King’s Ransom, Jan Beazely and Thom Lemmons (3.5)
It is hard to find unique World War II stories
that have unknown endings since much of the war has been discussed. ‘King’s
Ransom’ was able to keep the suspense for me through a sad but thoughtful tale
of Bulgaria’s role in WWII. While this book is historical fiction, only one of
the main characters is completely fabricated and it follows Bulgaria’s actions
accurately. It was interesting to follow the fate of a small, relatively
powerless country trapped between Germany and Russia as the King tried to
protect his citizens while dealing with Hitler and his thirst for the
eradication of all Jewish people from Europe. The King’s attempts to placate
the Third Reich and a sizable anti-communist faction within his country (who
believed what the Germans were selling) were balanced against the common
Bulgarian citizen and a powerful religious group to whom the behavior towards
Jews was preposterous and unforgivable. Since I only knew the status of
Bulgaria after the war ended, the delicate and only partially tragic path was
interesting to follow.
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