This post contains affiliate links. Audible offers free audiobooks, which I try to take advantage of. Some of them are iffy, but I recently downloaded The Man Who Fell from the Sky by Anita Frank, and it was one of the best books I read this year!
About The Man Who Fell from the Sky by Anita Frank
In March 1944, from their farm in their small British town, Joan Marsh and her mother watch British and German planes battle it out. She sees a German plane spiral and three German soldiers parachute out. Though she and her mother are nervous about the enemy soldiers so close to their home, especially since Joan’s father is in the hospital recovering, they’re confident the soldiers will be apprehended soon.
What she does not expect is that her mother will find one of the soldiers, Dieter, in their barn. Even more shocking is that her mother doesn’t turn the soldier in, but instead takes him up to her son’s room to recover from his injuries. (Her son, Ray, is missing in action.)
Dieter soon recovers, but rather than turn him in, her mother insists he stay on the farm, even while a search is underway for the missing Germans. While Joan was initially frosty with Dieter, she soon finds herself confiding in him and even beginning to have feelings for him.
My Thoughts on the Book
This was a much lighter book than I usually read when it comes to World War II fiction. And, I rarely read romances, but this book was the right blend of historical fiction and romance; I really enjoyed it.
I appreciated the conflict that both Dieter and Joan felt; as people, they really cared about one another, but at the same time, their countries are at war, and a romance seems inconceivable, not to mention that Dieter is hiding to avoid capture.
There were many times Dieter escaped capture, and I was impressed with the ways the author created for him to avoid being caught.
However, I felt that some of the story’s villains were too over-the-top — too villainous. And while I loved the story overall, in the epilogue, it went full-on Hallmark Christmas movie, which is the only reason why I don’t give the book 5 stars.
I give The Man Who Fell from the Sky by Anita Frank 4.5 out of 5 stars on the Mom’s Plans’ scale.
Read More
The Runaway Sisters by Ann Bennett,
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
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