Review: For Such a Time by Kate Breslin

I have read a great many books that I have enjoyed.  Sometimes, however, a book stands out from the rest and I consider it exceptional.  The most recent book to do that is For Such a Time by Kate Breslin.  As I understand it, this is her debut novel.  This novel takes place during the Second World War in Czechoslovakia.  This is not even my favorite time period for book settings.  It’s a very desperate time and not a place I like to escape to for my reading pleasure.  However, when given the opportunity to review this book the synopsis intrigued me.  An Esther retelling during World War Two sounded too interesting to pass up.  I am so glad I didn’t.  The author started every chapter with a verse from Esther.  Now it did not necessarily follow the timeline of the Biblical Esther, but each verse at the beginning gave us just a hint of what we might expect to read in a particular chapter.  I absolutely enjoyed the unfolding of the Esther story.  It was at times dark and sad and a bit scary as I did not know how these characters were going to make it.  I was so very curious on how she was going to make me care about her “hero” who was the SS Kommandant in charge of the transit camp.  I also wanted to see how Hadassah/Stella was going to grow and care about her captor Aric.  There is a love story and a very good one at that.  It almost has a Beauty and the Beast feel about it.   I highly recommend this book.  It is one of my favorites of 2014 and I look forward to more novels by Kate Breslin.  I received this book from The Book Club Network, Inc. (TBCN) and the opinions are my own.