Enemies in Love, Alexis Clark
Enemies in Love, Alexis Clark
1 Rating(s)
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Enemies in Love
A German POW, a Black Nurse, and an Unlikely Romance

Author: Alexis Clark

Narrator: Allyson Johnson

Unabridged: 5 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/15/2018


Synopsis

This is a love story like no other: Elinor Powell was an African American nurse in the US military during World War II; Frederick Albert was a soldier in Hitler's army, captured by the Allies and shipped to a prisoner-of-war camp in the Arizona desert. Like most other black nurses, Elinor pulled a second-class assignment, in a dusty, sun-baked—and segregated—Western town. The army figured that the risk of fraternization between black nurses and white German POWs was almost nil.

Brought together by unlikely circumstances in a racist world, Elinor and Frederick should have been bitter enemies; but instead, at the height of World War II, they fell in love. Their dramatic story was unearthed by journalist Alexis Clark, who through years of interviews and historical research has pieced together an astounding narrative of race and true love in the cauldron of war.

Based on a New York Times story by Clark that drew national attention, Enemies in Love paints a tableau of dreams deferred and of love struggling to survive, twenty-five years before the Supreme Court's Loving decision legalizing mixed-race marriage—revealing the surprising possibilities for human connection during one of history's most violent conflicts.

About Alexis Clark

Alexis Clark, previously an editor at Town & Country magazine, is a freelance journalist who has written for the New York Times, Yahoo, The Root, Conde Nast Traveler, Manhattan, Uptown, and the Daily Front Row. She lives in New York City.


Reviews

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ _____ I guess with this being a non fiction account of the union of Elinor and Fredrick this book needed to have some sort of back story and history of the people in the story. Sadly, the lack of shared history (to their children) that was available to Clark, I felt that this 200+ page book w......more

Goodreads review by Melissa

The real-life inspiration behind the author's work--how a German POW and a black nurse would meet let alone fall in love and marry--had in it the seed of a spark. Sadly, that never fully materialized for me in this story. Frederick and Elinor's relationship seemed like a hazy, elusive shadow, partly......more

Today in “ I would like the time I wasted on this back “ I will give the author credit on their research on poor treatment of the African American members of the armed forces I wasn’t surprised but it was qwhite educational. OTHERWISE 1. They fool around in the OR like an 1940’s grey’s anatomy episode......more

Goodreads review by Dora

I took my time with this book, because anything that involves war always has me either sad, completely guilty or angry at the human race. However, this book had two people that had to overcome that and so much more simply because they loved each other. It's a well written book and I enjoyed reading......more