As a Jewish woman myself, it is hard for me to read stories like this about WWII. This book was well-written, and I applaud the author for telling her mother's courageous story. Thanks for letting me check it out!

Rifka Berg grew up in Warsaw, Poland in the 1920's. In her Orthodox Jewish home Rifka notices that women do not have as many opportunities as men and are only expected to get married and have children. Rifka breaks free from this mold and opens a corset shop with her best friend, Bronka. While difficult in the beginning, the two women succeed in business with their talent and charisma. However, with Hitler's rise to power and the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, danger is lurking. Rifka becomes worried about her sister Golda in Palestine and decides to travel to find her. In order to travel safely to Palestine, Rifka assumes a new name and becomes Raquela Bluestone. Upon entering Palestine, Rifka becomes entangled in the Jewish-Arab conflict and becomes part of events that will change her for a lifetime. After Palestine, Rifka cannot imagine going home and decides to travel to Spain. When arriving in Spain she becomes embroiled in the Spanish Civil War and watches over the orphans from the war. During Rifka's time in the orphanage, she becomes attached to orphan Manuel and takes him with her when she escapes to France. In France Rifka and Manuel face Nazi occupation, but with their skills, they join the French Resistance. Rifka once again changes her name, now Simone Bonheur, she is able to help others escape to freedom.

The Corset Maker is an epic story of bravery, survival and resistance. Loosely based on the author's mother, I can only imagine that she was an absolutely tremendous woman. Rifka's character captured me from the very beginning as she defended a neighbor. I was constantly amazed by her ability to question what was happening around her, stand up for what is right, and make choices for herself. While not all of her choices were for the best, she stood by her decisions and carried on. Through Rifka we are able to see the effects of three wars as well as the people who gave everything to fight in them. Rifka's story spans a long amount of time and while I was absorbed in the details of each period of her life, I wanted to know more about her feelings and connections during some of the more tense moments when we just got a play-by-play. Some of the time hops also took me by surprise as well as the switch in perspective between Rifka and Bronka. Bronka's story seemed to just be there to tie up loose ends instead of contributing to the story. I do wish there had been a fuller arc for her. As Rifka's journey landed in France, the suspense heightened with her involvement in the Resistance. I would have loved to have more details of her involvement with removing children from danger. Overall, a factual-based story of hope, resilience and adapting while keeping true to yourself.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

First of all, I appreciate that this work of fiction was a passion project for the author. She shares in her Author’s Note that she has never written fiction, but has previously published several works of nonfiction. The author says this story is loosely based on the bits and pieces of real life events that her deceased mother reluctantly shared before her passing in 1980. So, I commend Annette Libeskind Berkovitz for stepping out into the unfamiliar terrain of historical fiction to preserve her mother’s legacy for future generations of their family.
The story, the setting, and the general plot were intriguing to me because I have a soft spot for historical fiction novels set in WWII era Poland. However, I struggled through half of this 400+ page novel before filing it under DNF. In my opinion, the dialogue and interaction between characters was often flat and difficult to believe. The voices of these characters never came to life for me and it became increasingly difficult for me to connect to them in a significant enough way to keep reading. The narrative was beautifully written and well researched, but the characters simply lacked the ability to hold my attention.

Thank you to the author along with the publisher and NetGalley for making this ebook available to read for free in exchange for an honest review.

Annette Libeskind Berkovits creates a vivid look into the life of Rifka, our main character, as she learns who she is in a world that is working against her in terms of both her gender and her religion. Rifka's journey to find her identity (an identity that actually changes for her own protection more than once), is compelling, and the struggles she faces feel very raw and authentic. There were moments that struck me deeply, and parts of the story that I am still dwelling on. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in historical fiction set during WWII that does not necessarily dwell solely on the war, but rather the people and their experiences.


Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the novel! The review above is completely my own thoughts, feelings, and opinions.