The Girl from Guernica: A WWII Novel

In April 1937, German planes rained destruction on the city of Guernica. Sibil Helinger is caught in the middle of it, and the day becomes not only a tragedy on a great scale but also on a personal one. When her father comes to bring her and her sisters back to Germany, things only get worse as Sibil’s proximity to the tragedy of Guernica makes her a valuable propaganda piece for the Nazi Party.

Despite beginning in a fresh setting, The Girl from Guernica treads many of the same paths as other recent World War II novels about young women, from Sibil’s determination to fight the Nazis to her crush on an Allied soldier. It’s an interesting premise, but after a while, it feels dull and familiar. I would recommend this book mainly to people who either very much enjoy the genre of “plucky young woman in the European side of the war” or who have not had much exposure to it yet.

If it were only a familiar-feeling story, I would probably give it four stars. I took one off for the exposition, which was at times overly wordy and explained more than it needed to.