The Secret Letter by Debbie Rix

Publisher: Forever

On Sale Date: July 18 2019 

Pages: 432

I reviewed a review copy from the publisher through Netgalley.co.uk.

The story of The Secret Letter has two main protagonists; Imogen and Magda, who's point of view we read in alternating chapters.Imogen is just fifteen years old, when due to the lurking danger of possible future German bombings, is send away by a train full of children with the same destination to a more safer space in the Lake District, where she will stay with another girl at the house of a host family. During the war years, we see her growing up and becoming a woman, with her own job and circle of friends, and worries because of the war that is everywhere.She later postpones her study to become an architect to join the WRENS and her work involves her in the Allied invasion of Germany. Unknown to Imogen, her life is impacted by the actions of Magda, a slightly younger German girl on the other side of the battle.

Magda is a German teen girl who lives on a farm with her parents and older brother Karl. She is completely devastated when her best friend Lotte, a Jewish girl, is taken away with her family by the Nazi's. Things are turning dangerous when a guy from her school, Otto, a member of the Hitlerjugend, has his eyes on her. when her brother has secretly escaped to England, so her writes in a secret letter to Magda, which he instructs her to burn because his resistance against the Nazi's. But things take a turn for the worse when an English RAF plane lands in their backyard and Magda hides the wounded pilot in the attic of the barn, and Otto starts making romantic avances to her and is suspicious that something is going on in their house, while she falls in love with the pilot. But then things completely fall out of hand with Otto, and Magda is terrified what to do now..

This is a book I spontaneously picked up, and that completely blew me away. The story is rich and very detailed, and I loved that the chapters alternated between Magda and Imogen. What happened to them left me speechless sometimes. You can just feel the anxiety of the war between the lines, and how it affects the lives of the two young women, and their family and friends.You read about their bravery, fears, friendships, family, and their determination to help the war effort and live for a better future. Magda is German, but she certainly stays on the good side, and loathes the Nazi's. The style of writing is beautiful and it truly makes this a page turner. This is a book that truly would be a good movie, I could totally imagine that happening. 

Overall I found this a truly magnificent read, with a very strong and moving story!