Anna relaxes into her new life, thinking no one cares any more. But history puts paid to my skepticism all too many former Nazi criminals believed themselves safe and anonymous in new lives around the globe. Strangely, Anna seems to believe she's covered all her tracks, despite Jordan's finds. The hunt's the thing, and Quinn lays plenty of traps for her villain. The hunt's the thing, and Quinn lays plenty of traps for her villain No wonder, since Jordan (who has glimpsed, through her lens, a certain cruelty on her stepmother's face) soon discovers a swastika-bedecked medal hidden in "Anna's" bridal bouquet and a suspicious photo hiding in her Bible. Anneliese, who is always bandbox-perfect and cooks a mean schnitzel, doesn't like to talk about The War. We know that Nina, Ian, and Tony will eventually wind up in Boston, because we've already met 17-year-old Jordan MacBride, a budding photographer whose widowed father Dan has just brought home a new love named Anneliese Weber, who has a sweet four-year-old daughter named Ruth. Capturing Die Jägerin, who was known to have murdered six Polish children (among other crimes), remains their goal. Their shabby, ragtag office of war-crime hunters remains essential to them both for different reasons: Ian's beloved younger brother died behind German lines, and polyglot Tony wants to avenge his lost Jewish relatives. Two men, the British Ian Graham and the American Tony Rodomovsky, first meet in postwar Boston. (The Huntress herself is based on two real women, one a female camp guard named Hermine Braunsteiner, the other an SS officer's wife named Erna Petri more on both of them in Quinn's Author's Note, as well.)īook Reviews Wartime Sins And Secrets Haunt 'Transcription' Quinn discovers and portrays women whose actions mirror those of the men more frequently given space in these books. These women show two faces of war, two bleak faces, and when was the last time you saw that in fiction? Quite often, even when they are brave, their experiences important, war fiction relegates women to the home front, the sidelines, the shadowlands. What works best here is Quinn's juxtaposition of a Nazi war criminal known as Die Jägerin (The Huntress), and a Russian "Night Witch" pilot who considers herself a true huntress - one who stalks prey as part of her very nature. You'll also see, I hope, that The Huntress reads like the best World War II fiction, stories in which that war means many people had to inhabit gray areas even after it was over.
Kate Quinn's The Huntress runs on a bit too long, but once you've read her Author's Note and understand that many of her characters are based on real people, real people who include the craven and the heroic, you'll understand why Quinn has stuffed her book with plot. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Huntress Author Kate Quinn
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