Review by Booklist Review
Set during WWII, Saab's debut novel tells the tale of 14-year-old Maria, who lives in Warsaw, where her parents are part of the Polish Resistance against the Nazi regime. Maria is an avid chess player and applies the tactics she's gained from the game to everyday life; soon she, too, joins the Resistance. After she is interrogated by Gestapo agents, Maria, her parents, and her younger siblings are arrested and sent to Auschwitz. Maria's family is executed upon arrival, but she is spared after the camp deputy, Karl Fritzsch, learns that she plays chess. Plagued with guilt over the murders of her family, Maria is forced to compete against Fritzsch and others to survive, always aware that her time may be limited. Faced with the unfathomable horrors of the death camp and possessed of a strong will and deep courage, Maria pledges to avenge her family's deaths at any cost. With chess strategies as a compelling lure and a variety of provocative characters, Saab offers a fresh and riveting take on fortitude in an oft-dramatized hell of inexplicable loss.
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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Saab's capable debut features a revenge plot set amidst the horrors of the Holocaust. In April 1945, three months after Maria Florkowska escaped from Auschwitz, she returns to the camp armed with a gun in order to challenge Nazi officer Lagerführer Fritzsch, who'd tormented her there, to a chess match. Flashbacks provide the backstory of their relationship: At 14, Maria, a chess prodigy, joined the Polish resistance in Warsaw, delivering blank baptismal certificates to Jews so they could avoid being sent to the death camps. On one mission, she panicked when she was confronted by German officers, and, as a result, she and her family were arrested and sent to Auschwitz. There, she was separated from them, eventually learning they were executed. She was spared because Fritzsch had been sufficiently impressed by Maria's chess playing to allow her to survive as his regular playing partner. But when Maria learns that Fritzsch may have personally executed her family, she plots her retribution. Knowing from the outset that Maria survived the camp reduces the tension in the flashback segments, though they serve to set up a powerful crescendo. Readers who love WWII fiction with strong female leads should check this out. Agent: Kaitlyn Johnson, Belcastro Agency. (Oct.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
DEBUT Saab's first novel is historical fiction imbued with the gentlest touch of romance. Set in Poland in the 1940s, this harrowing tale is told by Maria, a resistance worker imprisoned in Auschwitz. It opens right after the end of World War II, in the disbanded camp where Maria is playing a game of chess against one of her former captors. Subsequent chapters switch from past to present, allowing readers to build a picture of Maria's life in Warsaw and to compare this to the horror of her present existence. The reason for the intriguing chess game gradually becomes more apparent, although Saab cleverly conceals Maria's full motives. While the subject matter is disturbing, Maria is a touching protagonist. Emotional accounts of the friends Maria meets in Auschwitz and moving descriptions of the chess games she continually plays--against both friends and enemies--bring elements of hope and individuality to this tale. VERDICT Fans of World War II fiction with strong female leads, such as Sarah McCoy's The Baker's Daughter and Heather Morris's The Tattooist of Auschwitz, will enjoy this story. The recurring theme of chess is also reminiscent of Walter Tevis's The Queen's Gambit.--Tara Kunesh, Georgia State Univ., Alpharetta
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