Defiance

About the book: As Hitler’s armies overrun France, Rudolf von Schoenenburg, a young Austrian baron, is living in exile in England. Though his true love, Hannah, is engaged to another man, Rudi and Hannah risk their lives together to help rescue thousands of British Troops from Dunkirk. Their powerful love story develops against the backdrop of the Battle of Britain and an old world being blown to pieces. 

Rudi’s family and friends suffer under the nightly barrage of bombs and rockets of the London Blitz while he pilots a British fighter plane in what looks like an impossible defense of the small island. Each night is a desperate fight for survival, each dawn a miracle. 

While Hannah spends her days and nights helping to provide early warning of German air attacks, she realizes that every hour of every day is precious. Each moment carries the threat of sudden death. As the world around her changes, should Hannah allow her passion for Rudi to overcome promises she made to her dying father in what seems like another lifetime?

My review: This book took me to another time and place. England during WWII was not a very easy place in which to live. Both Hannah and Rudi's families had already been displaced by the Nazi's and they know just what will be coming for England if the Nazi's are allowed to take over. That makes it easy for both of them to enlist to defend the country of England. Rudi in the RAF and Hannah as part of the WAAF's, the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, watching radar and warning the country of incoming German attacks. I felt with them the terror that comes from knowing that your country is going to be attacked and that you really can't do one thing about it. 

Hannah is conflicted, because she is planning to marry Samuel, as her father had wished, but she's only ever loved Rudi. Samuel is Jewish, as is Hannah herself, so for her and her father it was a matter of religion. I love the way that she decides she needs to take a step back from Samuel and find out what she truly feels and make her choice from there. 

This book is historical fiction, it's clean, well-written and the love story is sweet. I loved that it was a companion to The Last Waltz and that the characters I loved from that book were also in this one.

I was sent an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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