The book takes place right at the beginning of the Nazi occupation of France. (Side note: I was lucky enough to get a WW2 refresher last year when I worked with a student in a grade 10 history class so yay me for knowing what the Maginot Line was when it was referenced 😅).

The story follows two sisters in France, Isabelle and Vianne. Vianne is the older sister, and has a child, and Isabelle is 18 at the beginning of the story. Isabelle is everything I would hope to be were I faced with a fascist invasion - bold, courageous, and willing to stick it to the Nazis at every chance. My favourite scene with her happens in the beginning when Beck - a Nazi soldier who takes over a room in their house - compliments her pretty hair and Isabelle, offended that a Nazi would compliment her, grabs a pair of shears and chops if off in front of him following the compliment. Eventually, Isabelle becomes a beacon of French resistance as she leaves Vianne’s home, moved to Paris, and begins helping smuggle downed Allied pilots out of France.

That said, as much as I wanted Vianne to be more like Isabelle, I came to understand her circumstances more. She was meeker, perhaps a little too complacent in the beginning — scratch that, definitely too complacent in the beginning — but later discovered her own quiet rebellion in the form of hiding Jewish children in an orphanage. You see, Vianne couldn’t afford to be as brave and outwardly rebellious as Isabelle, not when she had her young daughter Sophie to worry about, and as a parent, I imagine it’s an impossible choice. It’s one thing to accept risk on behalf of yourself, but to do so when it could negatively impact your child? I can’t imagine how difficult a choice that would be. Would I be able to do it in her shoes? I honestly don’t know.

One of the more interesting characters in my opinion comes in the form of Beck, the German soldier rooming with Vianne. Beck is kind, gentlemanly, and even empathetic; all while upholding a system of oppression. Of course, his kindness to Vianne and Sophie only extends so far - he provided them with just enough food to not starve to death, and kept their house warm during the winters but ONLY when he was present. The weeks he’d spend away on Nazi business or visiting his family in Germany meant that Vianne and Sophie were on their own, which meant less food, and virtually no heat. Meanwhile, in his office in France we learn he has an abundance of food available to him at any given time, but he’s sure to emphatically explain to Sophie — a starving child, mind you — that it’s important the hard working German soldiers have their fill. Shouldn’t they get to eat, Sophie? Shouldn’t they? Here, have some chocolate. No joke, he hands her chocolate to make up for the lack of food.

Despite knowing this, Vianne comes to care for Beck, believing him to be a good man. The largest piece of evidence we see of him potentially being a good man comes when he warns Vianne that her friend is on a list of foreign Jews that will be rounded up the next day. Unfortunately, Vianne is unsuccessful in hiding her friend, but she does manage to save the child. That said, I think it’s clear that Beck would not have done this if it weren’t for the fact that in living with Vianne he’d come to empathize with her, and even care for her to a limited degree. He would not have done this for anyone else and we in fact see this as he holds a whip, standing by as Jewish women and children are ushered into trains.

Which leads me to my most important thought: a Nazi is a Nazi is a Nazi.

Despite what he’s willing to do for Vianne — which, I think we can all agree is the bare minimum — Beck is not a good person. Sure, he makes comments that indicate a certain discomfort with some of the orders he’s been given, but that doesn’t stop him from following through on them — even when Vianne’s safety becomes a concern later in the novel. He’s your typical “just following orders” Nazi. He is complacent to this new regime and when the chips are down he will act in his own self-interest.

Reading this novel felt like a reminder that the image we’ve created of Nazis as cartoonishly evil villains in our collective memory is an inaccurate one. Sure, they existed in the forms of Hitler, Goebbels, or Mangele, but I imagine that the majority of Nazis looked a lot like Beck. Ordinary people with families who’d been gifted a self-serving ideology and the power to back it up.

And this is why I like the portrayal of Beck so much: he’s just an ordinary guy, and very, very human.

If we remove the humanity from Nazis and only think of them as the most monstrous among us, then we fail to recognize it when the people around us act in ways that should be concerning. We think there’s no way our sweet old neighbour who offers us baked goods and a kind smile could support the kinds of acts that the Nazis perpetuated. When we can’t recognize the Nazi or fascist in front of us, we grow complacent, and complacency is the fertile soil upon which oppression blooms, and I think that that is exactly what we’re seeing happen today in the US.

Renee Nicole Good is not the first casualty of this movement, and she sadly is unlikely to be the last. My heart goes out to her family, and all of the American citizens currently dealing with the unthinkable. This shouldn’t be happening, and yet it is.