The Day the Flowers Died is not only the story of how two people fall in love, it’s also a photo of a horrible time in past history. There are many books out about holocaust survivors, or Nazis, or things like that. This book is the story of two ordinary people who fall in love: Rebecca, who is from an affluent Catholic German family, and Eli, a Jewish lawyer. The story begins a short time before Hitler comes to power, and as you watch the two main characters fall in love, you also see the changes in the German people around them. A typical romance at the start, the book turns to pure adventure as Hitler comes into power and shows how prejudice, discrimination and hatred slowly take over Germany. You see the story from the perspective of two common lovers, and how the Nazi party destroyed the country that they grew up in and loved. Rebecca at one point even enduring being shunned by her own parents because of her love for Eli.
Though I wasn’t especially crazy about the end, the story is well told. Not everything in life has a happy ending. I would eagerly recommend this book for anyone who loves a well told romance!
Robert
