A special thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Canada MIRA for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The story opens with a 90-year-old woman visiting a museum exhibit that transports her back in time to war-torn Europe in 1944.

After becoming pregnant by a Nazi solder at sixteen, Noa is forced to give up her baby and shunned by her family. She lives above a rail station that she cleans in order to earn her keep. A boxcar with dozens of Jewish infants stops at her station en route to its final destination, a concentration camp. Noa, in a moment of weakness and thinking of the child she lost, grabs one of the babies and flees into the snowy night.

Astrid is a Jewish wife of a German officer that has been forced to divorce her. She has no papers and has lost the whereabouts of her family. Having grown up in the circus, she is able to fall back on her professional aerialist training and joins a German circus that will keep her secret.
Noa is rescued by a member of the same travelling circus that provided refuge for Astrid fourteen months earlier. In order to blend in, Noa must learn to be part of the flying trapeze act. The head aerialist, Astrid, is her teacher and mentor after finding herself demoted to catching the aerialist. The two women are thrown together–rivals at first, Noa and Astrid form an unlikely pairing and unbreakable bond.

Jenoff’s writing is superb, and she segues between voices/perspectives and time. Her relationships and struggles are believable with the exception of Noa and Luc. Their connection seems to have happen too quickly and felt forced. I didn’t believe that Noa would develop feelings as fast as she did and cause her to act so impulsively. This is where the book fell apart, Luc was not as developed as the other characters which made Noa’s attraction to him seem contrived.

Described as Water for Elephants meets The Nightingale, I was hesitant to request this book because both titles so unforgettable. As I’ve said before, this is often a marketing ploy that leads to disappointment for the reader. That being said, historical fiction is one of my go-to genres of late and I was intrigued. This book is a solid 3.5 stars for me, definitely not the same 5 star calibre as either book it claims to be a mash-up of, but a good read nonetheless.

There is one image in this book that will break your heart and that is the image of the train. There are thousands of books about the impact of World War II on civilians, soldiers, and Jews and generally, I learn something new with each one I read. But this one. This one was different. This one put an image in my mind that I never thought of before.
The story is told through Noa, a young girl who was banished from her family when she got pregnant with a German soldier. Her child was taken from her when she delivered but she couldn’t go home. To survive, she lived in and cleaned a train station. I’m not going to tell you about that part. It’s important to the story. It’s the reason for the story.
Noa escapes to a German circus and in order to be hidden and survive there, she must learn the trapeze. Astrid is already the lead trapeze artist and isn’t too keen on having to teach someone in two weeks what she has learned over her entire life. But if Noa is to be able to be hidden, she must earn her keep and fool anyone looking for Jews.
Because Noa takes her role seriously and was a gymnast in her other life, she does manage to learn and conquer her fear so far above ground and earns Astrid’s respect. The two become friends and their lives become each others.
Really, I didn’t realize that entertainments like circuses were still viable during the war in Europe. It wasn’t easy to survive and many didn’t, but they did exist. And I’ll not get that image of the train out of my head anytime soon. Read this one.

A powerful story, starting with research the author did at Yad Vashem, basing the story on the train of Unknown children, as well as a circus that rescued Jews and hid them. Noa, a young Dutch woman, finds herself alone after her family kicks her out. Not wanting to reveal any spoilers to the story, suffice it to say she begins a deep friendship with Astrid, a Jewish trapeze artist hiding in a circus after ordered to leave her German husband. My favorite of this author's many books, you will become deeply absorbed in this fascinating story. A must read. Thank you to Netgalley for the preview.

If you have never read a book by this author, than you don't know what you are missing out on. Most of the books from this author are written in the WWII era. This is how I first came to discover this author as I am a fan of this era. I have yet to find a book that I didn't like from this author.

I was drawn to this book because of the storyline, the author, and the fact that this book was referenced to Water for Elephants. Another book that I enjoyed reading. This book does live up to its hype. Everything from the era, to the characters, and the circus was amazing.

Herr Neuhoff is the ring master. He is the one that brings everyone together by allowing them to find sanctuary in his circus and become a family. Instantly, I connected with both Astrid and Noa. They may have come from different situations and age differences but they were kindred souls. Although, when I talk about these women, I can't do so without mentioning the men in their lives...Peter, Theo, and Luc. Both women gave their hearts to the men and they accepted them with care. The ending was a wonderful one. The Orphan's Tale will leave you breathless as you are transported back in time with a strong storyline and equally strong characters!

This is a wonderful book about friendship, love and sacrifice. It takes place during WWII and shows that even in the darkest times there is hope. I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

A Dutch girl Noa is exiled by her family after getting pregnant by a Nazi and gives it up. She then winds up stealing a Jewish baby out of a railroad car. Astrid is a Jew in hiding with the German circus. The two wind up together as Noa needs a place to stay and they start off as enemies and ultimately wind up saving each other. I enjoyed the story overall but it fell flat in some cases. There often seemed to be no reason for some of the character’s actions other than just to move the plot forward.

In a market flooded with books set in World War II, it was refreshing to see a different approach. With so many losses, so much loneliness, neediness and fear, I was heartened by the people in the circus who stood in for and became family.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This is one of those books that received such high praise, yet it just didn’t make the cut for me. It started out well, and I must tell you the beginning had an absolutely horrifying scene in it that kept me up at night (which I won’t divulge in order not to spoil it). However, the rest of the book just didn’t deliver. Not that I was looking for horrifying scenes, but I was looking for character development to explain what made these women strong. However, this book lacked that as well as any intrigue in the storyline.

The treatment of the main characters, Astrid and Noa, was superficial. They never really liked each other, then suddenly they feel great love and affection for each other. It was just implausible. Noa is caring for a baby which she professes to love, but a lot of her actions don’t seem to fit with that love. Her love interest with Luc was just so silly, I couldn’t take it seriously.

The book also spends so much time on Noa’s learning the trapeze/aerialist act. While I understand the book is about how the circus was able to shelter Jews, there was too much time spent on the mechanics of her learning. I expected more background and development of the supporting characters beyond the few lines that each had.

Unfortunately, the book was a disappointment on many levels.

The most accurate word for me to describe this book is: Real. The stories, the feelings, the ending. Just, everything felt so real and raw and I absolutely loved that, albeit it ultimately crushed me.
There is no arguing it, the writing in this is beautiful. It is so simple yet hold a lot of emotion and meaning to it, weaving perfectly between 2 POVs that were so similar yet very different from each other. Just so you know, this is a slow book, but not in a bad way, it was a really nice change and just the pace it needed, though if you don't like books like that you might not like this one because it tends to get pretty repetitive as the characters settle into a routine.
The Orphan's Tale (which is a brilliant title for this book) starts with a prologue of which I didn't see the added value at first, actually I didn't see it throughout the whole novel, but then as I reached the epilogue everything made perfect sense and it was such a clever thing to do, starting the novel that way. The epilogue's events come right after the prologue's so it not only flows smoothly but it also ties the loose ends and gives each character an ending.
What first made me want to read this book is the circus element during the WWII period, it was such a unique concept and I expected it somehow to have some magic in the midst of all the horror (I don't know how) BUT it wasn't, it leaned more towards the technical aspects of the circus (especially the trapeze) as well as the general life in it, it being not as exciting as everyone expects to be. Which was as interesting in my opinion, there was a routine, some animosities, etc... What was most peculiar about the circus element, it that once people come to watch the show, time freezes and they forget about the war for a little while, it's like it is the last thread of hope everyone hold on to. Even the performers.
As I said in the beginning, this is a heartbreaking story, as one is expected to be when it is set during WWII in France (and a bit of it in Germany). There is no light at the end of the tunnel, at least not for all characters, things get so brutal and harsh that some of the characters lose all hope and do some drastic things. And the worst of it is that it is inspired by real events, the author drew pilars of the story from things that happened to actual people, which she had found while doing her research. One last thing that I really appreciated about this book is that the author made sure to remind us that even in time of war people die of other things than the war, which I personally tend to forget because the war just consumes everything.
Now onto the characters. But to be honest, I don't feel comfortable calling them that because they felt so much like real people that I literally felt uneasy saying they were characters. My brain works in weird ways. I know.
Noa is a 17 year old girl who is "perfect" by the Reich's standard but after becoming pregnant she's chassed out of her parents' house and has to survive on her own. What first stricked me about her is how brave and tenacious she is, having trouble feeding herself and still saving a little baby from the Nazis' claws. And as the story progresses, she only grows more mature and confident. The thing that bothered me in the whole book is how her romance with french guy Luc (whose name is Lucienne which is a french girl's name, oups. Lucien would be the boy equivalent) was introduced, it was so rushed and felt so out of place especially when after only two meetings they confessed their love to each other.
Astrid is the older one. She's a jewish woman in her late 30s whom the war hit hard, she lost everything because of it and the circus was her shelter. She is such a resilient woman and I truely admired her for all she was. She seems like a cold-hearted, harsh person at first but as the story progresses we get to know her and how big her heart is.Now, HER relationship with Peter I absolutely adored. Giving the precariousness of their situation, they lived in the moment because there was no future to be had in that period, which really showed in their interactions and intimate moments. It was passion mixed with fear and urgency.
I LOVED Astrid and Noa's relationship. It was very improbable because of their rocky start as well as the age gap. They came to be friends, a family to each other and at the end everything they had left in the world. Astrid became like a mother figure to Noa, soothing her, chasticising her, baring with her endless amount of questions.
I truely loved this book and I would recommend it to any Historical Fiction lover like myself who wants to learn a little more about the WWII time period while diving into a well executed, unique premise.

The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff is a historical story. I loved it and was totally immersed in the action.
The Orphan's Tale is a story of courage, of love, of friendship, of a fight to survive in Hitler's Germany. The leading ladies, Noa and Astrid are both strong personalities with a sense of loyalty and a will to survive. The novel tells of their rivalry, their friendship and their love.
The circus community "presents everything Hitler hates: the freaks and the oddities." The circus is also a family, showing more loyalty than some blood ties. Their reliance on each other is a daily necessity, not only in life but also in some of the acts. The trapeze artists have to work with tremendous trust - as one lets go, they are trusting the other to catch them.
There is the theme of values. Values in Nazi Germany were distorted. This ties in with the theme of trust. Who can one trust when one's life is at stake? People were naturally suspicious of others. Trust bonds once formed were unbreakable.
The Orphan's Tale was a cracking story of a time we hope never to be repeated. People were pushed to their limits. Pam Jenoff has woven the story into the reader's conscience. It is impossible to read the book without feeling outraged at the behaviour of fellow humans. The novel has its roots in the truth - some of the events portrayed were not fiction. It was a cracking story and my first by Pam Jenoff but I shall be hunting out more by her.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

I have loved several of Pam Jenoff's books. I didn't like this one a whole lot.

The image of babies tossed into a boxcar haunts me. I can't help but imagine my own baby in there, terrified, abandoned, freezing, dying. It tears my heart to pieces. To think this really happened, amidst all the other horrifying tragedies of the Holocaust. . .

I found it really hard to get into the stories of Noa and Astrid. I don't know what it is. I never really grew to love any of the characters here. The romance between Noa and Luc seemed very haphazard. We never had the time to decide if Luc really was a good guy, or one of the collaborators. Even poor Theo seemed more like a prop then a person.

And the big "last secret" at the end, I found to be very underwhelming. The readers know the secret already, and having this be the big reveal in the epilogue felt like a letdown.

I will absolutely continue to read Pam Jenoff's books in the future, but the characters here just didn't connect with me. I will reread this eventually, and see if I feel differently.

Sometimes books are perfectly timed for you to read. That was the case with The Orphan's Tale. Having recently read The Zookeeper's Wife and hearing the news that Barnum & Bailey were shutting down, a book about a circus hiding Jews during WWII seemed like kismet. This book lived up to everything you might want in a historical fiction. The forced joy and merriment of the circus provided a sharp contrast to the horrors of the war. At the same time Ms. Jenoff portrayed several who suffered at the hands of the Germans in a raw and open manner. Even the "bad guys" were shown to be human and nuanced. The book was so well written the reader can feel themselves hiding in the dirty straw or fighting off an attack. I will say, there were a couple moments that I felt the book went a bit too far into the romantic/silly female area and felt a bit unrealistic compared to the rest of the book. But those moments were very few and did little to distract from the overall tone of the book.

The novel starts with a prologue that ends symmetrically with the epilogue. Astrid, an old Jewish woman, is drawn to a museum exhibition presenting two hundred years of circus life. From that moment, going back to the war years, we learn about her life before the war broke out, about her marriage to a German officer and the end of their marriage, about her life after she joined the circus that saved her life. Mingled with her, we learn about Noa, a young Dutch girl who was shunned away by her family because of her mistakes. She too joins the circus Astrid works at, but with a child in tow, a child who is not her own. Adding a colorful range of characters, the circus life presents unexpected layers of the story.

Told from a first person perspective, alternating between Astrid and Noa's perspectives, the novel reads very personally, and that is a big plus. The novel doesn't have any heart gripping moments that end badly, it all runs smoothly. However, from the first pages you are breathless as the two women's separate stories are told - there seems at all times something bad about to befall them. The whole novel is a long, heart rending moment. The seriousness of the novel and the curiosity to learn what happens next is what keeps you turning page after page.

What was somewhat irking was how the author kept repeating some of the same words and kept pointing to their past hardships and their present and future uncertainties in a steady rhythm. Remembering the time the story was set in, year 1945, it is understandable. It was just something that drew my attention as I read the novel. Maybe because I read it in big chunks at a time, this made it more visible.

One thing that always disappoints is when I guess the ending. And make no mistake, I always try to guess the ending. However, this novel did not end as I expected. The Prologue did not give me any hints as who of the two women was speaking, so the beginning offered no clue. At one point towards the end I was sure I knew how it will end. I was pleasantly surprised when it did not, in fact, end as I anticipated. Another plus for the book!

I didn't have very high expectations when I started reading the novel, but every expectation was surpassed in a great way. I learned about the circus life during the Second World War, about the existence of great Jewish circus families, and about the double purpose of large circuses: to entertain and to shelter endangered runaways.

For me, the hallmark of a good book is a desperate desire to reach the end. The Orphan’s Tale was a very good book and I became deeply invested in finding out how it would conclude.

When Noa’s family finds out that the German soldier who had been lodging with them had seduced her and left her pregnant, they throw her out. Young and essentially penniless, she makes her way to a Lebensborn home and gives birth to a dark haired, dark eyed boy. She is stunned; a Dutch beauty with porcelain skin, platinum hair and sky blue eyes it seems unreal that she and an Aryan soldier would have such a child. It also doesn’t matter. While Noa immediately loves the child and wants to keep it, the baby is snatched from her arms and a few short days later Noa is put out of the home, left to fend for herself.

She does so by cleaning at a train station for a pittance, sleeping in a closet there when she isn’t working. One night while exhaustedly dragging a broom around the steps, she hears a strange sound coming from a railcar; what she finds when she investigates stuns her. Hundreds of babies have been left in the cold, in a ramshackle wooden box car. Most have already died, some are clearly just moments away from expiration but one young boy seems to have been spared the worst of it. Snatching him up, she races into the night before the guards can catch her. She and the child seem destined to die in the blizzard that aids their escape but a miracle happens: A circus clown finds them freezing in the woods and takes them back to the performer’s winter camp, where Noa and the newly christened Theo find a refuge from the war raging around them.

The title of the book is deceptive. This is not really a story about the orphan but about the two women who care for him: Noa, whose generous heart constantly leads her to sacrifice herself for others and Astrid, a Jewish trapeze artist who trains Noa to become a part of the circus. It’s an absolutely terrific account of female friendship, about survival in tough times and about the practical nature of love in war. What makes it especially heart-touchingly beautiful are the quiet, mesmerizing ordinary heroes who people its text. From Noa, who tries to save everyone she encounters to Peter, who defies the Nazi regime through subtle mockery, to Herr Neuhoff, who saves lives by hiding Jewish performers and workers in plain sight. I fell in love with all of them, worried endlessly about what their fates would be in such terrible circumstances and cried and celebrated with them as they lived and loved in the toughest of circumstances.

This isn’t the cheeriest tale but it does, ultimately, have a happy ending for some of the characters and is a reminder that a life well lived is more important than living a poor one for a long time. I am happy to recommend this novel to anyone who likes a good book.

For me, historical fiction is at its most compelling when true narratives of remarkable and unimaginable things are researched well and woven into the fictional story. Pam Jenoff's story of a circus operating throughout WWII and sheltering Jews as they traveled from country to country is one such compelling story and I'm so glad to have been given the opportunity to read it.

I was thoroughly absorbed into the story from the prologue on, and found myself staying up way too late as the POVs switched in between the two female MCs, desperate to get back to the others story. Both Noa and Astrid were believeable in all of their motives and I found my heart breaking for the millions of women during WWII that were forced to make similar decisions as those of these two women.

My only complaint, similar to one I had with The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (a book that The Orphan'a Tale is compared to), is that one of the romances felt rushed and pushed the edge of believability. However, I will grant that during 1940s war torn Europe love might come a bit faster for people as they see their mortality laid out before them. That being said, the other romance was more than believable and very moving.

All in all, if you're looking for a WWII era historical fiction reminiscent of The Nightingale or Water For Elephants, I definitely recommend this book!

Over the past couple of years I have developed a fondness for historical fiction. I was never a fan of history in school because it seemed to be mostly the memorization of names and dates. I thought it was boring. Historical fiction has allowed me to learn about past events in a fun, exciting, and interesting way. I wish my history teachers had incorporated books into their lesson plans.

The Orphan's Tale is a story set in 1940s Germany and France during World War II. Ever since reading The Nightingale I have found this time and setting to be very intriguing. This book took a unique approach to this period in history by focusing on life in the circus. I was never much of a fan of the circus even though I have never visited one, but books like this as well as The Night Circus and Water for Elephants make me want to go.

The main character development in this story was very good. You get a deep sense of the hurt and pain each of them has had to endure. I do particularly like books that are told from multiple points of view. I think it adds an extra element to the story that would otherwise be missing. It helps you understand actions and reactions from both sides.

This story was well on its way to being rated at least four out of five stars, but the ending really fell flat for me. It almost felt like the author just wanted to be done with it and mashed a bunch of events together. I didn't get the roller coaster of emotions I typically want from historical fiction. Overall, it was a good read.

I would like to thank Pam Jenoff, Harlequin, and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

An enjoyable read with memorable characters. I enjoyed the circus aspect

I have read scores of books about WWII but this story about a German circus that was hiding Jews who were performing acts in the circus was an aspect of the war that I had never heard about. I was intrigued when I requested the book and I was not disappointed.

There are two main characters as you know by reading the blurb. Noa is a young woman who became pregnant by a Nazi soldier and upon finding out her father banned her from the house. Young and pregnant with no place to go, she finally found a home for unwed mothers but has to give her baby up as soon as he is born. Afterward she flees to the city and finds a job at a train station. She is repulsed when she finds a train car full of babies, many of whom are dead and she manages to rescue one of them, a little boy, and runs with him in her arms not knowing where she is headed. After falling from exhaustion and hypothermia in the snow she is rescued by someone from a traveling circus.

The other main character is Astrid who is from a circus family and was a well known aerialist. She left her family to marry a Nazi soldier. When the Nazi’s begin their quest to rid Germany of all Jews, Astrid’s husband renounces her and makes her leave their home. With nowhere else to go she heads for the traveling circus and the kind owner who takes her in and she quickly regains her skills as an aerialist.

The two women come to depend on each other, they both have secrets, and Astrid is given the job of training Noa to accompany her in the aerialist performance.

There are many other characters that I wish would have been more well developed, notably, Peter who takes Astrid “under his wing” and falls in love with her. There are other performers who all help to hide Astrid and Noa when the SS come looking for any Jews that may be hiding in the circus. Herr Nuhoff is the owner of the circus and we learn of how much he has done to hide the Jewish performers, often by means of bribery. He comes across as a father figure to many of the performers.

This is a very character driven novel but I learned a lot about how important circuses were in Germany before the war and how slowly they were all dismantled by the Nazi’s. The circus is like a large family with all members needed to keep the circus going, from the performers, to the cooks, the workers who were constantly putting up and taking down tents and equipment, animal handlers and ringmaster. There was enough going on throughout the story to keep me interested and the last quarter of the book is very intense.

I would recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction and just anyone who wants to read a great story. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this great novel.

Will also post to Amazon upon publication.

The Orphan’s Tale is a wonderful telling of two heroic women, each with a secret, both hiding in a German circus. As the past couple years have brought a plethora of titles with the world “girl” in them, I’ve been on a roll with “orphan” in the title. I get why this book has this title, however for me, the book is so much more than what the title represents. This comment alone could be discussed at length in a book club.

This story, based on similar situations that the author researched about righteous gentiles, was quite thought provoking. Hiding Jews in a circus was genius and equally risky as the author portrays quite well. This novel is punctuated with much loss and great hope.

I enjoyed the dual back-stories of the two main protagonists and how their relationship grew into a familial one, sometimes sister to sister and sometimes mother to child. Family was lost and found in the most unlikely of people and places during the war as this novel explores at many levels.

The love interests that both women found while in the circus were a little far fetched for me but added a good dollop of romance to the plot. In general, I’m not a fan of the circus but Jenoff did a wonderful job detailing the hard work and team atmosphere that is required for a circus to succeed. I really appreciated the detailed explanation of what it takes to be an aerialist. It was fascinating and I found myself online researching these types of circuses.

Quotes I liked:

I remained haunted by the world I had always wanted to escape.”

http://www.goodbookfairy.com/the-orphans-tale-by-pam-jenoff/