The Witch of Stalingrad
4/5
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About this ebook
As the German Blitzkrieg brings the Soviet Union to its knees in 1942, a regiment of women aviators flies out at night in flimsy aircraft without parachutes or radios to harass the Wehrmacht troops. The Germans call them “Night Witches” and the best of them is Lilya Drachenko. From the other end of the world, photojournalist Alex Preston arrives to “get the story” for the American press and witnesses sacrifice, hardship, and desperate courage among the Soviet women that is foreign to her. So also are their politics. While the conservative journalist and the communist Lilya clash politically, Stalingrad, the most savage battle of the 20th century, brings them together, until enemy capture and the lethal Russian winter tears them apart again.
Justine Saracen
A recovered academic, Justine Saracen started out producing dreary theses, dissertations and articles for esoteric literary journals. Writing fiction, it turned out, was way more fun. With seven historical thrillers now under her literary belt, she has moved from Ancient Egyptian theology (The 100th Generation) to the Crusades (2007 Lammy-nominated Vulture’s Kiss) to the Roman Renaissance.Sistine Heresy, which conjures up a thoroughly blasphemic backstory to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescoes, won a 2009 Independent Publisher’s Award (IPPY) and was a finalist in the ForeWord Book of the Year Award.A few centuries farther along, WWII thriller Mephisto Aria, was a finalist in the EPIC award competition, won Rainbow awards for Best Historical Novel and Best Writing Style, and took the 2011 Golden Crown first prize for best historical novel.The Eddie Izzard inspired novel, Sarah, Son of God followed soon after. In the story within a story, a transgendered beauty takes us through Stonewall-rioting New York, Venice under the Inquisition, and Nero’s Rome. The novel won the Rainbow First Prize for Best Transgendered Novel.Her second WWII thriller Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright, which follows the lives of four homosexuals during the Third Reich, won the 2012 Rainbow First Prize for Historical Novel. Having lived in Germany and taught courses on 20th Century German history, Justine is deeply engaged in the moral issues of the ‘urge to war’ and the ease with which it infects.Beloved Gomorrah, appearing March 2013, marks a return to her critique of Bible myths – in this case an LGBT version of Sodom and Gomorrah — though it also involves a lot of Red Sea diving and the dangerous allure of a certain Hollywood actress.Saracen lives on a “charming little winding street in Brussels.” Being an adopted European has brought her close to the memories of WWII and engendered a sort of obsession with the war years. Waiting for the Violins, her work in progress, tells of an English nurse, nearly killed while fleeing Dunkirk, who returns as a British spy and joins forces with the Belgian resistance. In a year of constant terror, she discovers both betrayal and heroism and learns how very costly love can be.When dwelling in reality, Justine’s favorite pursuits are scuba diving and listening to opera.
Read more from Justine Saracen
Waiting for the Violins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sarah, Son of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beloved Gomorrah Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dian's Ghost Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sniper's Kiss Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
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Reviews for The Witch of Stalingrad
5 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5That was a very nice book. And something different too. There are seemingly tons of books written about the European theater during World War II. From mysteries, to romance, lesbian, straight, and everything in between. But, I haven't read (or heard about) too many that take place around Russia, around the Soviet Union's part of the war. That's where this one takes place.The two main characters in the novel were Lilya, a Soviet pilot, a 'Night Witch', who also flew fighters. And Alex, an American photojournalist who is covering the Eastern Front for her magazine. They meet and it's sort of love at first sight. But, because of the chaos of World War Two in the Soviet Union it's definitely not a straight forward love story.One thing that I really liked about the book was the secondary characters. The author really gave a good sense of who these women were. Like Marina, one of the pilots in charge of all the women pilots, and Katia, a fellow pilot, or Inna, one of their mechanics. And even Anna, Lilay's mother, was really well written.I also liked the PostScript at the end of the book with the history that the book was partially based on. It put the entire novel into context in a very cool way.This was a good book, and although it was definitely not a short book it kept my attention the whole way through.I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.