Review: In My Enemy's House by Caral Matas

Summary From GoodReads

When the Nazis invade Poland, Marisa's blond hair and blue eyes enable her to pass as a Polish girl. With her family scattered or dead, and facing death herself in the Jewish ghetto, she takes the papers of a Polish girl and is sent to work in Germany. There she becomes a servant to Herr Reymann, a high-ranking Nazi official, and his family. Even though the Reymanns seem kind, and their daughter Charlotte treats Marisa like a sister, Marisa can never forget that they believe all Jews should die. With unflinching insight, Matas explores the dilemma of a girl who finds a human face in the heart of evil.

My Take

Well this book was very short. and I really enjoyed it. I love books about world war 2 and the holocaust. I thought this one was different because it didn't tell of concentration camps. It told of a young Jewish girl named Maria who disguises herself as a polish girl and goes to work in a house in Germany. By doing this Maria is avoiding be sent to a concentration camp like all of the other Jews in her area. When Maria gets their, she finds out she is in the house of a Nazi. Maria must keep her true identity a secret or else she could be sent to her death. The Nazi family, the Reymanns treat Maria with respect and are very kind to her. For they do not know that she is truly a Jewish girl. The Reymanns daughter Charlotte and son Christian are completely anti-Jewish. While Marisa is living in the Reymann's home. She watches the children play a game called Jews out! and attend meetings that support Hitler and making the world "Jew Free" I can not believe the amount of courage that Maria has during the course of this book. At times she went through some pretty scary things such as bombings and almost loosing her little siblings. I am shocked that Marisa was able to stay in the house of the Nazi with all her fear. I felt that the title of this book completely describes the story. Its not like a normal Young Adult book title. Overall I really like this book and think everyone should go out and read it.

My Rating

* * * * *

5 out of 5 stars