100 Pages A Day...Stephanie's Book Reviews

In Door County, Wisconsin the war has taken its toll on the farming community.  With all of the young men gone to fight and migrant workers finding better paying jobs, many of the farmers have missed their harvest.  When the opportunity arises for German Prisoners of War to work on the farms, Charlotte Christiansen does not hesitate to take up the offer for her family’s cherry farm.  When the prisoners arrive, however, she begins to have second thoughts:  will her daughter Kate be safe?  What about all of the dangerous tools around the farm?  How can she allow the enemy in her home when her son is away fighting them?   Her husband, Thomas takes an immediate liking to one of the prisoners, Karl, who speaks English.  Karl is eventually allowed in the Christiansen home to tutor Kate in math.  Karl is a good man, but not all of the Prisoners are.  When tragedy strikes on the farm, the decisions made by the family turn out to have lasting effects.

This story intrigued me, based on the real Prisoner of War Camps in Door County, Wisconsin; there is plenty of opportunity for conflict both internal and external that is displayed throughout The Cherry Harvest.  I was amazed to know that American families with boys fighting overseas really did have German prisoners helping them on their farms, like the Christiansen’s.  The internal struggle that some of the characters faced with this fact was intriguing.  I was engrossed reading about the experience that an American family faced while WWII was raging.  Charlotte faced daily decisions about how to feed her family, Kate worried about paying to go to university, and Thomas worried about how to get gasoline for the tractor.  Intense and well developed characters filled the story.  Charlotte and Kate, the women, were the central figures of the story.  With many men gone, they took on bigger roles.  Charlotte was already a strong woman, but took on more decision making roles.  Kate is just blooming into adulthood when the prisoners arrive and is left to discover a relationship on her own while her mother worries about the Prisoners and her own growing feelings for Karl.  Suspense slowly builds in the story with the distrust of the Prisoners and provides quite unexpected ending.  Overall, an engaging story of one families experience during World War II.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.