THE BAKER'S DAUGHTER

The Baker's Daughter by Sarah McCoy is a heart-wrenching story narrated in a beautiful manner.It is historical fiction set during the Nazi regime.It tells us the story of Elsie Schmidt ,a baker's daughter in Nazi germany and her life during this bleak time.We watch Elsie as she faces her life with strength and poise and how she takes some very hard decisions along the way,when her life unexpectedly changes one night.Running parallel to this story set back in time, is Reba's story set in the modern day, in the year 2000 in El Paso ,Texas.

My Views:

I loved this book.Reading about the Nazi regime always leaves me with a sense of loss.It always helps to brings things in perspective,it reminds me never to take things for granted,however trivial they might be.I loved Elsie's character in the story.The story tells us about the helplessness of the Germans and how they were blindly led to believe in the rules of the third reich.How even they come to realise the foolishness and brutality of it all.How even they feel oppressed and long for the Americans to come and capture Germany so that the war ends .I had never heard about the Lebensborn program and how they enlisted german women for the sole purpose of breeding and creating a superior Aryan race and how the children who were weak were mercilessly killed. Elsie and Reba are two different women but both follow their hearts.How Reba comes to terms with ghosts of her past and how they both march forward in life.How they learn that "the past was a blurry mosaic of right and wrong. You had to recognize your part in each of those and remember. If you tried to forget, to run from the fears, the regrets and transgressions, they’d eventually hunt you down and consume your life."
The message that is at the heart of this story is that ,"No one is good or bad by birth or nation or religion.Inside,we are all masters and slaves,rich and poor,perfect and flawed".

The only grouse I have about this book is that there is a lot of german language interspersed between and it is frustrating when you dont understand and cannot guess.
However to sum it all up,this book is a real page-turner.The real McCoy ;)(pun intended)