For Such a Time

by Kate Breslin
Hennepin County Library paperback 418 pages
genre: Christian historical fiction

Overall, I really like Breslin's writing. She is a talented author who creates characters with depth. Setting the story of Esther in Nazi Germany makes sense on some level, but it is somehow disturbing to set a love story in the Holocaust. This book just didn't work well for me as a reader. Both Hadasseh and Arik were compelling characters, as were Joseph, Morty, Helen, and others. But the evils of Nazi Germany don't lend themselves well as a setting for a love story. On page 89, at the Commandant's dinner party, I thought it would not at all be realistic for a group of German leaders to brush off the harsh comments that Arik made about the SS. In any case, I finally got "into" the story around the mid-point and found it more compelling to read the second half. I'm glad I read her other book first. (This one was her first novel published.) I won't spoil the ending, though I definitely saw it coming. She did an excellent job with the inclusion of Bible verses at the start of every chapter.