"The Rabbit Girls" by Anna Ellory

 The Rabbit Girls

by Anna Ellory

Overall Review:  4

Grip Factor           : 4

Writing Style        : 4

Engaging Plot       : 4

Characters            : 4

Satisfying End      : 4 

Goodreads Review:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3014393961

When you pick the book, you don't have the faintest idea where would this term be used "The Rabbit Girls".  This is such a harmless reference to such a cute animal and the usage is entirely different.  World war II and Hitler have so many stories hidden; it will take a lifetime to know all.  The book is set during the time when the wall between east and west Germany is taken down and a young daughter is taking care of her father.  She uncovers an old war mystery for her father and while doing that identifies a fact about her own life.  During this process she finds out about some girls who were chosen for experimentation at camps, their struggles and their lives.  She also surprisingly finds out new things about her relationship with her parents.  

More of a love story rather than WWII

The book is more of a love story and less of a story related to WWII.  There are certainly places where the book describes what is happening at the camps to the character but majorly focuses on love.  One might think that this book is written with a view to giving voice to the Rabbit girls.  However, that is not the case and instead a major portion of the book is more  of a love story and has no historical reference.   

Hidden letters uncover a bitter truth

The thought that I can find old crumpled, folded, rolled letters inside the seam of a dress gives me goose bumps.  A series of letters found in her mother's old dress forces her to look at the history of her country, her mother and her father.  Living in modern day Germany when Miriam finds these letters she had no idea her parents could have suffered at the hands of the Nazis.  Her initial thought coming from the assumption that only Jews suffered in those times.  However, this book brings out a separate group of people who were political prisoners, people who were not Jews but were punished simply because they did not support Hitler or his policies.  

One area which I hope this book could have improved upon was certainly touching the topic and the story of the Rabbit girls a little more.  The book is named after them but does not deal with them for even half of the narration.  

Certain scenes which don't leave my mind after putting this book down are - Finding crumpled letters hidden in the dress, Facing domestic abuse even in times of father's illness and lastly finding a friend for support in the times when she was at her lowest possible.