The Blue Stone is set during the tumultuous years of World War II in Niebieski, Poland, a fictional town near Cracow. Volkdeutscherin Elena Kohlmuller and her brother Paul assist Elena's Jewish mentor, Jakob, and his brother Jerzy, in fleeing from the Cracow ghetto, setting the stage for their inevitable forming of a Polish Resistance group.
Jeweler by day, document forger by night, Elena is caught between her allegiance to Poland, faked allegiance to the Reich, Jews, Nazis, and her friends; Anna, a Pole she is sheltering, Janina, a fellow Volkdeutscherin and self-described favor-seeking whore, and Aleksandr, the quiet, blue-eyed Russian POW her brother rescued.
Matters only become more complicated when Elena and Aleksandr discover four children hiding in the Catholic Church. Then Elena runs afoul of the local Nazi leader, Gerhardt Schwarz, who is determined to root out the local resistance organization.
Separation tests them as the men are drawn deeper into the Resistance movement, pulling them into the chaos that is Warsaw only for Jerzy to return, bringing with him the Karmazinov brothers. Clashing in their first moments, Elena learns Vladimir, the eldest, is the quintessential Communist, as determined to bring Poland under Russian rule as Elena is to keep it free.
Following defeat at the Warsaw Uprising, Elena and Janina, stunned and bereaved, come home to shocking revelations. As the Russians advance into Poland, Elena, Janina, and the children attempt to flee into Germany, only to be captured and imprisoned. Allegiances are formed and broken; loyalty and betrayal shift as quickly as the front lines as undercurrents of love and jealousy flow to the daring escape, reunions, and conclusion of The Blue Stone.
That's a lot of stuff going on! Sounds like an interesting book. I always liked WWII period fiction.
ReplyDeleteIt was a fascinating and horrifying time in history.
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