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My Enemy's Cradle
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Product Description
Cyrla's neighbors have begun to whisper. Her cousin, Anneke, is pregnant and has passed the rigorous exams for admission to the Lebensborn, a maternity home for girls carrying German babies. But Anneke's soldier has disappeared, and Lebensborn babies are only ever released to their father's custody-- or taken away.
A note is left under the mat. Someone knows that Cyrla, sent from Poland years before for safekeeping with her Dutch relatives, is Jewish. The Nazis are imposing more and more restrictions; she won't be safe there for long.
And then in the space of an afternoon, life falls apart. Cyrla must choose between certain discovery in her cousin's home and taking Anneke's place in the Lebensborn--Cyrla and Anneke are nearly identical. If she takes refuge in the enemy's lair, can Cyrla fool the doctors, nurses, guards, and other mothers-to-be? Can she escape before they discover she is not who she claims?
Mining a lost piece of history, Sara Young takes us deep into the lives of women living in the worst of times. Part love story and part elegy for the terrible choices we must often make to survive, MY ENEMY'S CRADLE keens for what we lose in war and sings for the hope we sometimes find.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #22327 in Books
- Published on: 2008-01-14
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 384 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Children's-book author Young (who, as Sara Pennypacker, penned the celebrated Stuart series) makes a stunning adult debut with this beautifully told and heart-wrenching novel set in WWII Europe. Cyrla, half-Jewish, is no longer safe hiding in the home of her Dutch relatives under the increasingly harsh Nazi occupation. When cousin Annika, whom Cyrla closely resembles, becomes pregnant by a German soldier, Annika's father enrolls her in a Lebensborn, a birthing center for Aryan children, where the slogan is Have one baby for the Führer. In a tragic turn of events, Cyrla discovers her only chance of survival is to hide in plain sight: she must assume Annika's identity and live in the German Lebensborn until rescued. Within the Lebensborn's walls, mothers-to-be receive proper nutrition and medical care until their children are taken from them for adoption into Aryan families The horrors Cyrla witnesses are softened only by her resounding optimism and strength. (Jan.)
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Elizabeth Berg, author of Talk Before Sleep
"What a story! MY ENEMY'S CRADLE offers intrigue, suspense, compassion, heartbreak and joy. Sara Young writes with the intelligence and authority of an historian, but also with the sensitivity, precision, insight and grace of a poet. I was hooked from page one, and found the ending to be one of the most satisfying I've read in a long time. "
Review
"Tenderly and fiercely felt, Young''s tale of a young Jewish woman trapped in the sinister web of the Nazi Lebensborn program is that true find, a story truly never before told. And yet, through emotions we know -- that a mother must cherish her child, that hope will refuse despair, that passion will deny even mortal danger -- it immediately becomes our own." (Jacquelyn Mitchard author of The Deep End of the Ocean )
"As her spirited heroine Cyrla navigates the treacherous labyrinth of the SS breeding nurseries, Sara Young shines a powerful flashlight on one of the lesser-known Nazi atrocities: the thievery of children from their mothers. Young''s research is so scrupulous that when devouring this novel, you''ll swear you''re reading a genuine survivor account, and you''ll hold your breath as Cyrla attempts to find and found her own family." (Jenna Blum author of Those Who Save Us )
"What a story! MY ENEMY''S CRADLE offers intrigue, suspense, compassion, heartbreak and joy. Sara Young writes with the intelligence and authority of an historian, but also with the sensitivity, precision, insight and grace of a poet. I was hooked from page one, and found the ending to be one of the most satisfying I''ve read in a long time. " (Elizabeth Berg author of Talk Before Sleep )
"MY ENEMY''S CRADLE has everything: It is a page turner full of twists and turns. It is a love story. It is a war story. It reveals a dark piece of history. There is only one caveat to this novel: you will want to read it straight through. So put aside absolutely everything, and begin." (Ann Hood author of The Knitting Circle )
"By populating her book with complex and vibrant characters, Sara Young succeeds in bringing this previously little known aspect of World War II history to life. Young explores with an unwavering voice the timeless, universal and yet intensely personal themes of love, loss, morality and the choices that shape our lives." (Pam Jenoff author of The Kommandant's Girl )
"In this compelling first novel set against the little known Nazi Lebensborn program, Sara Young creates a heroine the reader will not easily forget - Cyrla, a young woman trying to keep her infant safe while hiding a dangerous secret. MY ENEMY''S CRADLE goes to the very heart of hope and how it can survive in even the darkest and most dangerous of times." (Anne Leclaire author of Entering Normal )
"Secrets of betrayal, love, and honor drive the plot in this riveting historical novel about a young woman caught up in the Nazi Lebensborn program.... Cyrla''s intimate, first-person narrative reveals the horrific history through unforgettable individual experience of guilt and sacrifice. Readers will be haunted by the intricacies of friends and enemies in a story that has been seldom told." (Booklist )
"Young''s youthful characters -- especially her heroine, Cyrla -- are utterly believable, their longings, fears and hopes etched with an authenticity and sense of urgency that make this story vibrate on the page...The fact that Young has drawn on a relativity obscure bit of World War II history makes Cradle even more intriguing...intensely romantic in a way that only wartime fiction can be. And it invokes, with a bit of an ache, Anne Frank''s optimistic belief in happy endings." (USA Today )
Customer Reviews
Indy girl's thoughts
My praises to Sara young for incredible writing talent. I was so moved by the way she weaves a story so dark but yet capturing images of the beauty of everything around us. The detail is so real you can actually see it in your mind. It stayed with me long after I finished this amazing story.There is some mention in the book about the balance we need in our life. I believe the evil of the Nazi's is balanced with Cyrla's love and her ability to hope for a better life. It shows us all what we have in us to survive.I couldn't put this book down and it had a beautiful ending!
sara young / my enemie's cradle
this book had me hooked from the first page to the last. it was so sad i cried but i was so happy at the ending. sara knows how to tell a story. i give this book 5 stars.
Beware of My Enemy's Cradle by Sara Young
I don't read traditional "historical romance" novels. The faults [and there are many] I found with this this might be explained by the fact that I enjoy a different style of writing. What I don't understand are the blurbs by authors I, generally, enjoy. Jenna Blum's "Those Who Save Us' was incredible!! This book does not come close to Blum's work. My Enemy's Cradle is written in a very elementary way -- no challenges here. It makes the Nazi Lebensborn which Cyrla/Anneke enter seem almost like a spa. Lots of good food, a sympathetic nurse, etc. I agree with another 2 star reviewer and felt that this book does not truly engage the reader. Readers who enjoy a poetic style which engages will be, most likely, extremely disappointed. I'm somewhat aghast that a writer would write about such a dark period in our history in such an almost silly manner. It is [almost] offensive. If Young really wanted some authentic feedback, why not contact Shoah Foundation?? This book does not cut it --sorry to say. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR MATURE, SERIOUS READERS.
