The Girl on the Boat: An utterly gripping and epic World War 2 novel (The Emerald Sisters Book 1) by Kate Hewitt

Author:Kate Hewitt [Hewitt, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2024-02-08T00:00:00+00:00

It still felt unreal as Sophie took the trolley to work the next morning, amidst a sea of pink cherry blossoms. The city was the most beautiful this time of year, the weather balmy without being sticky or hot, Washington’s many impressive marble and granite monuments gleaming under the bright spring sunshine.

As Sophie entered the Jewish Community Center, Sadie gave her a sympathetic look and a quick pat of her hand. “I suppose you heard the news.”

Sophie nodded back. “About Denmark and Norway? Yes.”

“They might not get any farther, you know.”

Sophie managed a tight nod. “They might not.” She’d looked at a map of Europe in the big atlas Miss Bryson kept in the living room, and with her finger had traced the length from Norway to Belgium. It was far, she had consoled herself, while acknowledging that it was not that far. And what about the Netherlands, which was even closer to Denmark than Belgium? How must Rachel and Franz be feeling, knowing that Germany was invading a country so near to them?

She put her hand in her pocket and closed her fingers around the shard of emerald that she still carried with her everywhere, a talisman, a keepsake, letting the jagged edge of the jewel bite into her fingers, relishing that little sting of pain. Please keep them safe, she prayed, hoping that after so much strife and struggle, God might finally listen.

Now she pushed such thoughts away as she tucked her purse under her desk and pulled out her chair. She wanted to be distracted from her worries by her work; she had reams of paperwork to go through, as every refugee that came through the Center had to be documented and filed before they could be offered help. The more swiftly Sophie went through their papers, taking down their information and translating it, the faster they could find themselves in housing and jobs.

At lunchtime, Sophie walked to Logan Circle, a few blocks away, to eat her sandwich under the warm spring sunshine. She often met Mattie there, as it was a primarily black community, and they could sit on a park bench and eat together without anyone causing a fuss. Over the last ten months, Sophie had come to realize just how segregated Washington DC really was; the Jewish Community Center was on the edge of a predominantly black area of shops and homes, where white people never went.

“And the stuff you find in these shops isn’t as good as the stuff you find in the white areas,” Mattie had told her matter-of-factly. “Of course not.”

“It was similar in Berlin,” Sophie had replied. “Jews could go into the shops, but only at the end of the day, when almost everything had been taken. And some shopkeepers wouldn’t serve you anyway, no matter whether you were allowed in or not.”

Mattie had shaken her head in disgust, as she often did when Sophie told her such things. “So much wrong with the world.” she’d lamented.

Today, however, Sophie wasn’t thinking about that, but rather about the invasion of Denmark and Norway.

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