THE ENEMY'S DAUGHTER

“To become friends with your supposed enemy during wartime was a kind of miracle.”

On board the Lusitania in 1915, 12-year-old Marta’s father is arrested for being German—just before a German torpedo sinks the ship. Trying to find Papa, traumatized Marta makes her way to York, England, where Germans are being interned. There, she encounters Irish-born Clare O’Sullivan, claims to be Dutch, and ends up living with the poor but generous O’Sullivans. Throughout, Marta struggles to reconcile many contradictory thoughts and experiences: her disparaging beliefs about the English and Irish, the anti-German hatred she encounters, the many kindnesses she receives, and the fact that her beloved homeland’s navy attacked a civilian ship. Above all, how can Marta and German-hating Clare ever be best friends when Marta feels unable to share the truth about her story? And will Marta ever get home again? Superlative worldbuilding characterizes this World War I story, from heart-pounding descriptions of the Lusitania’s sinking to Marta’s observant explorations in York and evocative memories of Germany and her family. The main characters are distinctive and layered, all holding the prejudices and kindnesses that drive the story. While the writing clearly shows the incidents that created Marta’s inner turmoil, it can be occasionally heavy-handed in spelling out those feelings, rather than trusting readers to draw their own conclusions. Nevertheless, readers will root for the girls’ friendship.

Themes of prejudice, friendship, kindness, truth, and wartime inhumanity thread this heartfelt story.