My Enemy's Cradle: Summary and book reviews of My Enemy's Cradle by Sara Young, plus links to an excerpt from My Enemy's Cradle and a biography of Sara Young.
My Enemy's Cradle
by Sara Young
Hardcover: Jan 2008,
384 pages.
Paperback: Oct 2008,
384 pages.
Her cousin, Anneke, is pregnant and has passed the rigorous exams for admission to the Lebensborn, a maternity home for girls carrying German babies. But Anneke's soldier has disappeared, and Lebensborn babies are only ever released to their father's custody—or taken away. A note is left under the mat. The neighbors know that Cyrla, sent from Poland for safekeeping with her Dutch relatives, is Jewish. The Nazis are imposing more and more restrictions; she won't be safe there for long.
And then in the space of an afternoon, life falls apart. Cyrla must choose between certain discovery in her cousin's home and taking Anneke's place in the Lebensborn—Cyrla and Anneke are nearly identical. If she takes refuge in the enemy's lair, can Cyrla fool the doctors, nurses, guards, and other mothers-to-be? Can she escape before they discover she is not who she claims?
Mining a lost piece of history, Sara Young takes us deep into the lives of women living in the worst of times. Part love story and part elegy for the terrible choices we must often make to survive, My Enemy's Cradle keens for what we lose in war and sings for the hope we sometimes find.
BOOK REVIEWS
BookBrowse My Enemy's Cradle is a good read, though there are plot elements and character interactions that may strike some as unrealistic. However, these portions do gain credibility by virtue of the unnatural setting and extreme time in which they take place. Risky decisions, compromise and relationships – both forbidden and convenient – during the German occupation are part of Cyrla's story, as they are part of World War II history. (Reviewed by Stacey Rae Brownlie). Full Review (890 words).
Media Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
Earnest but ultimately sentimental rather than profound.
Library Journal - Christine DeZelar-Tiedman
Young explores the experiences of these women in her fictional story of Cyrla, a young Polish/Dutch woman who enters a Lebensborn maternity home in place of her cousin Annika.
Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. Children's-book author Young (who, as Sara Pennypacker, penned the celebrated Stuart series) makes a stunning adult debut with this beautifully told and heart-wrenching novel set in WWII Europe."
The Observer - Francesca Segal
Young's novel is meticulously researched and the facts are unobtrusive, wrought into the story with intelligence and precision.
Elizabeth Berg
What a story! My Enemy's Cradle offers intrigue, suspense, compassion, heartbreak and joy. Sara Young writes with the intelligence and authority of an historian, but also with the sensitivity, precision, insight and grace of a poet. I was hooked from page one, and found the ending to be one of the most satisfying I've read in a long time.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by maggie My Enemy's Cradle One of the best books I have read in years. The characters are so real you hate for the book to end; the characters have become YOUR family members.
Rated of 5
by Myksmom Captivating Loved this book! Once I started reading I couldn't put it down, stayed up until 2 am to finish it last night.
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(890 words).
Kirkus Reviews
Publishers Weekly
Elizabeth Berg
of 5
by maggie
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