Matilda Ellman lives in Augsburg Germany, in a small apartment complex and near her best friend Hans Brauer. Life is becoming extremely hard for Jewish people living in Germany in 1939, Matilda’s close to Han’s entire family, she’s known them her whole life and their Jewish. When the Brauer's are forced to move, and seventeen year old Matilda creates a place for Han's to live in the attic of her parent’s house, and hides him. German soldiers move in downstairs, for months Hans tries not to make any noise, he writes by candle light, Matilda smuggles him food and she loves him.

Grace Laurent, lives in Boston and she’s an architect. One day she receives an envelope in the mail, from a solicitor in Germany and she’s inherited a book shop in Dachau and from a grandmother she didn’t know existed. Grace’s mum died in 2015, as a baby she was sent to America during the 1930’s from Germany, and she tried her whole life to find her birth parents. Grace travels to Germany, hopefully to get some answers about her mother’s origins and solve the mystery. The bookshop’s called Runa’s Wunderbare, it’s a beautiful old building, and she’s given letters and photographs that belonged to her grandmother Matilda. Grace is taken on a tour of Dachau, she’s horrified by what happened to Jewish people in the nearby camp, and it’s very confronting.

Grace discovers the secret to her identity, she’s taken on an moving and life changing journey. The dual timeline book is about young love, never giving up, friendship, the power of believing in what’s right, it’s an uplifting and hopeful story. The Bookseller of Dachau by Shari J. Ryan is one of the best books I have read this year, I was so emotionally connected to the characters, I was crying, and five stars from me.

Another great book set in the backdrop of the Holocaust. The story is compelling and fast paced. I could not put this book down till I finished it. This is one book that should be a must read for everyone.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Through an unexpected inheritance, modern day Grace from Boston discovers details of her family history that dates back to World War II in Germany. This prompts Grace to drop everything and book a flight to Germany to see her new property and to learn about her 'new' family.

In Germany, Grace reads the story of her grandparents with assistance from a new friend. She learns one heartache at a time of the horrors and difficulties they faced. Grace must come to terms with this newfound information, and decide how to proceed once she learns the truth of her heritage.

This is one of those stories in which the characters leapt off the page and kept my engrossed for just one more chapter before bedtime. A solid 5 stars!

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Matilda and Hans have been best friends since they were four. Living in the same apartment complex for thirteen years, they built a love for each other that could never be broken. That is until the Nazis came and forced Hans and his family to move out.

Grace is an architect at a firm where she grew up in Boston. With her mom passing away and her dad leaving her for another family she struggles to find her place. Then a package arrives from a law firm in Germany and everything changes.

In The Bookseller of Dachau, Shari J. Ryan engages the reader from the first sentence. A story within a story filled with so many emotions ranging from love, to betrayal, hope, and even heartbreak. Shari’s use of words and descriptions grabs the reader and does not let go. Even after the story ends, you will want to know more.

Proficiently written without any profanity nor spelling or grammatical errors, this is a book that deserves an impeccable rating. Justly earned a 5 out 5 stars is awarded.

As with most novels regarding the Holocaust, inhumane treatment of Jews is portrayed. Please take caution as some events are difficult to grasp.

All in all, a beautiful love story enfolded in the anguish, courage, and determination within the historical tragedies of World War II.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #TheBooksellerOfDachau, #ShariJRyan, and #Bookouture for the opportunity to read this book and give my honest review.

Original Post found at: https://www.literarylioness.net/post/the-bookseller-of-dachau-review

The Bookseller of Dachau
by Shari J. Ryan
Pub Date: October 29, 2021
Bookouture

Germany 1939
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC.
This WW2 story was a compelling read. It mixed history with mystery and romance. I do not like stories that are heavy on romance. I like romance to be there without all the details. This is a great book!
“We are all the same inside, and yet we are at war with each other for the beliefs we own, the colour of our skin, and the type of blood that runs through us. I want to hope that to learn of such hate would cause more love, but only time will tell. I know I would sacrifice myself again to teach a lesson for future generations.” - Hans Bauer
I will recommend this book! 5star

Boston 2018: Grace receives and envelope in the mail that tells her a Dachau attorney’s office has confirmed that she is the surviving relative of a woman who has left her some property. Displeased with her job and looking for direction, Grace decides to fly out the next day to meet with the attorney and research this relative. Grace’s mother has been adopted and before her death had been trying to connect with her birth family with no success. Upon arriving and meeting with the attorney, she learned that her grandmother, Matilda, had left her a book shop that was a place of comfort and gathering for those seeking the need to ground themselves due to whatever their life was going through at the time.

Dachau 1940: Matilda has to say goodbye to her longtime friend Hans because his Jewish family is being displaced. Unhappy with this decision and that Nazi soldiers had taken over Hans’ family home of fifteen years, Matilda remembers that she has a small space behind her bedroom wall that the family could stay in. Hans’ mother is against the idea of the whole family putting her and her family at risk, but sends Hans in hopes of saving him from the work camps when he turns 18. As they fall deeper in love, Matilda’s parents discover their secret and her father reports Hans. On the day he is taken by Nazis, Matilda’s mother discovers Matilda is pregnant with Hans’ child. After Runa is born, her father takes Runa in the middle of the night and arranges for her to be adopted in America, claiming he had found her on the streets. Matilda leaves her family after the deception and makes her way to Dachau in hopes of reconnecting with a Hans, not knowing the truth of what happened to him.

I could go on and on about this book, but then why would you pick it up to read yourself? This book was entrancing and I read it in a day. In a time where I am reading WWII historical fiction after historical fiction, this is yet another aspect of a story from that time. I urge, no insist that you read this book upon publication. It was a wonderful trip back in time.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#netgalley #arc #thebooksellerofdachau #sharijryan

In THE BOOKSELLER OF DACHAU, SHARI J RYAN tells a beautful love story against the backdrop of the horrors of the Holocaust. Excruciatingly sad but tempered with hope, this is a WW11 story with a difference and definitely one not to be missed!
When Grace Laurent, in 2018, goes to Dachau to investigate the bookshop, Runa’s Wunderbare Bucher, that she has inherited from her grandmother Matilda Ellman, she finally comes to grips with her heritage, and her life changes forever. I love the way Archie Alesky gently takes her through Hans and Matilda’s story as she reads what her grandparents have written over the years. Will this sharing of the past lead to a similarly special relationship between the two of them?
It is a story about secrets, incredible courage and determination, of belonging and eventually finding home.
The author, being a descendant of Holocaust survivors, writes this inspirational book from her heart. I particularly like Matilda with her respect and love for the Jewish people.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Bookouture. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

This. Book. This just might be my favorite read of the year. The Bookseller of Dachau by @authorsharijryan is definitely a story that will stick with me for a long time and I will be recommending it to everyone. I truly felt I was right there alongside Matilda, a german as she fought so hard for her love of Hans, a Jewish man, throughout the Nazi occupation. The strength that both of their characters possessed was incredible and their story makes you realize how important it is to stand up for what is right. I felt gutted, hopeful, and so many other emotions while reading and the author did a fantastic job of submerging you into the story. I will definitely be ordering myself a hard copy to keep of this one. If you loved Sarah's Key and Carolina's Twins, then you need to read this. Thank you @netgalley and @bookouture for my copy. The Bookseller of Dachau comes out Oct 29th and trust me, you need to read this one.

I typically read Holocaust memoirs and rarely read Holocaust fiction. However, the title, The Bookseller of Dachau, grabbed my attention. Bookshops, bookbinders, and book writers always grab my attention. I was not disappointed to have read this novel, which I chose largely because of the title. Shari Ryan had obviously done a great deal of research. Her descriptions of the events, the laws, and the tightly controlled lives of Jews are well documented.

As a university professor who taught about the Holocaust, I know a lot of facts and a great deal about individual lives, through the memoirs I have read and taught for several decades. Although it sounds strange, I did enjoy reading this book. The words enjoy and Holocaust fiction do not go together well, but I cannot think of another word that describes the act of reading so accurately. The pages of a book should reveal humanity, which Ryan succeeds in doing with this novel. There are some places where the plot does not flow as smoothly, and I must question the delivery of letters to and from Dachau Camp, where prisoners had limited access to ink and paper. However, since some Jewish prisoners did succeed in writing down their experiences, which they then hid in the camps, I am willing to accept the possibility of paper, ink, and letters, even though it was unlikely to have occurred.

I thought that Ryan's ability to create characters who come alive for the reader was well done. Her descriptions of the town of Dachau and the Dachau concentration camp outside of town were nicely done. Dachau was the first camp I ever visited, and Ryan's description of the camp is very accurate. Her novel makes me regret that I also did not wander through the town of Dachau. In fact, Ryan's descriptions of Dachau village and of the camp contain some of the smoothest prose in the book. Where the author describes the laws and restrictions that Jews faced, Ryan's prose becomes too artificial, as if she needed to get these restrictions into the book and could not find a natural way to to add them. Still overall, this is a definitely a novel worth reading. I am appreciative that the author, publisher, and NetGalley made this ARC novel available for me to read. This review is my honest opinion of The Bookseller of Dachau.

The Bookseller of Dachau
Wow- It has been a long time since I finished a book in 24 hours. This WW2 story was a compelling read. It mixed history with mystery and romance. I do not like stories that are heavy on the romance. I like romance to be there without all the details. Sheri Ryan gets 5 stars from me because of the manner she handled romance in the story. I like the way she tied two time periods, two stories together. It felt like there was an element of hope running through the story, not just the horror of Dachau. This is the first time I have read this author. I received a copy from NetGalley with no review required. It is my pleasure to write a 5 star review.
#NetGalley

I really liked the unique perspective of The Bookseller of Dachau. I have often wondered what townspeople thought about the camps, situated at the periphery. This story offers an interpretation with many twists. I loved how Grace was reading the story of her grandparents. I wouldn’t have been as patient as she was, I would’ve grabbed all the pages and read through all at once. I anticipated part of the ending, but not all of it. It’s a compelling, touching read; one that is sure to entice readers.

Stop whatever you’re doing right now and order this book. This five-star historical fiction will claim a spot as one of the two best books I’ve ever read. EVER.

Shari J. Ryan is known for writing ‘historical fiction you can feel.’ I can attest to that claim. She managed to bring a tear to my eye while reading, and authors are rarely able to do that. This book has all the feels and the author adeptly taps into all of them! Ryan is a descendant of two Holocaust survivors and writes to highlight the strength of survivors such as her grandmother.

The 1939 timeline is set in Germany and features an 18-year-old girl, Matilda Ellman, who sacrifices everything to protect her childhood sweetheart. As she sits waiting for him to be released from Dachau she wonders if the price was too high.

The 2019 timeline is set in Boston and features an architect, Grace Laurent, who discovers she’s inherited a bookshop in Dachau from a grandmother she’s never met nor had any idea even existed. The way the two timelines merge is phenomenal. I was in awe the moment they meshed.

Ryan explores friendship, loyalty, love, devotion and overcoming a profound sense of hatred. She highlights the experience of moving forward and living life without a part of oneself, restored to never giving up. As you close the last page you’ll have your faith in humanity restored and appreciate the power of love to triumph over evil. Most of all, you’ll be glad you “live in a world where you can walk away from hatred.”

“We are all the same inside, and yet we are at war with each other for the beliefs we own, the colour of our skin, and the type of blood that runs through us. I want to hope that to learn of such hate would cause more love, but only time will tell. I know I would sacrifice myself again to teach a lesson for future generations.” - Hans Bauer

Ryan’s next historical fiction to be published in April 2022, features another untold WW2 story.

Publishes October 29, 2021.

I was gifted this advance copy by Shari J. Ryan, Bookouture and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

This is a story with a duel timeline.
Matilda lives in Germany in 1939. She is very close to her school friend Hans but because he is a Jew his circumstances are about to change dramatically.
Grace is an architect living in America in 2018 and is astonished to find out that her maternal grandmother has died and left her a property in Germany.
As Grace’s mother had been adopted, she had been looking for her family for most of her life.
Grace decides to travels to Germany to find out her family history.
A sad story about loss, courage and love that will survive generations.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Bookseller of Dachau is a dual timeline historical romance WWII novel. The chapters alternate between Matilda and Hans' story from 1940's and Grace and Archie's story in the present. I loved that the setting for this book was Germany. I read a lot of WWII novels but this is the first I read that told the about the heartbreak and suffering of the people of Germany. If you are a historical fiction fan you need to add this book to your reading list. Thanks to author Shari J. Ryan, publisher Bookouture, and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for an honest review.

Matilda's Secret

Heartbreaking and romantic this story is a wartime romance of two young people just starting life with hearts full of love and everything to lose. As they hide in their attic hideaway they see only each other and not the tragedy to follow.

It is a coming of age story during some of the most traumatic times in history. In Germany, at the height of Hitler's power and the despair of the Jewish citizens a young German girl hides her childhood sweetheart a Jewish boy named Hans in her attic in a crawlspace. Months later he is found and arrested by the German's. This book is the story of Hans and Matilda.

The story starts with Grace, a young architect in Boston, opening an envelope containing a letter telling her that she has inherited a bookstore in Germany. She travels to Germany and this is where she finds the story of her Grandmother Matilda.

I loved the story of Hans and Matilda and their love for each other and the girl child Runa they had together. The horrors that followed were very sad and so cruel.

The description of the camp at Dachau and the town with it's beautiful buildings and the scenic countryside was vivid enough I could see pictures of it in my mind. Transported through history and to a small town in Germany, the people, the dress, and the history.

It was a book you just could not put down, I read way to late into the night. A book of such great sadness, but of a wonderful romance between two people. It was a good book to read and I would recommend it.

Thanks to Shari J. Ryan, Bookouture, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy of the book for my honest review.

Oh my gosh, what a book! I could put it down!
Thanks so much to Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is a dual timeline with present day Grace receiving the gift of a book shop from a total stranger. Grace travels to Germany to find out if in fact the shop belonged to her biological grandmother.

Matilda is a 17 year old young woman living in Germany during WWII whose life is totally upended by crisis after war created crisis.

The story is beautifully from both points of view, in Matilda's case as a kind of memoir and/or series of letters.

This book brought tears to my eyes and was very memorable. I hope to read more books by Ms. Ryan.

As a fan of Shari Ryan…I knew this book was on the way and it was soooooo worth the wait! Once again she has mastered the art of empathy and brings you into a world where love can conquer evil and stories of the past and where we came from shape us into who we are and where we are going.

For most of her life, Grace Laurent watched her mother search for her biological family. When her mother passed away from cancer, Grade thought that the search was over. Their family history would always remain a mystery. Then she unexpectedly received a letter addressed from Dachau, Germany stating she has inherited a piece of property from her grandmother. A split second decision sends Grace across the Atlantic and to a village that history knows quite well. It is in this small village that she learns of the story of her grandparents, Matilda and Hans and how their love for one another helped them to survive the hell that was WWII.

First of all, let me say that this book managed to do what few have done before…it made me cry. Shari is a true storyteller and her words truly emote everything that her characters say and do. Their feelings reach beyond the page and tug at your heartstrings. Becoming emotionally invested in her work is so easy. She also pays homage to the heroes of WWII, the simple shop owners who offer a cup of tea to anyone who is lost and can’t find their way. The people who kept the treasures of others hidden and safe in hopes that their owners would come home to claim them. The guard who, knowing what was happening was wrong, offered his scraps of food to starving inmates. The hope and love that was never lost when it seemed it was unlikely to find its way home. I will carry this story with me for a long time. I am so grateful to have had the privilege to read it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Shari for early access to this gem. This story is a reminder that life, much like cobblestones, can be rough and bumpy but they lead you somewhere that you didn’t realize you needed to go

The Bookseller of Dachau by Shari J Ryan is a dual time line book set in the town of Dachau. Matilda and Hans lived in the same apartment building and have been best friends since they were four. When "liking turns to loving" Tilly finds it impossible to reconcile Hans being taken by the Nazis. She forms a plan to hide him in a secret compartment in her bedroom.

In 2018, Grace receives a letter from a lawyer in Dachau saying her grandmother has left her a property. Her mother was sent to the US as an orphan when she was two months old. Grace and her mother had spent untold hours trying to find her family and had never been successful. Grace flies to Germany and learns the story of her grandmother, grandfather, and mother.

This is a love story. It tells of how hate can destroy people, and how kindness, love, and hope can save people. It is a sad story and a sweet story that will inspire the reader to be kind to everyone. It is definitely worth the read. I was allowed to read an ARC on #NetGalley. It will be released October 29.

“The Bookseller of Dachau” by Shari Ryan, tells the stories of Matilda and Grace. Matilda’s story starts in Germany in 1939, when she is 17. Matilda’s best friend, Hans, is Jewish and his family is being forced into a ghetto. Matilda decides to hide Hans in a small attic in her house - unknown by her parents. Eventually Hans is discovered and is sent to Dachau. Matilda leaves her family after a tragic event and moves to the town of Dachau, living with a stranger who takes her in. Grace’s story starts in Boston in 2018, where Grace is surprised to read she is to inherit property in Dachau from her unknown Grandmother (Grace’s mother had been an orphan and adopted in the US during the early 1940s). This story is about hope, strength, survival, kindness, friendship, and love.

Ryan’s writing of Matilda and Hans’ stories was moving - she presented the facts but wrapped them in a bit of a love story - and a story of survival and hope. I know a bit about the horrors of the concentration camp in Dachau, but reading about the town of Dachau was new information.

Grace’s story felt flatter, especially compared to Matilda’s. I can understand Grace not knowing a lot about Dachau and limited knowledge of the concentration camp, but some of her ignorance annoyed me, though I do think this was done on purpose to educate the reader. However, I loved her friend Carla and believe that we all need a person like Carla in our life - to mother us, to be concerned about us, and ensure that we’re safe when traveling.

Overall, this was an enjoyable book, with a captivating story.

The Bookseller of Dachau by Shari J Ryan

The story opens with Matilda and Hans , childhood friends now sweethearts . Living in the same town , but because of war, apart due to religion / birth. Matilda decided to protect him by the only means she can , keep him close .
Grace living in modern day US , finds out a previously unknown relative has died and left her a bookshop in Dachau , which holds it's own secrets .
A wonderful heartwarming but heartbreaking story of the love and loss of two women who are linked via love , loss and family.