Friday 56: The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff

"One of the wolves leapt at me and I fell, screaming.
 I awoke with a start."

~~~Posted for The Friday 56, which is hosted by Freda's Voice

Title: The Kommandant's Girl 
Author: Pam Jenoff
ISBN: 9780778323426
Publisher: Mira/2007
Pages: 395

Emma Bau is 19 and has been newly married to Jacob when the Nazi tanks enter Poland. Jacob has to go into hiding as he is part of the underground resistance. Emma goes to the Jewish ghetto where her parents have been taken. One night she is smuggled out of the ghetto and is taken to live with Jacob's Catholic aunt, Krysia. Three-year old son Lukasz too is taken out to live with Emma and Krysia. Lukasz is the son of an imprtant rabbi who has been taken by the Nazis and his mother was killed in front of him.

Emma is given a new identity, Anna Lipowski, a gentile with a younger brother Lukasz. She catches the eye of Kommandant Richwalder and is made his personal assistant. In order to help the resistance, Emma has to compromise on her marriage vows. 

Emma has conflicting feelings towards the Kommandant. The ending was totally unexpected and powerful. Jenoff wrote a beautiful love story, the backdrop being the WWII. The holocaust is implied without the gory details.