Robin Lee Hatcher's 3 favorite reads in 2024

I didn’t know about this novel until I caught an episode of the series on Paramount+. I decided not to watch the rest of the show until I read the book. I’m so glad I did. Masterfully told, I absolutely loved the Count from the opening and all the way through to the end. I fell under his spell like so many others—two little girls, a movie star, employees and visitors to the Metropol, and more. I particularly loved the ending because I didn’t see it coming in exactly that way.

Never again! I couldn’t help thinking about what is happening in the world today as I listened to this story. Never again! There are an abundance of books about WWII available to readers today. There are many that tell the truth about the Holocaust. But this book is different from others in the way that it is told and in the lifelong scope of it, taking us from the 1940s into the 1980s. It is narrated by Truth and tells the story of three Greek Jews (two kids and a young teen) and a Nazi officer. Because of the way it is narrated, there is a slight distance between reader and characters, but that doesn’t lessen the impact of the horrors that happened during the war and what those horrors continued to do in lives long after the war ended. As I listened, I couldn’t help thinking that people needed to read/hear this story today. Truth be told. You should read this novel.

This was my third time to read this young adult novel. A young adult novel that really hits home for someone far past young adulthood. Every time I’ve told someone they need to read this book, I’ve said how much I laughed, but this time I realized how many times this book squeezed my heart and made it ache and brought tears to my eyes. Like the paragraph about Holling’s parents falling out of love while comparing it to a Shakespeare play. Time and again, I wanted to smack Mr. Hoodhood. I loved Mrs. Baker and wish I’d had her as a teacher when I was in seventh grade. I loved how Holling rescued his sister Heather. This may not be the last time I read this book. It is that good.