March 1, 2022
Sisters of Night and Fog by Erika Robuck
Genre/Categories: Historical Fiction, WW11, Europe, Biographical, Espionage, Resistance
*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
My Summary:
Thanks #NetGalley @BerkleyPub for a complimentary eARC of #TheSistersOfNightAndFog upon my request. All opinions are my own.
An American socialite in France meets a British secret agent…..
Sisters of Night and Fog is the story of two real life, brave young women who join the Resistance Movement during WW11. Virginia d’Albert-Lake is married and lives in France, and adventure-seeking, nineteen-year-old Violette Szabo is a French citizen but lives in England. Because Violette is an expert with firearms and has dual citizenship, she is recruited by Britain’s secretive Special Operations organization. The two women eventually meet at Ravensbruck concentration camp.
My Thoughts:
Women’s History Month: March is Women’s History Month in the United States, and International Women’s Day is March 8. Sisters of Night and Fog is a well-written and well-researched historical fiction story that highlights and represents the brave women in history who worked as spies or with the Resistance Movement during WW11.
The Author: I became acquainted with the work of Erika Robuck when I had the opportunity to read and review The Invisible Woman. I jumped at the chance to read this new release, and I’ll be watching for more historical fiction from this author!
Main Characters: Sisters of Night and Fog is told in a fairly straightforward timeline from Virginia’s and Violette’s alternating points of view. Each of the young women is brave, independent, resourceful, and smart. They capture your heart from the first pages! The title may be misleading because Virginia and Violette are not biological sisters or related in any way. They are sisters in adversity, intrigue, mission, espionage, and survival. ***spoiler*** Their paths do not cross until late in the story (I mention this because I kept expecting them to meet before they did).
Writing: When I know that characters are based on real people, you have my attention! I greatly appreciated the research, the vivid details and descriptions, and the unputdownable and engaging story! It’s well-paced and structured. I love a story that grabs me from the first page and one that is a good balance of plot-driven and character-driven. I liked that most of the story is devoted to their espionage activities and only a small portion of the story describes the concentration camp experience.
Highly Recommended for fans of compelling historical fiction, for readers who appreciate stories of strong and inspiring women, and for book clubs.
The recent tragic events in Ukraine (Russia vs. Ukraine 2/2022) and the writing of this review in the midst of the coverage triggers me to ponder what I would do in difficult and impossible circumstances. Do you ever think about the dramatic turn your ordinary life could suddenly take when reading a book like this?
Content Considerations: WW11 atrocities and hardships
My Rating: 4.5 Stars
Sisters of Night and Fog Information Here
Meet the Author, Erika Robuck
Erika Robuck is the national bestselling author of The Invisible Woman, Hemingway’s Girl, Call Me Zelda, Fallen Beauty, The House of Hawthorne, and Receive Me Falling. She is also a contributor to the anthology Grand Central: Postwar Stories of Love and Reunion, and to the Writer’s Digest essay collection Author in Progress. Her forthcoming novel, Sisters of Night and Fog (March 2022), is about real-life superwomen of WWII, Virginia d’Albert-Lake and Violette Szabo. In 2014, Robuck was named Annapolis’ Author of the Year, and she resides there with her husband and three sons.
QOTD:
Is Sisters of Night and Fog on your TBR or have you read it?
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I’ve not heard of this book Carol, but I do know about Violette Szabo mainly because of the film Carve Her Name With Pride starring Virginia McKenna. Also Violette’s daughter’s used to live over here and had a language school.
Interesting! You might like this one!
One thing it does make me wish is that america had mandatory national service, it was big in the UK and a few other places and I would be concernes for our society of (both male and female) Karens if we ever had to defend ourselves
My family was just discussing this last week!
I do love it when authors put in a lot of work to properly develop them or to depict them as realistically as possible by basing them on real people! This sounds like a fantastic read, Carol. Thank you for sharing! 😀
P.S. I also wanted to make a quick mention that I will be moving on to my own blog going forward (temporarily cross-posting content to warn readers on Bookidote) and that I’d love for us to remain connected over on my new blog (roarsandechoes.com). Don’t feel obligated to do so though! Stay safe!
Of course I’ll follow you Lashaan! Heading over now! 🙌
Sounds like a well-researched book. That is always important to me when reading historical fiction based on real people. Also glad to hear that only a small portion of the story deals with their time in the concentration camp.
Reading stories like this does cause me to think about what I would do in a similar situation. And usually when I consider what others have gone through, it makes me grateful that I haven’t had to go through such atrocities.
When we were short on toilet paper during the height of the pandemic it prompted me to think about what others have endured throughout history. Would I share my small stash with neighbors? 😂
This sounds like a very thought provoking story Carol. Historical Fiction is always more realistic and educational when it is based on real people. A great choice for Women’s History Month.
Thanks Carla! Yes, I prefer histfic based on real people also! Then I go down a Google rabbit hole! I rescued this comment and another of yours from spam today . WP is weird sometimes but I do appreciate the filter 99 % of the time!
Glad you found them. I feel the same about my Spam filter.
I do think about dramatic turns! Then I have to stop because I hyper-fixate on it and that’s never good!
I’ve had to limit news this week!
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