife of a friend of Amanda’s father. Claire’s husband and her parents had been taken by the Germans but she and her daughter Danielle were able to live the small town. Then the Germans crossed into France as they had done in other European countries. Amanda died and Lina was baptized by a kind priest and became Elise Duval, a daughter of Claire.

Once the Allied nations started invading France and other European countries, the Germans decided to retaliate against the French. Elise and Danielle were survivors of an attack on their village and ended up in an abbey with other children. Once the war ended a Duval relative in the US sent for Elise but not Danielle.

At the end of the book an elderly Elise comes to terms with her real identity.

This story, like the previous book by the author, The German Girl, is a fictionalized account of true events. The St. Louis did sail to Cuba with over 900 Jewish passengers. However only a few passengers were allowed to disembark. President Roosevelt and the Canadian Prime Minister refused to allow the passengers into their countries. So the ship sailed back to Europe where England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands each accepted some of the passengers. Once Germany conquered France, Belgium and the Netherlands, the former passengers were rounded up and sent to the camps. The only ones who survived were those who remained in England.

This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, a story about resilience and redemption, and would absolutely recommend it to fellow fans of historical fiction.

This was my first book by Armando Lucas Correa. It tells the story of Amanda's, quest to protect her daughters during WWII. It is a heartbreaking and riveting story that will satisfy historical fiction lovers.

I really enjoyed the first half of the novel, I felt it moved at a good pace and had a strong plot. I found the characters engaging and was interested to see what would happen to them. However, I felt that the author introduced too many characters in the latter part of the novel and the conclusion of the novel left me feeling a bit flat.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

This book was just ok for me. I really couldn’t get into the writing style of the story. It is a heartbreaking story of love and loss which is typical of WW2 reads but at times I felt a little confused with the writing. Not a bad book but I wasn’t engrossed in it. Thank you netgalley for letting me give an honest review of this book.

Thank you to Atria Books and Net Galley for an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review. Once I'd received the approval, I looked up the author, and I realized I'd read his previous novel, The German Girl. One quality both of these books share is that they bring to light WWII information that is outside the norm, stories that occurred, but they aren't often spoken of when you read or watch WWII history. This book spans years, and in my mind, it was successful giving me insight into the lives of many thrown into the horror of WWII. This book is about two sisters, it's about families, those who helped and those who survived. I couldn't have loved this book more. It broke my heart in two, but it was worth every second. The words are beautiful, the characters well done, the plot outstanding. It confirmed my feeling we're all connected. Highly recommended.

This book was received as an ARC from Atria Books in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

Every family has long kept secrets from a while ago. The story of Elise and how she found out about Amanda and how she fled Nazi Germany to start a new life in France but was later taken away to a labor camp during the reign of Hitler in WWII. The mystery involved with this story was so captivating that I wanted to do outside research of this family and see what the true story really was since it was based on true events. This is definitely a good historical fiction choice when doing a project on Nazi Germany and WWII.

We will consider adding this book to our Historical Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.