Some news for you! My good friend, Melissa Amateis, has published her first novel. She is a World War II scholar and writer, and The Stranger from Berlin is out on Amazon Kindle. It is the story of Jenni, a Nebraska war widow, and Max, a history professor from Germany, who find themselves entangled in the secrets of a small town in 1943.

Over the years, Melissa has been a great help to me in my own writing journey, and I just had to write a little review for her! I loved reading it. Here are three reasons you must read this book! (Don’t worry, no spoilers!)

1. World War II + Nebraska!

Novels and stories about World War Two are rarely written from a home-front perspective, or take place in the small towns of rural Nebraska. In this novel, we’re reminded that the war wasn’t just being waged in the Pacific against Japan or in Europe against Germany, but at home between neighbors. Melissa eschews the whitewash, and reveals the unhealed wounds underneath and that a distant war is more personal than anyone will admit.

2. Great Characters!

Jenni is a war widow, pregnant with another man’s baby. Max is a refugee from Germany, who comes to Meadow Hills, Nebraska to translate the German diary of a famous writer. Both are flawed, human characters coming to terms with their own mistakes, some of them dark and complicated. When the diary goes missing and the town accuses Max of taking it, Jenni becomes Max’s strongest advocate.

Neither would call themselves heroes. Nevertheless, their bravery and their mettle is tested with scandal, bigotry, and violence. They could be great allies, but in order to survive this little war they will have to let go of their secrets first.

And who can say no to a mystery and a romance?

3. Well-Crafted & Highly Researched!

This is a well-crafted and highly-researched novel. Melissa paints the era with deftness and care. It will not inundate you but, rather, transport you. As a life-long reader of World War II literature, 1943 was immediately familiar to me in this novel, and I had the sudden urge to pull out my old typewriter. Or listen to Glenn Miller’s wartime pieces. And I almost smelled Max’s cigarettes.

While reading this in the dead heat of Nebraska in August, I also felt the inexorable Nebraska winter in which the story unfolds. It is a character unto itself.

4. (Bonus) It’s just so good!

Before reading The Stranger from Berlin, I finished two awesome but massive, and at times opaque, science-fiction novels, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Christpher Paolini) and Dune (Frank Herbert). Therefore, I was thrilled to have a cozier, earth-bound, human story to sink into and characters to root for. It was exactly what I needed.

So, without further ado, I highly recommend this historical mystery-romance, available now on Amazon.

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