Book Review: "The Words I Never Wrote" by Jane Thynne
“The Words I Never Wrote” by Jane Thynne
Thank you to Random House for providing an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.
Publisher Synopsis: New York, present day: On a whim, Juno Lambert buys a 1931 Underwood typewriter that once belonged to celebrated journalist Cordelia Capel. Within its case she discovers an unfinished novel, igniting a transatlantic journey to fill the gaps in the story of Cordelia and her sister and the secret that lies between them.
Europe, 1936: Cordelia’s socialite sister Irene marries a German industrialist who whisks her away to Berlin. Cordelia, feistier and more intellectual than Irene, gets a job at a newspaper in Paris, pursuing the journalism career she cherishes. As politics begin to boil in Europe, the sisters exchange letters and Cordelia discovers that Irene’s husband is a Nazi sympathizer. With increasing desperation, Cordelia writes to her beloved sister, but as life in Nazi Germany darkens, Irene no longer dares admit what her existence is truly like. Knowing that their letters cannot tell the whole story, Cordelia decides to fill in the blanks by sitting down with her Underwood and writing the truth.
When Juno reads the unfinished novel, she resolves to uncover the secret that continued to divide the sisters amid the turmoil of love, espionage, and war. In this vivid portrait of Nazi Berlin, from its high society to its devastating fall, Jane Thynne examines the truths we sometimes dare not tell ourselves.
Rating: 4.25
Trigger Warning: rape
Review: First, I loved this book. I don’t tend to read a ton of historical fiction, but I loved the idea of two upper-class British sisters on opposing sides of WWII.
That said, I didn’t necessarily love the device of story-within-a-story. The vast majority of the novel takes place during WWII, and Juno is supposed to be reading the novel she found with the typewriter. To be honest, I forgot all about Juno after awhile and it was jarring to be taken back to the present day.
But, I thought the novel was a wonderfully personal look at the political: Cordelia trying to make a difference during the war from Britain, and Irene doing the same while married to a high-ranking German industrialist in Berlin. The glimpse at pre-war Berlin was fascinating—the justifications Irene’s husband made for the Nazis slowly oppressing Jews, the opulent Nazi parties, the “with us or against us” mentality—and made me want to seek out more reading material on that era.
Along the way, the sisters even encounter real-life historical figures: Kim Philby (if you’re unfamiliar with him, there will be an interesting twist), and Martha Dodd.
We’ve got love, we’ve got tragedy, we’ve got spies, we’ve got a compelling sister relationship. There was even a twist I didn’t see coming toward the end, in the present-day narrative. (No spoilers!) I couldn’t put this one down. Thynne’s writing is heartfelt and compelling—she creates a believable world with a great deal of nuance.
TL;DR: A heartbreaking, emotional story of two sisters torn apart by WWII. Each faces moral questions of how far they’ll go to stand up for what they believe in, and how publicly they’re willing to do it—and how strong their bond really is.
If you liked this, try:
“Long Bright River” by Liz Moore
Elizabeth’s Lit Hit List of WWII women
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