Review by Norma: The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Date read:  April 30 to May 6, 2017

I found this to be a dramatic and an uniquely told story that gave me a new understanding and a different perspective on this time period of World War II that I have never experienced before while reading a Historical Fiction novel.

THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE by JESSICA SHATTUCK is an intriguing, powerful, difficult, and thought-provoking read about the struggles and relationships of three widowed women.  Their lives and fates become intertwined by a vow that our main character, Marianne made to her husband and best friend to find and protect these women and their children if a plan that they were involved in as resistors failed.

JESSICA SHATTUCK delivers an extremely vivid and well-written read here from the perspectives of three interesting and memorable women.  We follow along their stories from their past and present lives together leaving me feeling frustrated and heartbroken at times. I liked each of our main characters equally, Marianne, Ania and Benita although, it did take me a little while to warm up to them but once I did, I became fully involved in this story as I learned more about them and the history surrounding this time period.

I must admit though a few times throughout this story I did struggle with some of the historical aspect of this novel as I found the timelines and places a little confusing at times. But, when I got to Part 2 of this novel it was much easier to follow along with the storyline and all the characters involved.  I do wish that I was given a little more insight and background into some of the information that was given to us in Part 1 of this novel though as I believe I might have been able to enjoy this book a little bit better.

To sum it all up, this was an enjoyable and a very interesting historical fiction novel with a fantastic cover that had me totally engrossed in each of these characters lives. As I was learning about these women’s challenging personal experiences and contemplating some unimaginable decisions that they made to the heartwarming and satisfying ending. Would recommend!