The School for German Brides

By Aimie K. Runyan,

Book cover of The School for German Brides: A Novel of World War II

Book description

In this intriguing historical novel, a young woman who is sent to a horrific "bride school" to be molded into the perfect Nazi wife finds her life forever intertwined with a young Jewish woman about to give birth.

Germany, 1939

As the war begins, Hanna Rombauer, a young German woman,…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The School for German Brides as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Three very different women (Hanna, Klara, and Tilde) live in pre-World War II Germany. Two of them have families trying to achieve advancement by marrying their daughters off to German officers; the third is their half-Jewish dressmaker, who is trying to keep her status a secret from her clients.

What I loved is that we saw the politics of the time and place and the roles women were expected to fulfill. One of the women, Hilde, wants to become a physician; this is unacceptable to her family despite her gift for healing. That’s just one example of how social mores…

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