William Hanover, the grandson of a successful California real estate billionaire, who Sera encounters while looking for the painting, may hold the key to locating the stolen masterpiece. Together, Sera and William gradually reveal the background to the portrait of Austrian violinist Adele Von Bron.

1942: Adele Von Bron, the daughter of a high-ranking member of the Third Reich and a favorite of the Austrian aristocracy, risks everything when she starts smuggling Jews out of Vienna. Adele is also a gifted violinist. Her life of wealth and privilege abruptly ends and is replaced by one of starvation and barbed wire.

Sera discovers beauty in the most unexpected places as she unravels the mystery of the picture, including the dreary Auschwitz concentration camps and the dark corners of her own tortured heart.

My Review

I was particularly amazed by how well the two plotlines in this book were integrated. It's challenging to write a book with a present-day and historical plot. I'm incredibly grateful for that.

A young woman's story of being estranged from both her love and her wealthy life. She is imprisoned in Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she must choose between giving up and dying and living on in hope and faith.

The opening few chapters of the book contained a few light theological allusions that added to the situational drama. I found the contemporary mystery around the artwork to be pretty intriguing, and I enjoy the 1942's central conflict.

The writing in this book was exquisite. I liked how authentically detailed the Auschwitz scenes were, and I thought the pace and characters were great. I do, however, have a few grievances.

The conflict between the story's fictitious elements and its religious undertones lessened as the plot progressed. It became lost and was never recovered. In this book, everything that occurred between Sera and William also happen. Although they appear to be a good match, everything happens far too rapidly.

This book started off fairly excitingly overall, but around halfway through, everything started to fall apart. The plot had a lot of potential, but alas it was poorly executed.

My ratings score:

★★★★★ Fantastic! Made me go through a lot of emotions & the entire book is incredibly beautifully done! 

★★★★ Memorable! Despite its shortcomings, this book was incredible and taught us a lot. 

★★★ Good work! Nothing particularly remarkable, but still nice.

★★ Meh... Mediocre with great room for improvement.

★ Extremely Poor.