by Susan Elia MacNeal
Overall: Don’t think there’s anything left to write about WWII? Think again! Susan Elia MacNeal’s Mother Daughter Traitor Spy sheds some light on a relatively unexplored area: Nazi spies and activists in California during the 1940s. Veronica, who’s just graduated from college in New York, and her widowed mother Violet decide to move to the West Coast for a fresh start. Although Veronica hopes to find a job in journalism, out of desperation she takes a secretarial position for a man who’s not what he initially seems; meanwhile, Violet’s taking in sewing for some ladies with connections to the America First organization. An ad-hoc anti-Nazi group recruits the pair as spies, but it struggles to protect Veronica as she takes increasing risks to expose the growing Nazi threat on America’s own shores.
Likes: I don’t know that I’ve ever read about mother-daughter spies, and it was entertaining and heartwarming to see how the relationship between Veronica and Violet deepens. Both women and their male allies are admirable but flawed, and thus believable as well as being sympathetic; the Nazis have abhorrent views but are at times likeable, showing how they hid in plain sight. I like my historical fiction thoroughly researched, and this book did not disappoint! The excellent author’s note reveals not only the sources consulted but also the real people behind the characters. This book is an important read, as too often we forget that there were Americans who embraced Nazi ideology and even some who wanted to create a dictatorship by overthrowing FDR. The parallels between this period and our own left me with chills.
Dislikes: on occasion the dialogue crosses into what I call “speechifying,” where the characters make pronouncements to each other rather than just talking. It’s understandable; many of the characters are journalists, and if there’s a subject that might get me making a speech, it’s my anti-Nazi convictions. This is a minor critique that did not detract from my enjoyment of the book.
FYI: violence, murder, attempted murder, anti-Semitism, Nazi ideology, sexism, marital infidelity.
Liz Helfrich 