Resistance Women

December 1, 2018

Chiaverini draws inspiration from real-life Mildred Fish Harnack, a Wisconsin graduate student who married German economist Arvid Harnack and led an exciting life in Berlin until the Nazis came to power. Then she organized close American and German friends to resist.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 4, 2019
Chiavernini (Mr. Lincoln’s Dressmaker) offers an intimate and historically sound exploration of the years leading up to and through WWII. At this novel’s center, four women—Mildred Fish, Greta Kuckoff, Sara Weitz, and Martha Dodd—do what they can to help the resistance in Germany. Aspiring author Greta and Sara, a Jewish student of literature, are German nationals; Mildred is an American who married her college sweetheart, German writer/economist Arvid Harnack; and Martha Dodd is the daughter of the American ambassador to Germany. Together, they work to fight the malevolent rise of fascism and risk their lives by pursuing their activities even when under close Gestapo observation, and refusing to expose one another despite torture. Their connections are helpful: Arvid gains information in his position as an economist with the Germans; Mildred, Greta, and Sara find resistance fighters who can pass on information; and while Martha remains in the country, she’s able to contribute through her connections as the daughter of an ambassador. This fictionalized version of real-life heroes is told with prose that ranges from forthright to eloquent, and the focus on the road to war and evolving attitudes regarding fascism and Nazism is exceptionally insightful, making for a sweeping and memorable WWII novel.

March 15, 2019
From the end days of the Weimar Republic through the rise of Hitler and the atrocities of World War II, four women boldly defy the Nazis, risking their own lives and those of their loved ones.Chiaverini's (Enchantress of Numbers, 2017, etc.) latest historical novel masterfully reimagines the real lives of Mildred Fish Harnack, an American who moves to Berlin to pursue her doctoral degree in American Literature and reunite with her German husband, Arvid; Greta Lorke, a German woman returning from studying abroad at the University of Wisconsin, hoping to make her mark as a writer in the theater world; and Martha Dodd, the politically naïve daughter of the newly appointed American Ambassador to Germany. Linking these women together with the fictional character of Sara Weitz, a Jewish student of American literature, Chiaverini spins a fascinating web of relationships. As the Nazis place increasingly severe restrictions on non-Aryans, Arvid's cousin Dietrich Bonhoeffer is surveilled for speaking out against the regime, and Mildred finds employment difficult to get, while the jobs that do exist require loyalty oaths to the Nazi Party. Meanwhile, Greta has found love with Adam Kuckhoff, an influential dramaturge with a complicated marital status, and Martha recklessly toys with the affections of both high-ranking Nazi and Soviet officials. The second daughter in the Weitz family to choose a gentile fiance, Sara discovers the anti-Semitism lurking in the hearts of complacent Germans, forcing her to rethink her marriage plans. All four women and their partners find themselves drawn into an underground espionage network--later dubbed the Rote Kapelle by the Nazis--gathering intelligence and connecting with communist cells seeking to destroy the Third Reich. But a single, careless radio transmission could cast everyone into the clutches of the enemy.A riveting, complex tale of the courage of ordinary people.

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