A young woman growing up in Munich as the Nazi's come to power...living in a world where you can trust no one. Natalya Petrovich, or Talya as she is called, is the daughter of Russian emigrés who have become German citizens. But where life was once good for the Petrovich family, it is turning very, very bad. On Kristallnacht Talya sees an enormous fire burning. Slipping out with her best friend Lisa she is horrified to see that a historic synagogue, part of the community for years, has burned to the ground. She meets a young good looking man who seems to be as horrified as she is. Or is he? A few years later she will run into him again, and he will change the course of her life.

Growing up Talya rails against the brutality of the Nazis but feels there is little she can do. When she finds that her closest friends are part of the secret resistance group the White Rose, she wants to do her part. But not only Talya will pay a terrible price is discovered, perhaps the ultimate price.

The Traitor in the title might be many people in the book; those who resist the Nazis are considered traitors. Those who pervert the laws that change Germany into a fascist state could be considered traitors. People who help other people to survive, or to escape are considered traitors. But who is the real traitor? V.S. Alexander's book is through provoking, suspenseful, and causes us to ask ourselves: what would we do in Talya's situation?

The Traitor is a very interesting and thought provoking read, from the point of view of a German woman of Russian descent. Its full of nuance and complex questions, and definitely worth the read.

As I have read other books written by this author, I admit to keeping an eye for books by them. Though I have to say it was the book cover that initially caught my eye. I have seen two different covers for this title and do like both. Both covers could easily be taken from scenes within the book. After noticing the cover, I read the blurb and knew it was a book I had to read. I find the World War Two era fascinating and humbling and think it is a period in history that should never, ever be forgotten.
The book is historical fiction, though it is based on real events.

This book is slightly different to others I have read set in this period of history as it is from the point of view of someone living in Germany. Someone who before Hitler came into power with his different ideas on genetics and the human race would have been considered a German. The more I read from this point of view the more interested in it I become.

The book tells of Natalya’s experience of Kristallnacht, which occurred on the night of 9th November, 1938 and translates into English as The Night of Broken Glass. Natalya and her friend go out on a shopping errand for Mary and see the remnants of a burnt synagogue and hear soldiers laughing and joking about the fact that the Rabbi had attempted to rescue the Tora scrolls and other items from the burning building. This is also the first time that Natalya’s life crosses paths with that of a man who will become an important part of her life. He approaches Natalya and Lisa and explains what has happened, the building has been set on fire and that the Rabbi has been sent to Dachau. The girls move on passing the broken glass of a Jewish owned pharmacy where her father works. When Peter notices his daughter and her friend, he tells them the streets are not safe and that they should return home immediately.

The main character and just one of my favourite characters in this book is sixteen year old, Natalya Petrovich who lives with her parents, Mary and Peter. They have already fled Russia and now live in Germany. Natalya volunteers to work as a nursing volunteer at the Russian Front with the German Red Cross where the fighting is and soon see’s the human cost of Hitler’s war. It’s whilst caring for soldiers that she meets those that end up introducing her to the White Rose. It is Alex that brings her into his social circle and takes her to see a local woman called Sina, with her children Dimitra and Anna, where they drink, sing and talk of their distrust and displeasure with Hitler. Natalya witnesses Sina, Dimitri and Anna rounded up with other people and see’s what happens to them, a vision which plagues her even after she leaves the area and is back home with her family.

This book tells the tale of a very real group of German teenagers and how they reacted to the changing world around them. The way they form a society of like-minded people to resist what is happening around them and become widely known as the White Rose. The White Rose write and distribute letters around Germany using the train system to travel around the area and drop the leaflets at addresses and shops etc, where they hope it will give others courage to make some sort of stand or resist what is happening around them in any way be it in a small or larger way. These missions become riskier, with the members being followed and the invitation to new people to join the group. The main, former members of the group are brother and sister, Hans and Sophie.

Natalya becomes braver and more determined to join in any act of resistance she can. She takes part in the leaflet drops with her childhood best friend Lisa Kolbe and then later in the book joins Alex, Hans and others in spraying and writing graffiti on local buildings.

The book goes on to reveal how Natalya becomes acquainted with the other members of the White Rose, how she becomes an active member. How the White Rose members are captured, tortured and some killed. Others that the Nazi’s hope to manipulate into revealing more about the resistance movement are sent to German prisons. Herr Garrett Adler, the man she first met the morning after the night of glass turns out to be a Nazi party member and he tells Natalya he was instrumental in her not being sentenced to death, and that he keeps an eye on her parents. He tries to blackmail Natalya into revealing anything she knows about other rebels by threatening her parents and when she doesn’t reveal anything Natalya is sent on to a mental asylum where medical procedures and experiments are done on the patients by one of the Doctors. Initially things seem like they are going to improve for Natalya when she comes across a Doctor there that is also part of the resistance movement and helps her and another patient plan an escape. Unfortunately, someone learns about the Doctor being a resistance member and he and the other patient are arrested and taken away. When the other Doctor taking Natalya to be sterilised as her kind should not be allowed to breed! Natalya knows she has to escape as soon as possible or she may die in this asylum. It’s when she escapes that she meets Greta who helps her disguise herself, create a new person to be and ends up being the one that introduces Natalya to the man who she eventually comes to love. Then just when you think Natalya has gone through the worst life can throw at her and she has a chance at happiness with a man with similar values as hers Herr Garett Adler rears his head again making it known to Natalya that though she now goes by a different name, and has changed her looks that he knows who she really is and can take everything away from her whenever he wants.

Then just when you think Natalya has gone through the worst life can throw at her and she has a chance at happiness with a man with similar values as hers Herr Garett Adler rears his head again making it known to Natalya that though she now goes by a different name, and has changed her looks that he knows who she really is and can take everything away from her whenever he wants.

It seems odd and wrong to have “favourite” character when the people depicted in this book are not totally fictional. Instead I will share with you the characters who represented real people whom I admired. Firstly, I admired both Natalya and Lisa “normal” everyday girls from normal families taking trips with highly dangerous reading material hidden in their luggage and clothes.
Though Greta seemed to lack emotions at time when she was dealing with Natalya you understand that she has to. If she became overly attached to those she is helping and knew their stories and she could inadvertently reveal something endangering themselves and others. Greta treats the risks she is taking in a very business like way. Even telling Natalya she will have to move on quickly if someone more important comes along and needs her help.

I went through a whole range of emotions whilst reading this book. I think it was made all the more poignant by the fact it is actually based on actual real events. It shows how, many people taking part in small acts of resistance and defiance can actually come together and eventually make a difference. Some of these characters do represent real people such as the founders of the White Rose, Sophie and Hans. Obviously, there were others in their organisation and the author has used fabricated names. This era of history is a very important one, and should never be forgotten. Many died because of one man and his new ideas of what he thought the future should look like. He sent millions to their death either in gas chambers, or worked to death. There were survivors who are now sadly dying of old age or complications due to what they suffered during this time. People rarely had any sort of happy ending, they lost family and friends. Even after liberation they had to rebuild their lives, search for family and friends and start to rebuild their own lives and what was left of their country all as well as coming to terms with what had happened.

At the very end of the book the author lists other books about Sophie, Hans and the White Rose as well as listing a film that was made about Sophie.

My immediate thoughts upon finishing this book were that the book was an
amazing fictional take on a real organisation the White Rose who existed in Nazi Germany.
To sum up this book gives a different point view of World War 2, in that it concentrates on Germans and how they were treated by the Nazi party in their own country. This book deals with another facet of an awful era in history that should never, ever be forgotten.

I have to add I didn't think I would ever love a book from this point of view as much as I did The Taster, also by this author but I adored this one just as much.

The White Rose is a pamphlet written by university students to try to awaken the German people to the horror of nazism. Tragically the White Rose drips red as the tragic end unfolds. All is not lost when good people stand up against evil.

The Traitor by V.S. Alexander is the story of the White Rose Resistance movement in Germany during WWII. The author chose to tell this story from the viewpoint of a fictional character that was part of the White Rose, rather than making Sophie or Hans Scholl the main character. He explains why in his author's notes if you are interested, but let me say that his approached works well, and I respect his reasons for doing it. The Traitor is well researched and written. It doesn't hold back on any aspect of the events surrounding these brave people. I appreciated the honest look into history. Thank you #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and give my honest review on #TheTraitor.

(***Please note that this review may contain spoilers***)

Before I jump into my thoughts about The Traitor, I wanted to start with a quote from the author's notes. "I can safely say that fewer Europeans outside of Germany, and most Americans, particularly young people, know little of the resistance movements like the White Rose and the Red Orchestra. Their only exposure may be a mention in passing during a history class on World War II. This is another reason I wanted to write The Traitor. We should never forget". (The Traitor, V.S. Alexander)

For almost a year, I've been reading various historical fiction books surrounding WWII because I wanted to continue learning about this time in history. Like the author said, "we should never forget" and books like The Traitor and all the others I've read are making sure we know about the people that resisted Hitler's evil and the horrors of that terrible time in history. We should never forget so that we never see this again in our future.

The Traitor is based on a real group called the White Rose who "composed four leaflets, which exposed and denounced Nazi and SS atrocities, including the extermination of Jews and Polish nobility, and called for resistance to the regime" (History).

Rather than focus on the real life founders and participants of this group, V.S. Alexander created fictional characters that could have been really part of the group. I thought this was a great path for the author to go because there's more that he could do with the characters and there's less pressure to be historically accurate with real individuals. However, he still included the founders, Hans and Sophie Scholl as well as other prominent members of the group, but made sure to be true to who they were.

This book was different from the books I've read recently, as it focused solely on the perspective of one person, Natalya Petrovich. Other books usually include perspectives from several different people. I liked that I was able to follow just one person's thoughts and experiences throughout the entire war. We follow Natalya through seeing her town (Munich) destroy jewish establishments all the way to the American liberation of the POW prison she was working at.

V.S. Alexander really captured the horrific circumstances, torture, manipulation, blackmail, and deceitfulness that Natalya faced after she was arrested for being a member of the White Rose. She was consider a traitor to the Reich and every day could have been her last. She spent years in prison, was sent to an asylum, and escaped with the help of others who resisted Hitler's rule. There was a lot of death along the way and Natalya lost a lot of people, but she didn't lose hope and kept on going despite everything she'd been through. She was a very brave woman and I suspect there were many women like her that actually existed during WWII.

Overall, this book was amazing. I couldn't put it down and would highly recommend reading it regardless of the genres you do or don't read. It's a great story about resilience in the face of death and uncertainty. It's a look into another piece of history that you may not know enough about. Most importantly, it highlights the evil that plagued its time and how people overcame it and fought against it. I look forward to reading more from this author and happy I discovered him on NetGalley.

V.S. Alexander does an excellent job of bringing the lesser known stories of WWII to readers. I absolutely LOVED “The Taster,” and was thrilled to get the chance to read an ARC of “The Traitor.”

The Traitor is inspired by The White Rose, a resistance group in Germany led by young adults. The story is told through Natalya, who was born in Russia but lives her life primarily in Germany. She hopes that by joining the resistance group, she can do her part in fighting against the horrors unfolding in Germany.

Two things I love are learning and entertainment. I am thrilled any time I can combine those two passions. V.S. Alexander’s books have become some of my favorites because they shed light on historical topics through likable characters.

Thank you, NetGalley, Kensington Books, and V.S. Alexander for the ARC of The Traitor in exchange for my honest review.

White Rose was a peaceful resistance group in the Third Reich led by a group of students including siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl at the University of Munich. The group mailed leaflets to random people picked from the phone book, appealing to the “blindness of German people” and spreading “words of resistance, struggle, and hope.” They were mailed from different cities to different cities to “allay suspicion from the home city of Munich and to make the group seem much larger than it was.”

Munich, 1938. Sixteen year old Natalya Pertovich notices her Jewish friends disappearing from her life, hiding in their houses to avoid any attention.

1942. Numb to the horrors of war and feeling powerless, she then takes a step and heads to the Russian Front as a volunteer nurse for German Red Cross. There she makes friends, who back in Germany introduce her to the White Rose movement. “Everyone in the White Rose was chosen for their intelligence, their convictions, and their politics…” After witnessing horrors of war on the Russian front, she joins the movement.

She gets involved in writing the leaflets, expressing about the oppressive government, the strangling of creativity of artists, the disappearance of originality and individuality, the death of the soul of the German People. “The Spirit of Germany has been crushed under a foul dictator’s iron boot.”

As Sophie’s and Hans’ behavior become more and more brazen, they put themselves in danger of being discovered. Ultimately leading to their arrest and putting others in danger’s path.

The character of Natalya exemplifies a strong woman. A woman who stands behind her convictions. Despite Hitler’s regime and his teachings on Aryan supremacy, she had “an urge to be free, to be my own woman, a nascent rebelliousness.”

Drawing atmosphere of the time period by bringing the pressure put on students at university, which wasn’t a place for a woman. She should be by her husband and reproducing Aryan race. “Women should present a child every year to the Fuhrer.” By clashes between students and SS officers. By the restrictions of free movement, which made distribution of leaflets very dangerous.

The story of Hans and Sophie is very touching. Sophie was a young student, who was mature beyond her years. “Child, but one of immense maturity and unyielding courage.”

This beautifully imagined and poignant story pays honors to those young students and professors whose lives were cut short, who took a stand and fought peacefully for humanity, for what was right.

This story doesn’t bring the graphic atrocities of WWII. It is informative and focuses on the lives of those who took part in the White Rose, with profoundly deeply moving characters and surroundings reflecting the time of war-torn places.

“We had stood against tyranny when few did and many more should have taken a stand.”

P.S. Also by this author, highly recommend The Taster – Hitler’s obsession with being poisoned.

The Traitor by V.S. Alexander is a great historical fiction taking place overall in Munich, Germany 1942 and focussing on the real-life resistance group, The White Rose, that comprised of young adult German citizens that tried to do their part in fighting the brutality of the Nazi regime.

The book focusses on Natalya, a German citizen that was born in Russia. Through living amongst the changes and atrocities, she is drawn into the resistance group of like-minded individuals in hopes that they can help fight back.

I enjoyed the plot, the pace, and the suspense. There were definitely some nail-biting moments that had me glued to my seat, yet antsy to turn the page again and again to find out what would happen next! I love plots that take a bite out of real people, groups, or situations and creates a fantastic and believable tale that enthralls me from beginning to end.

As far as characters go, Natalya was ok, but not as intriguing or magnetic as many I have read lately. However, she was still like able and did not detract from the book itself.

I have read about the White Rose resistance group a few times, and it was great to dive into a book that shed more light on how it would have felt being part of the group itself.

4/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.

I felt like the presentation of Natalya's choices and struggles felt realistic. I really enjoyed the premise of the book and enjoyed reading about the White Rose, a subject that isn't often written about in WW2 books; OVerall, I thought that this book was a decent read but didn't blow my mind or feel particularly surprising or impactful.

"The Traitor" does a fine job of evoking life in Munich during the Nazi regime and of introducing readers to the White Rose, a little-known resistance movement organized by young Germans. The pace was great; there were several times when the suspense built beautifully, to the point I almost missed my subway stop while reading. Unfortunately, the narrator/protagonist was one of the duller characters not just of the book but of first-person narrators I've read during my lifetime. As a result, I was less invested in the story and at times bored by the narrative. What's more, the denouement was a bit melodramatic for my tastes.

Thank you, NetGalley and Kensington Books, for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Traitor is inspired by the Germany's White Rose, a group of people, mostly in their early twenties, who resisted the Nazis from within Germany. The group was uncovered, and the majority of its members were executed. Rather than writing a fictionalized narrative of one of the White Rose members, V.S. Alexander invents one—Natalya, a Russian who immigrated to Germany as a child with her parents, in order to escape the Stalin regime in the Soviet Union.

Natalya begins the novel as a relatively naive volunteer, returning for the first time to the Soviet Union as a nurse affiliated with the German Army. While there, she befriends a local woman and her children. At this time, her first questions about the ethics of the Nazi regime arise. When Natalya returns home, she gradually finds herself among others asking similar questions and the novel moves from that point through to the conquest/liberation of Germany by the allied forces.

I found the novel to be highly engaging and not, as it might have been, sensationalistic. Natalya is sincere in her opposition the the Nazis, but none of her decision-making is easy. Reading this novel gives some small taste of what it might be like to make such difficult, potentially life-threatening choices and also gives an excellent overview of WWII as it was experienced in Munich. The Traitor offers reading time well-spent.

I received an electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions are my own.