Historical Fiction: My Enemy, My Beloved, by Karl Vanghen

[Angela Kay]

My Enemy, My Beloved, by Karl Vanghen, is the poignant love story of two
teenage children growing up during WWII. Henrik is a German boy who was forced
into serving the German army, then was captured and became a POW of the United
States. He was brought to a POW camp in Minnesota, where he met and fell in love
with Elsa, a local farm girl. This book shows their trials and struggles to be
together, as well as demonstrates the times of a post war Germany.


I really liked the way the book went back and forth
between Henrik's and Elsa's points of view. The development of the main
characters was done well, and the love story between the two was engaging. There
were parts of the story that I felt did not seem authentic to the times, but it
is a work of fiction, so I stayed with the tale as just that.

There were
some good details and a disturbing sense of how it must have been to be a German
soldier, not necessarily a Nazi, during that time. The devastation of loss and
the struggle to go on were also entwined in this story.

There were a few
mechanical errors, but none severe enough to interrupt my enjoyment of the
story. Overall, a very good read.

On a scale of 1-4, I give this book a
3.5.

This book was published by North Star Press of St. Cloud,
Inc.
ISBN: 0-87839-384-6

Thank you to Karl Vanghen for the gift of
this book.