The Crimson Thread
Title: The Crimson Thread
Summary: In Crete during World War II, Alenka, a young woman who fights with the resistance against the brutal Nazi occupation, finds herself caught between her traitor of a brother and the man she loves, an undercover agent working for the Allies.
May 1941. German paratroopers launch a blitzkrieg from the air against Crete. They are met with fierce defiance, the Greeks fighting back with daggers, pitchforks, and kitchen knives. During the bloody eleven-day battle, Alenka, a young Greek woman, saves the lives of two Australian soldiers.
Jack and Teddy are childhood friends who joined up together to see the world. Both men fall in love with Alenka. They are forced to retreat with the tattered remains of the Allied forces over the towering White Mountains. Both are among the seven thousand Allied soldiers left behind in the desperate evacuation from Crete’s storm-lashed southern coast. Alenka hides Jack and Teddy at great risk to herself. Her brother Axel is a Nazi sympathizer and collaborator and spies on her movements.
As Crete suffers under the Nazi jackboot, Alenka is drawn into an intense triangle of conflicting emotions with Jack and Teddy. Their friendship suffers under the strain of months of hiding and their rivalry for her love. Together, they join the resistance and fight to free the island, but all three will find themselves tested to their limits. Alenka must choose whom to trust and whom to love and, in the end, whom to save.
My Thoughts: Alenka is just a young woman trying to survive. Like so many others, her world is shattered when the Nazis invade her home during WWII. Alenka embraces any and every opportunity to assist in resistance operations, even if it puts her and her family at risk. In doing so she meets two young men who change her life forever.
Teddy and Jack are just young men from Australia looking to do their part in the fight against the Nazis. Teddy is confident and charismatic. Jack is shy and has a stutter. One is set on embracing all the freedom and "fun" that being in the army provides. The other genuinely wants to make a difference.
Forsyth writes a gripping story that weaves the lives of these characters into one thread. Readers are familiarized with not only the crushing oppression under Nazi rule but also the deeply imbedded culture of the region. Forsyth's love of mythology entwines itself into the undercurrent of it all. There was a perfect balance of Alenka's world; the military actions of the Nazis, the Resistance, and Allies; and the complexities of the relationships between Alenka, Teddy, and Jack. Every single character makes a sacrifice. Every single character makes choices that impact others. Every single character forces an emotion from the reader.
This is a powerful read that brings to light yet another overlooked culture that was devastated by WWII.
I received a copy of this title via NetGalley.
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