Michelle's Musings

18 June 2023

Review: The Apartment

The Apartment by Ana Menéndez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

The July Book Pick debuted at our Overbooked book club which meets at the McCracken County Public Library on the second Monday of each month. If you live in Paducah, come on down next month, we would love to have you.

Next meeting: July 10, 5:30pm in the upstairs meeting room

I am such a fan of Kristin Harmel and her wonderful WWII books. Her book The Book of Lost Names was simply spectacular, and I do believe I would rate this one a close second to that one.

Here is my review of the book from when I read it last year.

5 stars!!! Do not pass on this one! Whew, I am going to begin by telling you a little bit about the book. This will show you two women that are expecting babies near the same time. WWII is about to break out and one woman is in love with a man on the wrong side of the Germans, and the other is just trying to mind her bookshop with her family. Elise, is a hunted woman, as the Germans are seeking her and she knows that will mean death, so she makes the ultimate sacrifice to give up her child in hopes she will live. She finds her bookshop-owning friend, Juliette, and asks her to take on her child. Juliette has children of her own, but will gladly take a child that she views as not wanted by her mother.

Fast forward to the end of the war and both of the women's lives have changed, but what has happened to the children? Oh, I can't spoil this for you, but I hope you have become interested because there is most of the book left. There are many times when my heart was on the floor with emotion. I will also add that this book is hard to put down so plan accordingly.