Every Tuesday Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where you can share the first paragraph, or a few, of a book you are reading or thinking about reading soon.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!
In 1944, blonde and blue-eyed Jewess Hadassah Benjamin feels abandoned by God when she is saved from a firing squad only to be handed over to a new enemy. Pressed into service by SS-Kommandant Colonel Aric von Schmidt at the transit camp of Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia, she is able to hide behind the false identity of Stella Muller. However, in order to survive and maintain her cover as Aric's secretary, she is forced to stand by as her own people are sent to Auschwitz. Suspecting her employer is a man of hidden depths and sympathies, Stella cautiously appeals to him on behalf of those in the camp. Aric's compassion gives her hope, and she finds herself battling a growing attraction for this man she knows she should despise as an enemy. Stella pours herself into her efforts to keep even some of the camp's prisoners safe, but she risks the revelation of her true identity with every attempt. When her bravery brings her to the point of the ultimate sacrifice, she has only her faith to lean upon. Perhaps God has placed her there for such a time as this, but how can she save her people when she is unable to save herself?
Opening Paragraph
Monday, February 14, 1944
The stench was unmistakable.
Seeping through the walls of the two-story chalet, turning pungent from the warmth of an oil furnace, the insidious odor drifted upstairs to where Stella lay asleep on a window seat. It filled her nostrils and roused her with a jerk; she struggled upright, shielding her eyes against the bright light penetrating the glass.
Dawn. The burning had begun.
My Teaser
The colonel was a better liar than she was! Stella watched as his implied intimacy with the same powerful man who also controlled the Gestapo has its desired effect.
page 23
So...what do you think? Is this one you would pick up? Leave a comment below!
Wow - this books sounds intense. I really liked the intro and teaser, but I think would have to be "ready" to read this one.
ReplyDeleteHere's Mine: http://www.sarahsbookshelves.com/fiction/first-chapter-first-paragraph-tuesday-intros-divorce-papers-susan-rieger/
Great book for this week, yesterday was Holocaust Memorial Day.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sarah, I would have to be in the right frame of mind for this one. I have read a lot of stories set in this time and place. They are hard to read, but compelling. I will put it on my list to consider though.
ReplyDeleteI would continue reading. I am drawn to books set during and around the Second World War (and the First one too). I can't imagine what it would be like to be in Stella's shoes.
ReplyDeleteI would pick this book up! Even though the subject matter is tough, I am drawn to these books.
ReplyDeleteThe premise of the book grabbed me...and so did the excerpts. Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good read... I'd keep going. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI like both the book description and the first paragraph. I'd like to read this one.
ReplyDeleteThis intro got my attention. I would read om.
ReplyDeletei like the intro -- powerful, but lately I can't read any books about WWII for some reason --weird, I know. thanks for joining us this week.
ReplyDeleteI love the cover, the opening and the teaser. I think this will be a good one. kelley—the road goes ever ever on
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