Last year, I first heard about Pam Jenoff, because one of her books was everywhere. That book, The Woman with the Blue Star, is still a book I want to read. Especially after my reading experience with Code Name Sapphire, her newest novel. I am leading the online bookclub for this historical fiction novel on a Dutch book platform and I’m glad I do, because without the discussions there I wouldn’t have noticed several aspects that really influenced my rating.

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• Title: Code Name Sapphire
• Author: Pam Jenoff
• Publication date: February 7, 2023
• Publisher: Park Row
• ISBN: 9780778387091
• Number of pages: 368
• Genre: Historical Fiction

A woman must rescue her cousin’s family from a train bound for Auschwitz in this riveting tale of bravery and resistance, from the bestselling author of The Lost Girls of Paris
1942. Hannah Martel has narrowly escaped Nazi Germany after her fiancé was killed in a pogrom. When her ship bound for America is turned away at port, she has nowhere to go but to her cousin Lily, who lives with her family in Brussels. Fearful for her life, Hannah is desperate to get out of occupied Europe. But with no safe way to leave, she must return to the dangerous underground work she thought she had left behind.
Seeking help, Hannah joins the Sapphire Line, a secret resistance network led by a mysterious woman named Micheline and her enigmatic brother Mateo. But when a grave mistake causes Lily’s family to be arrested and slated for deportation to Auschwitz, Hannah finds herself torn between her loyalties. How much is Hannah willing to sacrifice to save the people she loves?
Inspired by incredible true stories of courage and sacrifice, Code Name Sapphire is a powerful novel about love, family and the unshakable resilience of women in even the hardest of times.

I usually am intrigued by historical fiction novels that have World War II as theme. There will be a post about this topic on the blog very soon. So, this was no different with this novel. Once I read the blurb, I knew I wanted to read this. There are many books about the resistance, but most of them I’ve read are set in the Netherlands. This one is set in Brussels, Belgium. So that was new to me and besides this, the rest of the blurb sounded intriguing as well. Therefore, I went into this with quite high expectations.

These high expectations are partially met. Hannah is our main character, but there are two other woman playing an important role in this book. These are her cousin Lily and Micheline, the leader of the Sapphire network. In the first chapter we learn about Hannah’s work for the resistance in Germany. After German soldiers enter her shop and kill her husband (and wound Hannah so badly) she knows she has to flee. She seeks refuge aboard a ship setting sail to Cuba. Unfortunately it gets refused there and returns to Europe. Hannah knows she can’t go back to Germany, so she gets in touch with Lily, her cousin living in Brussels. Lily takes Hannah in and now she lives with her family. Soon, she meets people from the resistance network in Brussles, the Sapphire Line. She first meets Mateo who introduces her to Micheline.

All these characters play key roles in the story and also have their own voice. Jenoff chooses to tell their story by switching between all their points of view. This way, readers get to know the full story. However, a third-person narration is used, which creates some kind of distance. For me, it was hard to feel connection and emotions whilst reading. A first-person narrator might have been more helpful here, to create that connection novels like these desperately need. Also, some actions by these characters were outright stupid. Also, I found Lily very naive by living like she used to do before war broke out. Like, how does she and Hannah both have access to luxury products like Belgian chocolate, salmon and paint? It was tough for everyone, but especially for them since they are Jewish.

The writing was okay. It was quick and easy with short chapters. Therefore, this book makes a nice holiday read. The downside of this writing style is that it’s not outstanding and it therefore could have been any novel. Also, the short chapters create a distance towards the reader.

I also had some problems with the plot. Not straight after finishing this book, but once we started the bookclub discussion and several plotholes are revealed. Since all participants are Dutch and Flemish, we also found out that some crucial details are not correct. One of these details is about a place called Breendonk, where this story will be set later on. I keep it this vague for the sake of spoilers. In the author’s note Jenoff states that some events occurred diffferently or in a different timeframe, so you might be able to believe that everything else is right. Unfortunately it’s not and with novels about such traumatic events in history this gives me a bad feeling. In my opinion, the research had to be done better and more accurately. Other than that, the plot is fine. There are enough situations with cliffhangers which makes you eager to continue reading.

Overall, Code Name Sapphire by Pam Jenoff is not a bad book. It unfortunately has two faces, but this might only stand out to Dutch or Flemish readers. This book reads easily, but is on the other hand quite distant. Unfortunately, the research should have been handled better. The characters are okay, but some of their actions pissed me off. When looking back on this reading experience, I had to change my rating and I know I’ve read much better books about World War II.