When Its Over, Barbara Ridley
When Its Over, Barbara Ridley
74 Rating(s)
List: $14.99 | Sale: $10.50
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When It's Over
A Novel

Author: Barbara Ridley

Narrator: Jilly Bond

Unabridged: 12 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Barbara Ridley

Published: 09/15/2022


Synopsis

Coming of age in Prague in the 1930s, Lena Kulkova is inspired by the left-wing activists who resist the rise of fascism. She meets Otto, a refugee from Hitler’s Germany, and follows him to Paris to work for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. As the war in Spain ends and a far greater war engulfs the continent, Lena gets stuck in Paris with no news from her Jewish family, including her beloved baby sister, left behind in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Otto, meanwhile, has fled to a village in England, and urges Lena to join him, but she can’t obtain a visa. When Lena and Otto are finally reunited, the safe haven Lena has hoped for doesn’t last long. Their relationship becomes strained, and Lena is torn between her loyalty to Otto and her growing attraction to Milton, the son of the eccentric Lady of the Manor. As the war continues, she yearns to be reunited with her sister, while Milton is preoccupied with the political turmoil that leads to the landslide defeat of Churchill in the 1945 election. Based on a true story, When It’s Over is a moving, resonant, and timely read about the lives of war refugees, dramatic political changes, and the importance of family, love, and hope.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Patty on September 26, 2017

I keep breaking my promise to myself to not read any more WWII books. It is, I suppose, a very deep well to draw upon for story inspiration. When the tale you bring to life is based on your own family’s history it makes the telling all the more compelling. Such is the case of When It’s Over for Ms.......more

Goodreads review by Bonnye Reed on September 26, 2017

GNab I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel from Netgalley, Barbara Ridley, and She Writes Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I LOVE that this novel had as an opening salvo a calendar of actual historical events covering the......more

Goodreads review by Sue on November 05, 2017

I enjoy reading books about WWII but this is different slant on the era. It's told from a more personal view with well researched information about what it was really like to live during this time period - from the difficulties getting food due to rationing (Spam was a real treat!) the contributions......more

Goodreads review by Mary on December 05, 2017

This marvelous novel delivers completely on the promise of its extraordinary cover, which shows a faintly colored woman walking toward the black and white and grey devastation of London during the Blitz. Barbara Ridley gives us a heroine we can love in so many ways -- smart, agonizing over her choic......more

Goodreads review by Story Circle Book Reviews on September 28, 2017

Living through major historical events is, for many people, a pretense of their previous life, normal-ish, only different around the edges. For all the heroes storming the hills, there are the civilians living (mostly) how they have before the sky fell. It isn't as if Lena Kulkova, the protagonist in......more