rom Patty Engelman at Booklist:
After working in the Jewish resistance in Kraków, Poland, Marta Nedermann is rescued from a Nazi prison by American soldiers. A simple gesture of human comfort by a soldier named Paul is etched in her mind, and when she sees him again in a camp for displaced persons in Salzburg, Marta is overjoyed. They meet again in Paris and become engaged, only to have Paul die in a plane crash. Marta is now scared, pregnant, and alone in a strange city. Simon Gold, an English diplomat, needs her language skills, and he wants her as well. They marry, and two years later, the English government taps Marta for help in finding a traitor in the British intelligence corps, sending her on an undercover mission.

From Publishers’ Weekly:
Marta goes on a dangerous mission to Poland, where a Communist takeover is imminent and where the seesaw plot takes more than one surprise twist.

I didn’t quite know what to expect from The Diplomat’s Wife, having not read Jenoff before.

The mystery was more than decent: although the identity of the mole was not difficult to figure out, the ‘hows’ and ‘whats’ were not so evident–in fact, were a complete surprise.

But, at its heart,The Diplomat’s Wife is a historical romance. And that is my only complaint: the accidental meetings between Marta and Paul were just too numerous to be believable. But then, I don’t care for romances and have a very low tolerance level for such devices.

If you do like historical romance, then you’re in for a treat with this. Enjoy!

I loved that this book literally picked up exactly where the one before it left off. It was the closure I wanted from The Kommandant's Girl.

If I were to rewrite the back-cover copy, it would say this:

Marta Nederman, a survivor of the Nazi prison camps, is finally free and ready to start her new life free of the loss the war brought. She's already met new and trusted friends at the refugee camp, and a young man she could fall in love with. But her hopes are shattered when her new friend dies of her injuries from the concentration camps, and she's thrown into a solo journey across the continent to deliver the news to her next of kin under a false identity and expiring visa. She never would have guessed that such a journey would be filled with more loss, lies, and danger than she had anticipated encountering after the war.

Tada? If that interests you, I think you should read the book. Be aware though that my shoddy description leaves out a two-year time gap that splits the plot into two.

I think what frustrated me the most about this story is that the inciting incident promised on the back cover copy is not the inciting incident that we get in the book. Or maybe it is—but if that's the case then the story doesn't start until about 45% of the way into the book. Based on logical story progression, the inciting incident presenting at the beginning of the story was when

Spoiler

Rose died

. I was relatively captured by the first half of the book but that interest was marred by my understanding that the story hadn't truly begun yet. In truth, this story felt like two novellas, the second of which I both enjoyed more and found more unbelievable. There was one scene in particular that irked me. A character had been shot and jumped into the freezing waters of the north sea to catch the boat. They were bleeding out below deck and apparently had a fever that couldn't be quelled.
Um...EXCUSE me....did we forget he was probably more HYPOTHERMIC than feverish!? Apparently so, because the book failed to address the character's icy sodden clothes for the rest of the scene. In fact...days past and the fever was the only concern.
It was little details like these that got under my skin.

There was a pretty interesting espionage thread that I appreciated though. I also enjoyed the fact that the novel took place after the war as it felt fresher and more unique than many historical novels out there. I enjoyed the romance thread as unbelievable as it may have been to some—it balanced the spying stuff pretty well and added a layer of complexity to the overall story.

I don't think I'll read the prequel but I don't regret this read. If you like historical romances mixed with some danger, I would recommend the book. Happy reading!

În timp ce lecturam cartea, am oscilat între 4 și 5 stele. O poveste frumoasă care are loc imediat după Al Doilea Război Mondial, un moment de cumpănă și schimbări politice, când Rusia controla părți mari din Europa de Est, fiind perioada de început a comunismului.

A fost, de asemenea, o poveste plină de frământări de suflet, care a culminat cu o frumoasă prietenie. Aceasta a fost povestea Martei, luptătoarea din rezistență cu care am făcut cunoștiință în privum volum al trilogiei, "Iubita comandantului".

După ce a fost arestată și ulterior eliberată din lagărul de la Dachau, Marta se trezește într-un spital din Praga, rănită, speriată și furioasă. A stat în lagăr câteva luni, timp în care a fost interogată și torturată de naziștii care voiau să afle informații despre membrii din Rezistență. După luni de recuperare, ea își revine și reușește să fugă în Anglia folosindu-se de actele unei prietene care a murit în spital.

Odată ajunsă în Anglia, își găsește rapid un loc de muncă, grație faptului că era vorbitoare de poloneză, o limbă extrem de utilă în acea perioadă în care toată lumea se recupera de pe urma războiului. Marta ajunge să fie căsătorită cu un diplomat englez, dar oare el e cel pe care îl iubește cu adevărat?

În timp ce se afla în spital pentru a se recupera, Marta s-a reîntâlnit cu soldatul care a salvat-o de la Dachau. A fost iubire la prima vedere, doar că... el a trebuit să se reîntoarcă în SUA pentru a fi lăsat la vatră. Și-au promis că se vor revedea, două săptămâni mai târziu, lucru care nu se va întâmpla... și de aici viața Martei va căpăta o altă direcție.

Totul este doar o imagine bine construită, dar nimic nu este real.

Este recrutată de Ministerul Afacerilor Interne pentru a călători în Germania deținută de ruși pentru a identifica o persoană care poate să ofere informații de care englezii au nevoie. Din nou ajunge să își riște viața pentru ceilalță, fără să o intereseze cât de puțin dacă trăiește sau nu.

Au fost multe lucruri care mi-au plăcut la această poveste. Am iubit personajul Marta. Era cinstită, loială, puternică, inteligentă, plină de resurse, dar atât de tristă și melancolică pentru tot ce a pierdut în viață. Povestea recuperării ei - care a deschis cartea - fost minunată. Pe măsură ce viața ei continua, m-am tot gândit: mai poate altceva să meargă prost pentru Marta?? Povestea mi-a dovedit că se poate, și încă cum.

Nu prea am citit nimic despre perioada de după război. Nu este un subiect atât de căutat cum este perioada războiului și a fost interesant să citesc cum oamenii au trecut de la ocupația nazistă la cea rusească, ambele provocând atât de multe pierderi, opresiune și teamă. Per total a fost o poveste bine scrisă, cu mai multe răsturnări de situații, iubiri, trădări, crime, și mai multe trădări, dezamagiri și puțină fericire.

A fost și o parte care nu mi-a placut și care m-a făcut să îi dau o notă mai mică romanului. Marta trece prin foc și sabie pentru a avea parte de puțină fericire, doar că soarta i-a fost potrivnică și a supus-o la mai multe "munci", poate mai complicate decât au fost cele ale lui Hercules. Diferența este că Hercules era semi-zeu, pe când Marta a fost doar un om. Au fost situații cusute cu ață albă din care Marta nu ar fi putut să scape, în mod normal, și totuși...

3 1/2 stars

Halfway through I was ready to give up then two-thirds of the way through it go interesting and I couldn’t put it down. The first half is needed to setup the end, but I felt like I had to push through it to get there.

Easy read. I liked that it covered the period of time rarely covered, the post-war craziness between WWII and the Cold War. I felt like Marta was pretty plain all things considered, but the plot kept it moving with plenty of twists to keep everything going. All in all, an addicting read and another great one from Jenoff (3/5).

I definitely did not enjoy this as much as 'Kommandant's Girl' but it was still a compelling and exciting read. I was gripped right from the very start, but unfortunately this didn't last all the way through the book. Quite a few factors spoiled my reading. Marta did not have such a strong personality as Emma, and didn't seem as fleshed-out as her. With Emma, I felt like I really got inside her head, but this was not the case with Marta. A lot of Marta's story relied upon coincidences, and there truly is such a thing as too many coincidences. The writing seemed somewhat flat, and I found myself skim-reading and skipping lines without meaning to. While I enjoy less-descriptive writing, there was just something with this book which seemed flat and too simplistic. Marta's "I'm learning a language" English was not believable - someone learning English and at the very basic stages would not say "I'll" - they'd say "I will." Surely Jenoff, with her work in a foreign country, would know this! And lastly, the amazing Scooby-Doo and Sweet Valley -esque ending where everyone is linked to the mystery - which was right under Marta's nose the whole time - and they reveal their Super Evil Communist plan to her without being prompted! Um, WHAAAAT? I agree with the reviewer who said that Jenoff obviously wants this made into a movie - the events in the last chapter did not work well in writing.
I appreciate that Jenoff makes history accessible to people who would not normally be interested in it, in the form of a romance novel. She does write compelling novels, but I prefer my books with a bit more history and little less OTT coincidence-based action and excitement. I feel that 'Kommandant's Girl' was significantly more believable. However, I did still enjoy reading this book and will read Jenoff's third novel. 6/10