Review by Booklist Review
It's 1938 Berlin, and four 15-year-old girlfriends--steady Renate, sensitive Minna, glamorous Geli, and the narrator, Charlie--realize things are changing. They've been enjoying their time hiking and singing with the BDM, the girls' wing of the Nazi Party youth movement. Actually, three have; Minna is Jewish and can't participate. Everyone knows this, but no one talks about it. Parents don't talk about the Party; no one brings up Geli's father, an SS officer, and Charlie never brings up her secret: she's in love with Geli. Charlie is Geli's faithful sidekick, even when Geli drags her to a forbidden jazz club. Charlie is captivated and becomes caught up with these "Swing Kids." Then, one wonderful night, Charlie and Geli share a first kiss, but Geli acts like nothing has happened and slowly drifts away from Charlie. Eventually, Charlie realizes that Renate truly loves her, and the couple begin a passionate love affair. Layers and layers of secrecy, the constant terror of being caught, the ecstatic joy of being with other Swing Kids--these elements combine to create an engaging, vivid scene. All the main characters (including family members) are fully developed and believable. This novel encompasses a lot: the Nazi regime, WWII, Swing Kids, the resistance, sibling and family relationships, and sexual coming-of-age, all wrapped up in a compelling story.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Starting in 1938 and stretching through the end of WWII, this atmospheric Berlin-set story by Tyndall (Who I Was with Her) follows 15-year-old Charlotte Kraus as she immerses herself in the growing underground Swing culture. When Charlie's best friend and longtime crush Angelika "Geli" Haas introduces her to the swing kids--jazz-loving teenagers who embrace contraband British and American music, privately declaring their opposition to the Nazi party's conformist values--Charlie is immediately taken with their joyful and fierce covert rebellion. Charlie and Geli, joined by Minna, who is Jewish, and Renate, who is deaf in one ear, become regulars in the free-spirited underground scene. Though still enamored with Geli, Charlie embarks on an intimate blossoming relationship with another young woman, while the war brews in the background. Supporting characters--including the story's clearly telegraphed villain--are thinly developed, and clunky, expository dialogue occasionally stalls forward momentum. Nevertheless, Tyndall artfully blends historical fiction and queer romance with the increasingly grim details of life under the Third Reich to generate an intensely heartfelt tale of high-stakes rebellion that will sweep readers all the way to the novel's gut-wrenching conclusion. All characters cue as white. Ages 14--up. Agent: Eric Smith, P.S. Literary. (Oct.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--For Charlotte "Charlie" Kraus, the threat of getting caught going with her friends to underground clubs and listening to forbidden jazz was supposed to be the worst thing she faced. That and dealing with the zing she feels whenever her best friend Angelika Haas grabs her hand. Little does she know the worst is yet to come, as Hitler soon invades Poland. Living under the Nazi regime in Germany makes going to the club even riskier, but how can you stop going to a place where you find acceptance and freedom and are surrounded by those who also resist? Tyndall presents a captivating story about coming of age during World War II. Starting before the war begins and ending after it does, the book is broken into sections after different lengths of time. Charlie faces not just the struggles of the war and of being against the Nazi regime but also complications in her family, friendships, and romantic relationships, particularly because she's attracted to girls. Those looking for an action-packed WWII novel will be disappointed, as the time period is the setting more than the war itself. German words and phrases are translated and explained throughout the book, while others, such as BDM standing for Band of German Maidens, are left to the reader to discover outside the text. All characters are cued as white. VERDICT A worthwhile addition to collections where historical fiction is popular, particularly for those longing for ones with LGBTQIA+ characters.--Amanda Borgia
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Young women in Nazi Germany carve out a space for their untraditional love. Charlotte Kraus is once again following her crush, Angelika Haas. This time Geli takes them to an underground dance hall filled with American jazz music. This music is one more thing deemed inappropriate for a proper girl in 1930s Berlin--just like girls' having loose, unbraided hair or wanting to kiss other girls or not being devoted Hitlerjugend members. Spanning the years leading up to and through World War II, the story follows Charlie and her small group of friends as they are coming into young adulthood. Minna is Jewish and scared for her family. Renate, who is deaf in one ear, prefers wearing boys clothing and drops out of school; hiding her disability is critical. Geli is the daughter of an SS officer. And while Charlie wants to continue her schooling, she's not on the university entrance track and is expected to work. Tyndall has composed a moving, ardent narrative of the Swingjugend, or swing youth, that readers will at times find prescient as they consider recent events. Oddly, however, given that the characters live in a society dominated by race theory, the music's origins in Black American culture go unmentioned, and the anti-Blackness at the heart of Nazi hostility toward jazz and swing is erased, subsumed under generic statements that "anything not German is degenerate." A sincere story about the courage required to be true to oneself that overlooks central historical elements. (Historical fiction. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
