The Plum Tree

by Ellen Marie Wiseman Narrated by Madeleine Lambert

Overview

"Bloom where you're planted," is the advice Christine Bolz receives from her beloved Oma. But seventeen-year-old domestic Christine knows there is a whole world waiting beyond her small German village. It's a world she's begun to glimpse through music, books-and through Isaac Bauerman, the cultured son of the wealthy Jewish family she works for.



Yet the future she and Isaac dream of sharing faces greater challenges than their difference in stations. In the fall of 1938, Germany is changing rapidly under Hitler's regime. Anti-Jewish posters are everywhere, dissenting talk is silenced, and a new law forbids Christine from returning to her job-and from having any relationship with Isaac. In the months and years that follow, Christine will confront the Gestapo's wrath and the horrors of Dachau, desperate to be with the man she loves, to survive-and finally, to speak out.



Set against the backdrop of the German homefront, this is an unforgettable novel of courage and resolve, of the inhumanity of war, and the heartbreak and hope left in its wake.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Christine Bölz is living in a German village at the beginning of the Third Reich, where she and her family work as domestics for the Jewish Bauermans. Although from disparate backgrounds, a spark ignites between the teenage Christine and young Isaac Bauerman. When Isaac is arrested and taken to Dachau, Christine is left behind to sort through conflicting notions of loyalty, love, and nationality. She begins to follow the Jewish prisoners being marched to Dachau, sneaking them food, yet always keeping her distance from the German guards, not wanting “them to think that, just because she was a citizen of this nation run by madmen, she too was a Jew hater.” Christine helps Isaac make a daring escape, and hides him for some time in her family’s attic, but he is eventually found and sent back, along with Christine, to Dachau. Stories of WWII rarely look at the lives of the average German; Wiseman eschews the genre’s usual military conflicts in favor of the slow, inexorable pressure of daily life during wartime, lending an intimate and compelling poignancy to this intriguing debut. Agent: Michael Carr, Veritas Literary Agency. (Jan.)

From the Publisher

"A  touching story of heroism and loss, a testament to the strength of the human spirit and the power of love to transcend the most unthinkable circumstances. Deft storytelling and rich characters make this a highly memorable read and a worthy addition to the narratives of the Holocaust and Second World War."
—Pam Jenoff, author of The Ambassador's Daughter
 
“Wiseman eschews the genre’s usual military conflicts of daily life during wartime, lending an intimate and compelling poignancy to this intriguing debut.”
—Publishers Weekly
 
“Ellen Marie Wiseman weaves a story of intrigue, terror, and love from a perspective not often seen in Holocaust novels.”
—Jewish Book World

From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY

"The Holocaust was a horrendous time in world history, and Wiseman has added a personal touch on this era." —VOYA

AUGUST 2013 - AudioFile

Wiseman depicts a prewar Germany we’ve not seen before, experienced through the eyes of a young female protagonist, who is vividly portrayed by narrator Madeleine Lambert. The story opens with a classic coming-of-age conflict: Christine is in love with a boy who is not of her social class. But there’s another obstacle, as well: The story takes place amid the shadow of the Third Reich, and Isaac is Jewish. As the young characters struggle to make love conquer all, Lambert deftly delivers the Wiseman’s nuanced descriptions of everyday life in the countryside. The listeners’ senses will come alive through Lambert’s remarkable use of pitch, tone, and cadence. M.R. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171094935
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	04/29/2013
Edition description:	Unabridged

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