Ellie Midwood is the e queen of world war 2 historical fiction. The wife who risked everything is another brilliantly told, heart breaking tale of love in atrocious times.

The story is the tale of Jochen and his wife who stands by him through everything the Nazi’s throw at her. Jochen is Jewish while Margot is German. Despite the pressure from parts of her family and from the government, Margot never gives up on her husband, bowing to protect him. And protect him she does!

This book is heart breaking, especially when it is scary how close we seem to be coming to risking repeating the alienation of others! But is a testament to how strong love can be.

Margot was a German woman, her husband Jochen a Jew. As the months moved forward and things worsened for the Jewish population in Berlin, Margot vowed she wouldn't let anything separate them. She would stay by his side no matter what. As they were evicted from first one apartment, then another until they lived in little more than a hovel, Jochen managed to procure a pup for Margot, which they named Goose. Devoted and loyal, Goose even came to realise he shouldn't make a sound.

Eventually Jochen was arrested by the SS, along with countless others. When Margot found out where he was, she joined other women, as well as some men, outside where they were detained, and voiced their objections. They continued, calling out, yelling, refusing to leave their posts for days on end. When they worked in shifts so women could get some sleep, the protest continued. Would their cries of "Release our men. Release our men" be heard? Or would they shoot the woman, even though they were German?

I think I've heard everything despicable the Nazis did during the war, until I read another book and learn more of their atrocities. The Wife Who Risked Everything by Ellie Midwood is based on the true story of courage and the power of love, and those women and men's determination to stop the Nazis from taking their loved ones. A brilliant read, heartbreaking but heartwarming, Margot and Jochen were inspirational - the people surrounding them no less so. I loved Anastasia's character - she was a power house! Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

This was a totally different historical fiction piece that what I have read about the Holocaust previously. I learned much - For instance Jews had to pay for the yellow stars that they were mandated to wear. During the Olympics in Berlin all propaganda against Jews was removed to put up good appearances for visitors. I didn't realize the extreme hardships that couples endured in mixed marriages (Jew and Christian). Yet for all that I felt the book was just okay. There were portions that just dragged on and on.

I loved this book as I have loved all the Ellie Midwood books I have read. Ellie features strong heroic women in her stories that are based on true stories, events, and people during WWII. She brings these courageous heroes of the war to life in such a way that the reader is thrust into each scene feeling the emotions of the characters, almost physically , feeling their pain. She brings them to life and by the end of the story I feel I know them ad have a real connection, a real bond to them.
She did not disappoint with this story. Ellie brings the character of Margot to life. Margot is Aryan woman married to a Jewish man, married before Hitler came into power in Germany. When the Nazis take over her marriage to Jochen becomes a crime in the Nazis' eyes, and its fervent followers fall right in step. Margot is urged to divorce her husband and save herself as she slowly begins to lose things. First her career as an actress is cut short, she is reduced to working as a seamstress in the same studio where only months before she was a rising star. She eventually loses that job also,m along with her apartment, her husband's job, his right to work at all, reduced to sharing living space with other jewish couples, the laws get more and more strict, eventually they are not even allowed their beloved pet.
The last straw drops for Margot when her husband is arrested and scheduled to be deported to a camp. Margot and other wives and husbands whose spouses are being held by the gestapo ban together and protest, not allowing the Nazis to take them away. They do not relent and remain stationed for days in front of the building where their loved ones are being held.
This story holds your attention from page one, researched in depth and written to bring the characters to life once again Ellie Midwood shows why I think she is one of the best historical fiction writers of today. You can not go wrong choosing any story written by her.
thank you to Bookouture and to Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.

The Wife Who Risked Everything
By: Ellie Midwood
Review Score: 4 Stars

Five Key Feels

-The book was intense from start to finish.

-You really feel the difficulty of that time, and how people struggled.

-I loved the topical explanations as well, like going to the Olympics.

-Margot’s love for her husband is so inspiring, even during such an awful time.

-The ending was AMAZING, I was on the edge of my seat!

——

The Wife Who Risked Everything was kindly provided as an ARC by Netgalley and Bookouture. Thank you for allowing me to read this wonderful book!

Release Date: 8/23/22

The Wife Who Risked Everything is such an intense book! Set in Nazi Germany, it follows a couple, one who is Jewish and one who is not. Margot, who is not Jewish, is ridiculed for staying with her husband. She resists their ugliness, and stands up for her man, even at cost to herself.

This book really takes you into that time in Germany, as life for Jewish people became more and more difficult. The end of the book was so intense, I had to know what was going to happen!

I highly recommend this book. It takes a part of World War Two history and provides a different perspective. I really enjoyed it.

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A great story based on real people. There was a different angle for the story from other WW2/ 1930's Germany and was interesting as well as shocking. A good read.

I now want to binge every Ellie Midwood novel out there, although I’m not sure my heart could take that much devastation.
I could feel the love the characters had for each other seeping through the pages, found myself holding my breath at the latest bad news and each missed curfew, and desperately praying their sacrifices meant something. Highly recommend for WWII fans!

SUPERB PLOT BUILDING AND A PHENOMENAL FEMALE LEAD

Ellie Midwood is quickly becoming one of my favourite WWII authors. I love how she chooses slightly unconventional stories, often from a German point of view. I don't see many other WII authors do the same thing. And she does it absolutely perfectly!

👍 What I Liked 👍

German: I really like getting into the heads and the minds of the German people during WWII. What moved them to accept the things happening around them during Hitler's reign? Margot and Jochen were a particularly interesting couple to follow, as she was German and he was a German Jew. It was really interesting following their mentality and their decisions as Germany rapidly changed around them.

Margot: Margot really appealed to me. She had a quiet, consistent strength. She wasn't flashy or very outspoken. But she was loyal and steadfast. Her affection and love for her husband shone through on every page and it warmed my heart immensely. Her strength and her fight against the regime wasn't violent or even very outspoken. But it was there in her perseverance.

Plot: The plot buildup was masterful. I loved how Midwood introduced nugget after nugget of strife, prejudice and hardship. As a reader I kept thinking "It can't get any worse, now they have to leave." But the plot kept building up and up until the perfect crescendo at the end.

Set in German in WWI Margot really does risk everything for her Jewish husband. Life is wonderful and Margot and her handsome decorator husband Jochen are madly in love but then Jews become outcasts in Nazi Germany and life becomes not so wonderful.
Margot will not divorce her Jewish husband as is decreed by new laws nor will she stop living with him. Her mother and sister disown her, she loses friends, her home and her livelihood but she will not lose her husband.
I admired Margot - her strength of character, her bravery and her resilience shone through the book. I loved her step mother Anastasia, a Russian immigrant who is as strong as Margot and stands up for what she believes in.
Ellie Midwood can certainly write a powerful story and The Wife Who Risked Everything is a must read for historical fiction fans, especially as it is based on a true story.

Margo risks everything in Nazi Germany to protect her Jewish husband.
She risks everything , job, safety, her life to protect him on all accounts

I really enjoyed this book!

This is a beautiful book that looks at another side of WWII. It shows how a women fights for her husband who is Jewish.
She sees that there is still some good in the world and people who still care about her.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

This book I could not put down. A must read for everyone. I love this author and books she writes. I can't wait to read more books like this and what people go through in their life.

The Wife Who Risked Everything is a very fitting title for this cleverly crafted and gripping novel. I work night shifts and finished my shift at 3 in the morning and began this novel as I got into bed to settle in. I kept telling myself, “Just one more chapter.” And before I knew it, it was 6 a.m. and I was still awake! I had to force myself to go to sleep and as soon as I woke up, I finished the book within a few hours. It is certainly one of those books that you will find very hard to put down.

Readers will fall in love with the main character, Margot, I most certainly did! Margot is an empowering female character. She is a woman’s woman through and through. She is brave, she is smart, she is witty, she is a lover, she is a fighter, and above all she is a protector. She is an “Aryan” woman married to a Jewish man, Jochen, and she will move mountains for him. No one or no thing will come in between Margot and Jochen.

Throughout the story, Ellie Midwood tells the story of the cruel laws that are inflicted upon the couple in Nazi Germany and how they, together, overcome every attempt to be broken. Throughout the story you see Margot defend her husband and risk her life to ensure his safety.

Ellie does an outstanding job at drawing the reader in by being so detailed and descriptive for every character, every scenario, and every situation. I could very easily visualize every character and the locations because Ellie goes into great detail to bring each character and point alive. Bonus points for creating the character of Anastasia, I loved her wittiness, boldness and her powerhouse personality.

You will feel every heartache, feel every high and low. As your progress further in this book, you will find yourself pausing to reflect on the situations that arise and the characters reactions to them. You will wonder what would you do if you were in Margot’s shoes? How would you overcome the trials and tribulations she has? That is why this book is one of Ellie’s best books, in my opinion, and I have read every book she has published. When a book can make you reflect, think and engage your mind and imagination so vividly and captivate your soul into the wee hours of the night; all the while leaving an everlasting imprint on your soul, THAT is a best seller. If I could give this more than 5 stars I most certainly would.

This is a must read!

Berlin mid-30’s till the end of WW11

We are taken into a fictional world base on true events where the characters faced evil and where love and courage were contagious and many voices could not be silenced. This is the story of Margo, an Aryan woman who stayed loyal to her Jewish husband, Jochen, even if their friends ignored them, her mother rejected it her and the Nazi were haunting them...even worst.

As always this story is heartbreaking and as we follow them through a life of hardship: after losing everything they were casted into the street, they needed wits to survive. The story tells us how Margo’s love for Jochen never wavered and refused to abandon him at any cost, even during air raid where Jews were banned from shelters. Eventually Jochen fell into the hands of the Nazis and was imprisoned with countless of other, Margot risked her life to protest outside the gestapo headquarters with hundreds of women gathered shouting “Release our men”.... Jochen was released with many other men..... I gave you a tiny sample of what this book is about. It is filled with terrifying and heartbreaking events you wished it would have never happened...

Of course this is a page-turner that brought life to a terrible era. The plot gradually migrated from a simple life during the early days of the Nazi regime and as time went by to the hard reality they had to face...Ms. Midwood is a master in this era and knows how to pen a story that will interest and captivate us from the opening page.

This is a gripping story told with sensitivity and great finesse. The style is perfectly balanced between realism and fictitiousness and the characters come to life with great care. Well said and well-done.

I received this book from Bookouture via Netgalley for my thoughts: this is the way I see it

I loved this book, it is hostorical fiction at its best. Set during WW2 and featuring real life people and real life events. This book was gripping right from the start and I couldn't put it down. Completely heart-wrenching at times. A great read.

Ellie Midwood has become one of my favorite historical fiction writers as her books are all based on during Nazi Germany, Holocaust and WWII based on true stories. The Wife Who Risked Everything is one such book based on a true story.

Margot Rosenberg and Hans Joachim are very much in love and they ended up getting married. But it's 1933 and the year when Hitler and Nazis came to power. And her husband is Jewish. Then comes the heartbreaking story of a woman's courage and love for her husband, how she would risk everything in her life, including her job as a seamstress to save the man she loves from the Nazis.

Ellie's books are always well researched and her books always takes us to the period before everything went chaos--that is before the start of WWII. Her story soon develops into a plot where gradually the lives of the people including Jewish people changes slowly when living under the Nazi rule in Germany. She did a good job of turning the true story into something beautiful that will captivate the readers and make the readers feel like they are part of the story. Reading this story also tells us how women back in that day were determined and brave and courageous enough to save their loved ones from being taken away by the Nazis and Margot was one such courageous and brave woman that women can look up to. The Gestapo invasion of houses, the brutal treatment of Jews were all too realistic and too heartbreaking to read. Also I like reading about how Margot and her husband sneaked into the Olympics posing as Aryan couple!

Overall, if you like a heartbreaking and emotional historical fiction novel with a happy ending then this book is one for you and if you like reading about courageous and brave women like Margot like the likes of The Lilac Girls, then this book is one for you--worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

"It was the first night that they dared to believe that love was more powerful than death itself."

Once again, Midwood's writing did not disappoint. 'The Wife Who Risked Everything' is a gripping novel about love in the face of hatred that I struggled to put down. I felt the turmoil of Margot and these women that I had no idea existed previously, and found both the characterisation and the realism to be just so well done. This is something I think Midwood truly shines in--the balance between realism and writing style that has made her an instant read for me, and I cannot wait for more of her work in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this eARC!

"The Wife Who Risked Everything" is a timely and chilling read about the slow march towards a deadly reality.

The story was gripping and well told with real, raw humanity in its finest and most terrible lights. The characters were achingly believable and the horrors of their lives too real.

Reading this tale is a sobering reminder of the dangers of forgetting humanity for titles and policy.

This was my first novel by Ellie Midwood, and surely will be the first of many. I was emotionally drawn onto the story of Margot and Jochen, and I didn’t want to put my kindle down. I highly recommend this to any of World War II historical fiction reader. Beautifully written, beautifully done. This story will stay with me for quite some time!

What I love about Ellie Midwood books is that she usually tells a story about WWII that is not a story you read everywhere. A story about an ordinary couple. He is jewish and she isn't. A marriage that is not acceptable in the eyes of Hilterand his regime.

It is a wonderful story filled with heartbreak but also with hope, strength and support in the strangest places but overall it is a story about love. And love conquers all.