Ellen Keith Livres

From the author of The Dutch Wife comes a riveting novel set during World War II about two sisters, one of whom secretly adopts a Jewish baby and the other who is married to a Nazi sympathizer Amsterdam, 1941. When the Nazis invade Amsterdam, singer Johanna Vos watches in horror as her Jewish friends are forbidden from performing with her onstage, and the vibrant music scene she loves is all but erased. Johanna helps organize the Artists' Resistance, an underground network that arranges for Jewish musicians to perform at house concerts hosted by their allies. When Johanna is told about a Jewish orphan who is headed for deportation, she does not think twice: she takes the baby in as her own, hiding the truth from everyone, including her sister, Liesbeth. Meanwhile, Liesbeth de Wit finds herself torn between her sister and her failing marriage. She knows Johanna is an ally of the Resistance, while her husband actively supports the Dutch Fascist Party. As the sisters navigate the ongoing Nazi occupation, they find themselves growing further and further apart. And when another charming member of the Dutch Fascist Party sets his eyes on Liesbeth, her predicament only deepens. As the war unfolds, secrets continue to grow between the sisters, severing their once-unbreakable bond. Eventually, both women are forced to make a choice that will alter their lives forever: the choice between family and freedom.

"Amsterdam, May 1943. As the tulips bloom and the Nazis tighten their grip across the city, the last signs of Dutch resistance are being swept away. Marijke de Graaf and her husband are arrested and deported to different concentration camps in Germany. Marijke is given a terrible choice: to suffer a slow death in the labour camp or - for a chance at survival - to join the camp brothel. On the other side of the barbed wire, SS officer Karl Muller arrives at the camp hoping to live up to his father's expectations of wartime glory. But faced with a brutal routine of overseeing executions and punishments, he longs for an escape. When he encounters the newly arrived Marijke, this meeting changes their lives forever. Woven into the narrative across space and time is Luciano Wagner's ordeal in 1977 Buenos Aires, during the heat of the Argentine Dirty War. In his struggle to endure military captivity, he searches for ways to resist from a prison cell he may never leave. From the Netherlands to Germany to Argentina, The Dutch Wife braids together the stories of three individuals who share a dark secret and are entangled in two of the most oppressive reigns of terror in modern history. This is a novel about the blurred lines between love and lust, abuse and resistance, and right and wrong, as well as the capacity for ordinary people to persevere and do the unthinkable in extraordinary circumstances"--Provided by publisher

Aletta, má dcera je strhující román odehrávající se během druhé světové války. Je to příběh ženy, která nabídne útočiště židovskému sirotkovi určenému k deportaci, a její sestry, rozpolcené mezi loajalitou k rodině a vlastním bezpečím. Amsterdam, 1941. Zpěvačka Johanna s hrůzou sleduje, jak je jejím židovským přátelům nejprve zakázáno vystupovat a později jim jde i o život. Společně s manželem pomáhá organizovat „umělecký odboj“, podzemní síť umožňující Židům vystupovat na domácích koncertech pořádaných jejich spojenci. Manžel Johanniny sestry Liesbeth je ovšem přesvědčeným nacistickým stoupencem. Liesbeth navíc okouzlí člen nizozemské fašistické strany, čímž se nesnáze jen prohloubí. Jak mezi sestrami stále přibývají tajemství, narušují jejich kdysi nerozbitné pouto a obě jsou nuceny učinit rozhodnutí, která navždy změní jejich životy.