The Last Year of the War
From the acclaimed author of Secrets of a Charmed Life and As Bright as Heaven comes a novel about a German American teenager whose life changes forever when her immigrant family is sent to an internment camp during World War II.
In 1943, Elise Sontag is a typical American teenager from Iowa—aware of the war but distanced from its reach. Then her father, a legal U.S. resident for nearly two decades, is suddenly arrested on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathizer. The family is sent to an internment camp in Texas, where, behind the armed guards and barbed wire, Elise feels stripped of everything beloved and familiar, including her own identity.
The only thing that makes the camp bearable is meeting fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese-American teen from Los Angeles, whose friendship empowers Elise to believe the life she knew before the war will again be hers. Together in the desert wilderness, Elise and Mariko hold tight the dream of being young American women with a future beyond the fences.
But when the Sontag family is exchanged for American prisoners behind enemy lines in Germany, Elise will face head-on the person the war desires to make of her. In that devastating crucible she must discover if she has the will to rise above prejudice and hatred and re-claim her own destiny, or disappear into the image others have cast upon her.
The Last Year of the War tells a little-known story of World War II with great resonance for our own times and challenges the very notion of who we are when who we’ve always been is called into question.
In 1943, Elise Sontag is a typical American teenager from Iowa—aware of the war but distanced from its reach. Then her father, a legal U.S. resident for nearly two decades, is suddenly arrested on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathizer. The family is sent to an internment camp in Texas, where, behind the armed guards and barbed wire, Elise feels stripped of everything beloved and familiar, including her own identity.
The only thing that makes the camp bearable is meeting fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese-American teen from Los Angeles, whose friendship empowers Elise to believe the life she knew before the war will again be hers. Together in the desert wilderness, Elise and Mariko hold tight the dream of being young American women with a future beyond the fences.
But when the Sontag family is exchanged for American prisoners behind enemy lines in Germany, Elise will face head-on the person the war desires to make of her. In that devastating crucible she must discover if she has the will to rise above prejudice and hatred and re-claim her own destiny, or disappear into the image others have cast upon her.
The Last Year of the War tells a little-known story of World War II with great resonance for our own times and challenges the very notion of who we are when who we’ve always been is called into question.
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Community Reviews
Just finished this audiobook. A wonderful and often heartbreaking story of two teenagers (and their families) in an American Internment Camp during the final years of WWII and their years following their repatriation to their respective countries of their parents' birth with roughly one year of the war still to endure. I had been told of the Japanese internment camps following Pearl Harbor in 1941 in history classes, but no mention was ever made of families of German and Italian descent being interned as well. Definitely recommend this book!
4.5 stars. When I finished this book I said to myself âand that is why I love historical fictionâ. I was thoroughly drawn into Elise Sontag as a character and the story of her life. As another reviewer noted growing up in the 80âs I never heard about the internment of German or Japanese Americans during the war. My only disappointment was I thought the ending a bit rushed.
â ï¸Triggers warnings: Internment Camps, near rape, racism, deportation, and the ugliness war can bring out of people.
In her later years, Elise Sontag Dove suffers from Alzheimerâs, which she calls âAgnes, the Thief,â as it robs her of everything. Despite her fading memory, Elise is determined to find her long-lost friend, Mariko Inoue. This quest takes us back to when a German American girl from Iowa met a Japanese American girl from California. They became best friends. Will their friendship become a casualty of war?
Told from Eliseâs perspective, the story alternates between the present and the past, revealing how her experiences shaped her life. We witness her first heartbreak, broken friendships, and the pervasive bigotry of the time. The narrative highlights how war can shatter spirits, leaving everyone as losers in the end.
This poignant and well-researched historical fiction explores themes of family, friendship, loyalty, determination, sacrifice, commitment, and the harsh realities of war.
In her later years, Elise Sontag Dove suffers from Alzheimerâs, which she calls âAgnes, the Thief,â as it robs her of everything. Despite her fading memory, Elise is determined to find her long-lost friend, Mariko Inoue. This quest takes us back to when a German American girl from Iowa met a Japanese American girl from California. They became best friends. Will their friendship become a casualty of war?
Told from Eliseâs perspective, the story alternates between the present and the past, revealing how her experiences shaped her life. We witness her first heartbreak, broken friendships, and the pervasive bigotry of the time. The narrative highlights how war can shatter spirits, leaving everyone as losers in the end.
This poignant and well-researched historical fiction explores themes of family, friendship, loyalty, determination, sacrifice, commitment, and the harsh realities of war.
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