*I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.
Title: The American Wife
Author: Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: ★★
With her heart in her mouth, Kitty let herself into her
husband’s private study. She knew where he kept the papers that might save her
dearest friend from the Nazis. She just had to steal them…
Vienna, 1937. When beautiful American Kitty becomes
engaged to Austrian diplomat Edgar, she finds herself thrown into a very
different world in Europe, and soon longs for home. But when the woman
designing her wedding dress, Judith, takes Kitty under her wing, she sees
the city of Vienna in a new light – a city of culture and music that she can
explore with her new friend.
But when the Nazis come, the fact that Judith is Jewish
means she is no longer safe. Kitty knows that as a diplomat’s wife she can
steal the papers that will allow her closest friend to escape to safety, but
will it mean betraying the love of her life?
Except that Edgar has grown distant and secretive since
she joined him in Europe and, when war breaks out, Kitty wonders which side her
husband is really on. And, as she prepares to betray him, Kitty begins to fear
that she doesn’t really know the man she married at all.
Facing an impossible choice between her dearest friend and
the man she loves, Kitty knows she must be brave, and do the right thing, no
matter the personal cost…
The American Wife is the latest historical fiction novel by Chrystyna
Lucyk-Berger and the first in her new ‘The Diplomat’s Wife’ book series.
I want to preface this review by saying that I did really
want to like the book as a story focusing on the annexation of Austria and the
lives of American diplomats living in pre-war Europe was a really interesting
concept but unfortunately it did really miss the mark for me.
One of my primary criticisms of the book was that it tried to
be too many things. There were three distinctly separate aspects to the story:
Kitty’s work for the US embassy processing visa applications for those trying
to leave Austria, the relationship between her and her diplomat husband Edgar
despite their apparent opposing political views and her work for the Austrian
resistance protecting people being persecuted by the Nazis. All three aspects
were interesting plot points in themselves but it felt like they were fighting
for page space and therefore none of them were explored in the depth I was
craving.
I did particularly find the exploration of the American visa
application process for people trying to escape Nazi persecution to be very interesting
and something I hadn’t seen before in other Second World War historical fiction
novels. It was particularly powerful to see the book shed a light on the impact
of international antisemitism
I unfortunately didn’t warm to Kitty’s character at all and that
did have a big impact on my overall enjoyment of the story. She felt incredibly
immature, selfish and generally unlikeable. Although she did have redeeming qualities
such as her determination to do whatever it takes to protect the friends she hadn’t
even known for that long, these moments of bravery and thoughtfulness didn’t
quite do enough to make up for her negative traits unfortunately.
Although I can be a fan of the instalove trope normally, it
was really quite hard to root for Kitty and Edgar’s relationship at all. Their initial
connection felt very superficial and their marriage was incredibly rushed, although
we are told that this was very typical of Kitty’s character. It was inevitable
that the cracks in their relationship would start to show very quickly and I
honestly didn’t find myself really caring if they found their way back to each
other or not. Kitty was clearly not mature enough for marriage and I felt Edgar
would have actually been better finding someone more mature and trusting.
Although they were only supporting characters, I actually found
myself really drawn to the different characters within ‘The Gang’ and felt they
would have actually been much stronger protagonists than Kitty and Edgar. I am
curious to see the direction Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger plans to take the rest
of the series to see if we get any further exploration of their stories.
The ending of The American Wife paves the way for the next
book in the series although I have to say I did find it predictable,
particularly the ‘big twist’ about Pim’s identity.
Overall, whilst The American Wife did feel well researched, the plot and characters really didn’t grip me unfortunately and it ended up feeling like I was having to drag myself towards the end of the book. As stated previously, this was a shame as the different aspects of the storyline were interesting but they just weren’t as effectively executed as I would have wanted.
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