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    The Historians: A Novel of WWII
    The Historians: A Novel of WWII
    The Historians: A Novel of WWII
    Ebook471 pages6 hours

    The Historians: A Novel of WWII

    By Cecilia Ekbäck

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    “The Historians blends a fascinating historical intrigue with the quick pace and excitement of a thriller.”  — Ellen Keith, author of The Dutch Wife

    “The perfect read…. Exciting and enjoyable .”  — New York Times Book Review 

    The Secret History meets The Alice Network in this riveting tale of murder and conspiracy in Sweden during WWII by critically acclaimed author Cecilia Eckbäck.

    It is 1943 and Sweden’s neutrality in the war is under pressure. Laura Dahlgren, the bright, young right-hand of the chief negotiator to Germany, is privy to these tensions, even as she tries to keep her head down in the mounting fray. However, when Laura’s best friend from university, Britta, is discovered murdered in cold blood, Laura is determined to find the killer.

    Prior to her death, Britta sent a report on the racial profiling in Scandinavia to the secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jens Regnell. In the middle of negotiating a delicate alliance with Hitler and the Nazis, Jens doesn’t understand why he’s received the report. When the pursuit of Britta’s murderer leads Laura to his door, the two join forces to get at the truth.

    But as Jens and Laura attempt to untangle the mysterious circumstance surrounding Britta’s death, they only become more mired in a web of lies and deceit. This trail will lead to a conspiracy that could topple their nation’s identity—a conspiracy some in Sweden will try to keep hidden at any cost.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateJan 12, 2021
    ISBN9780063043015

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    Reviews for The Historians

    3.5/5

    34 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I wanted to love this book, but I ended up liking it instead. There is so much to recommend it to the reader of mystery novels or historical fiction (espcially vis-a-vis the contruct of racial purity and "whiteness"), but ultimately it´s the writing that falls short. Perhaps a stronger editor could have tightened up the narrative - there is so much repetition in the musings of the characters - and suggested fleshing out the various parent/child relationships that were purportedly seminal to our characters-as-adults, but never elaborated on.
    • 4/5
      Cecilia Ekback's short bio on the back cover of this book says that she grew up in a small town in northern Sweden but now lives in Canmore Alberta. And yet again Canada has welcomed a great new writer to its shores. We have been so enriched with many immigrants to our land but I personally appreciate those who add to our literary life.This novel is set in Sweden during World War II. Sweden remained neutral in the war but did business with the Germans, primarily sending iron from its mines to Germany in return for getting much needed goods and food from them. One of the major mines is located in northern Sweden with many of the indigenous Sami people working in the mine. But something else besides mining is going on in the mountainous area and many Sami have disappeared. A young woman, Laura Dahlgren, who works with the committee negotiating with the Germans gets drawn into this mystery when she receives a call from a friend of her best friend, Britta Hallberg, telling her that Britta is missing. Laura and Britta and a few other history students at Uppsala University became close when the took on a special project at the behest of their history professor. When Laura goes back to Uppsala to investigate Britta's disappearance she discovers her mutilated body in the room in the Historical Society building where the group used to meet. Thinking back to their last meeting Laura realizes that Britta was worried about something and Laura wishes she had pressed her about it. In Stockholm, Jens Regnall, an official in the Foreign Affairs minister's office, receives an unsolicited thesis. It was sent to him by Britta, who he had met briefly when he talked at one of their special evening meetings. However, he doesn't remember her and he throws the thesis out, unread except for looking at the chapter headings. Later, when he hears about her death he realizes it may be important but it is too late to retrieve the document. Together Laura and Jens start investigating Britta's death. Soon after Laura's apartment is bombed and Jens is threatened. They bring in the other members of the small university group. Everyone goes back to Uppsala and there they find evidence of a horrific eugenics experiment but before they can publicize it another person is killed and the evidence is taken. How can they bring this project to a stop when they have no evidence?This was a gripping read and shows the war from a different perspective than anything else I have read.
    • 4/5
      Although "The Historians" is a historical fiction novel, it is also a mystery to be solved. We begin with Laura, assistant to the diplomatic negotiator for Sweden. Just three years ago Laura was a college student with a tight-knit group of friends who she no longer is in contact with since their falling out shortly before school ended. Even though estranged Laura still considers the group her best of friends. When one of the group is found by Laura, murdered, and in such a way that suspicion is turned toward her and her group of friends, she can not help but become involved with the investigation. But the more Laura digs, the more she finds herself in danger and doors closing in her face. A young man, Jens, the secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, finds himself drawn into the investigation when he finds a thesis, written by the murdered girl, left mysteriously on his desk.This book raised questions I have never considered about the countries that remained neutral during WWII. Why they were neutral and at what cost did that neutrality come?I found this an interesting novel with a different slant to it than what is usually written about the war. It was gripping in that it presents angles and theories about the war that I have not encountered before.Though the storyline is interesting and different I am sorry to have to say that I found it somewhat of a slow read. I like the different view taken but I found the characters were lacking. I never found that "connection" to any of the characters, and I only had a sense of aloofness on the part of the main character Laura.I would still recommend to historical fiction fans, because the plot is intriguing and it is worth the time to read, I just cannot give 5 stars, therefore I will give 4 and recommend.This book was a personal choice and not an advanced reader copy, this review is simply my opinion of the novel
    • 4/5
      There's a lot of WWII-focused historical fiction out there and I've read more than my share of it, but this was the first novel I encountered set in Sweden, a country both neutral and yet embroiled in the conflict. This novel also presents a more complicated tale of the war and the role of other European countries - Sweden actively negotiates with Nazi Germany and pursues its own form of twisted racial practices. The plot is centered around a murder mystery, one which causes an unraveling of government policy and foreign negotiations all during a pivotal year of the war. Overall, this novel is gritty, morally complicated, and very different from so much of the fiction set in this era - and I liked it for all of those reasons.
    • 4/5
      When I picked up this novel, I quickly realized it wasn’t your standard World War II novel. Taking place in Sweden, a country walking a tightrope with the Germans and fearful of having the Soviets as neighbors, I knew I would find it interesting. When a woman working on her master’s thesis is brutally murdered, those trying to figure out what happened find a secret Swedish program promoting Scandinavian racial purity. Characters including the Sami people who are most in danger from this program. While the loose ends were not tied up by the end of the book, what I learned about Sami culture and Swedish history make up for it.

    Book preview

    The Historians - Cecilia Ekbäck

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