This was a very interesting premise. I feel like it could have been placed in any time period and any war. I think it will be a great help to the children of today to understand that people are people no matter where they are from or what their government has done. It was amazing to me how propaganda can do such a through job of turning people against one another. I think this is a must purchase for libraries and children everywhere.

Set in 1915, Marta and her father are passengers aboard the Lusitania, trying to hide their German identities as the attempt to travel home. When the ship is attacked, they manage to escape the ship only for Marta's father to be arrested as aa spy.

Now alone in the unfamiliar country of Great Britain, Marta must find her father and a way home.

Posing as Dutch girl, she meets Irish girl Clare and her family forms a friendship. But they can never discover her true identity. As she begins to get know her new friends and their home, everything she thought about the war begins to shift. And she discovers maybe both sides are just people.

The Enemy's Daughter is everything I've come to expect from Anne Blankman. She is a talented writer who can take a piece of history and weave an unforgettable story.

As always, Blankman has created a historical masterpiece that packs and emotional punch. This incredible tribute to World War I is truly something special.
Thank you to Anne Blankman, VIking Books, and Netgalley!

(This book was provided to me via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.)

I didn't enjoy this quite as much as The Blackbird Girls, but it wasn't a bad read. I think I was expecting this to be a dual POV story, so realizing that it was only told from Marta's perspective threw me off a little. Clare, her Irish friend, was more interesting.

My middle-grade students are absolutely going to love this book! This past school year, I have tried to get them interested in historical fiction. They have fallen in love with Ruta Sepetys and Alan Gratz, so this book will fit nicely with those authors, I feel they will have a connection to Marta and the bravery that she must show in surviving the crazy world after the bombing of Lusitania. Marta is such a strong girl and it is a character that my students can relate to and look up to! This age is also where strong friendships are formed, and that is such a strong message in the book. Sometimes, the friends that you make at this time of your life, become the best friends that you will ever have. It takes guts to go against the popular opinion and Clare decides to love Marta as she is, German and all, instead of hating her just because everyone else hates Germans because of the war. I will certainly be recommending this book to my middle school students and also my adult reader friends who enjoy young adult titles. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

If this book had been around when I was 11 or 12 years old, I would have devoured it! Then I would have continued reading any other books about the Luisitania I found!
Such a wonderfully suspenseful, well-written book for middle-grade readers, but guaranteed to hook historical fiction lovers of all ages. The themes of love, true friendship and courage are present. Even more importantly, the author did a masterful job of showing what damage that hate and prejudice can cause if left unchecked. Though the setting was 1915, this novel covers issues that are very timely in today’s world.

*I received a digital copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.*

Anne Blackman ensorcelled me with Blackbird Girls, and I’ve checked constantly for a new book from her, hoping it would be half as good. The Enemy’s Daughter does not disappoint: it’s every bit as heartbreaking, wondrous, and intense as her previous work.
The story is of Margarete, or Marta, a German child whose story begins aboard the doomed Lusitania in Spring of 1915. It would be easy to spoil it for readers, but the quest at the heart of the story is familiar and resonant, and Blankman never falls back on easy answers or hackneyed tropes.
Marta is trying to find her father, last seen in the chaos in Ireland following the sinking; he has survived but is being taken away to England. She follows him to York, thinking he will be held in the camp there, where Germans living in England were taken. He isn’t there, and with her mother in Berlin, Marta is on her own. She is angry and suspicious, and believes all the English and the Irish to be enemies. Then, she meets Clare, an Irish girl in York. As the story unspools, she starts to examine what she’s been told and what she’s assumed.
Blankman’s prose is always precise and fine: I thought of pen-and-ink drawings and the green-floored children’s room of the library I knew in early childhood as I read, and even after a 60 hour work week of staring at screens, I read on my e-reader without stopping. The Enemy’s Daughter put me in mind of the best books published in the mid to late 20th century: Eleanor Cameron’s Julia Redfern books,, Katherine Paterson, and Ruth M Arthur are fair comparisons.
I have no reservations in recommending this excellent novel to readers, particularly those who like historical fiction or stories that ask the reader to engage with hard questions. It’s early in 2025 to put this on a list of bests, but I am guessing it will be there. I can’t think of anything to find fault with and will absolutely want my own print copy when this comes out on February 17.
I received a copy of The Enemy’s Daughter by Anne Blankman from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.