Robin’s Rave Reviews 2022
A five-star read! If you think you’re tired of reading WWII historical fiction, The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorris will change your mind.
The Ways We Hide is one of the top two reads for me this year. McMorris’s novel takes a new approach to WWII historical fiction through the story of an American illusionist, a woman, teaming up with British intelligence. Yes, a woman illusionist in the 1940s! Fenna Vos is recruited by Christopher Hutton to work with MI9 to develop items that will help allied POWs escape their Nazi captors. (Hutton really was part of the British intelligence and inspired the idea for Q in the James Bond series.)
McMorris uncovered tidbits in her research that may surprise you. For example, when I saw her on her book tour at a Cuyahoga County Public Library, she showed a map made of silk. She explained that it could be smuggled into the camp with a map of the area. It solved the problem of the crinkling sound of a paper map giving away their location. She also talked about board games, like Monopoly, that were altered before they were sent by fake charities to “entertain” the POWs. Currency of that country would be added into the stack of play money. Under the game board’s paper covering, the hardboard would be carved out to hold tools such as a compass or file to aid in escapes. Even playing cards were tools. See the video below to see how a deck of cards created a map of the area surrounding a POW camp.
The book has three main sections:
First, Fenna’s childhood experiences as a part of an immigrant mining family helps us understand who she is and what she values. Years before McMorris got the idea for this book, she came across the story of a 1913 Christmas Eve tragedy in Michigan’s Copper Country. A Christmas party, held on the second floor of the social hall, was organized for the children of striking miners. During the party, someone falsely shouted “fire.” The ensuing panic caused a stampede down the only stairwell out. Seventy-three people died, 59 of them children. The man who caused the panic was suspected to be an anti-union person, possibly in alliance with the mine management. McMorris kept this event tucked in the back of her mind, knowing she had to use it in a book. As she developed this novel, the story made perfect sense as a formative childhood experience for her main character, Fenna.
As a survivor of this tragedy, Fenna obsesses over escape techniques which leads to her career as an illusionist, the second part of the novel. Here we see her transition from entertainer to inventor, working with MI9.
Then, the combination of Fenna’s MI9 work and her connection to the immigrants of her Michigan childhood leads her to going into the field, the third part of the book. This mission, where she hopes to clear the name of a loved one, has her being airdropped behind enemy lines in Holland where her courage will be tested more than ever before.
From Kristina McMorris’s website:
Inspired by stunning true accounts, The Ways We Hide is a gripping story of love and loss, the wars we fight—on the battlefields and within ourselves—and the courage found in unexpected places.
A great place to order The Ways We Hide is Bookshop.org. Part of the proceeds of each purchase goes to support independent bookstores. You can even specify a bookstore to benefit from your purchase. Consider specifying MacIntosh Books on Sanibel Island, as they are recovering from Hurricane Ian. This is the link for The Ways We Hide if you’d like to support MacIntosh Books.
If you like this review, check out these! The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey (my other favorite of 2022!) and these WWII books I’ve reviewed in past years by Kristin Harmel – The Book of Lost Names, The Winemaker’s Wife, and The Forest of Vanishing Stars.
Check out these clever WWII POW tools in the videos below.
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