A young girl kidnapped by Nazis piques the interest of a present-day researcher in this propulsive time-swapping tale from Dobson (Catching the Wind). During WWII, Lilly Strauss Kiehl is taken from her parents in Poland at age 8, receives Aryan indoctrination in an orphanage, and is adopted by an SS agent and his wife, Hanna Tillich. But an American serviceman who had an affair with Hanna before the war comes to find his former lover as the war is ending, believes Lilly to be his biological child, rescues her, and brings her back to the U.S. In 1999, Lilly, now a retired teacher, reconnects with Ember Ellis, a former student. Ember, a history doctoral student, suffers nightmares from trauma endured in a religious cult that idolized the Nazis. Lilly's wartime recollections and other stories Ember finds of those who risked their lives to protect victims of Nazi persecution become the core of Ember's dissertation. As Ember works to piece together Lilly's spotty memories, Hanna's story emerges: she was a Nazi researcher tasked with finding historical proof of Aryan superiority. Ember makes for a believable, complicated heroine whose research into of Hanna's competing desires to help the Nazi war effort and be a loving caretaker to Lilly allow her to overcome anger over her own upbringing. Though faith elements are secondary, fans of WWII inspirationals will love this. (Mar.)

Ember Ellis needs to finish her dissertation for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, but she cannot find documentation of a German citizen who resisted the Nazis in the city of Nuremburg, which has a long and notorious history of anti-Semitism. Under the pressure of deadlines and threatening anonymous letters, Ember travels home to interview an old teacher about her grandmother. Grandmother Hanna was an archaeologist for the Third Reich and was married to an SS officer, but was still documented as a friend to Jews. Unraveling the mystery of Hanna makes Ember realize that she is unable to write an impactful thesis until she has faced her own past, which includes a childhood spent in the Idaho compound of Aryan Nation terrorists. VERDICT Ember's story interwoven with Hanna's is a search for identity unshackled from past mistakes and redeemed by love. Fans of Kristy Cambron and Rachel Hauck will devour this split-time tale with two equally strong story lines. Increased anti-Semitism in her own community of Portland, OR, inspired Dobson (Memories of Glass) to mine the past for lessons in reconciliation, forgiveness, and lasting change--resulting in a powerful message for the modern reader.--Christine Barth, Scott Cty. Lib. Syst., IA