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Phyllis Edgerly Ring

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The Munich Girl: A Novel of the Legacies that Outlast War Kindle Edition

by Phyllis Edgerly Ring (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

1,472 ratings

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Anna Dahlberg grew up eating dinner under her father’s war-trophy portrait of Eva Braun.
Fifty years after the war, she discovers what he never did—that her mother and Hitler’s mistress were friends.

The secret surfaces with a mysterious monogrammed handkerchief, and a man, Hannes Ritter, whose Third Reich family history is entwined with Anna’s.

Plunged into the world of the “ordinary” Munich girl who was her mother’s confidante—and a tyrant’s lover—Anna finds her every belief about right and wrong challenged. With Hannes’s help, she retraces the path of two women who met as teenagers, shared a friendship that spanned the years that Eva Braun was Hitler’s mistress, yet never knew that the men they loved had opposing ambitions.

Eva’s story reveals that she never joined the Nazi party, had Jewish friends, and was credited at the Nuremberg Trials with saving 35,000 Allied lives. As Anna's journey leads back through the treacherous years in wartime Germany, it uncovers long-buried secrets and unknown reaches of her heart to reveal the enduring power of love in the legacies that always outlast war.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01AC4FHI8
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Whole Sky Books
Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
Publication date ‏ : ‎ 7 Jan. 2016
Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2.8 MB
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 358 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0996546935
Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: 687,269 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 2,806 in Cultural Heritage Fiction
- 9,181 in Saga Fiction
- 12,082 in Family Sagas

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1,472 ratings

About the author

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Phyllis Edgerly Ring

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As she writes fiction and nonfiction, Phyllis Edgerly Ring watches for the noblest possibilities in the human heart. She's always curious to discover how history, culture, relationships, spirituality, and the natural world influence us and point the way for the human family on our shared journey.

Her newest novel, The Munich Girl: A Novel of the Legacies That Outlast War, traces a pathway of love and secrets in WWII Germany when protagonist Anna Dahlberg discovers that her mother shared a secret friendship with Hitler's mistress, Eva Braun. Her journey to discover the truth about this, and her own life, will challenge most every belief she has about right and wrong.

The author has worked as writer, editor, nurse, tour guide, program director at a Baha'i conference center, taught English to kindergartners in China, and served as instructor for the Long Ridge Writer's Group. She has written for such publications as Christian Science Monitor, Ms., Writer's Digest, and Yankee, and also published several nonfiction books about creating balance between the spiritual and material aspects of life. More information can be found at her blog, Leaf of the Tree: https://phyllisedgerlyring.wordpress.com/

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Customers find the book engaging and well-written, with one review noting its detailed content and another mentioning the inclusion of German dialogue. The pacing receives positive feedback, with one customer describing it as involving a hefty subject and person.

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6 customers mention ‘Readability’6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book to be a great read, with one customer noting its huge amount of detail and another mentioning its well-researched content.

"...It feels like an accurate depiction of events. It seems well researched, is peppered here and there with German dialogue and I was getting hungry..." Read more

"...The novel gets 4/5 stars, I did enjoy reading it, although as I mentioned it has some complications...." Read more

"This is a wonderful eye opening book that tells the story of the human and caring side of a family and a friend that was never mentioned and a..." Read more

"I understand this is a fictional book, but the huge amount of detail shows that the author did extensive research on the life of Eva Braun...." Read more

3 customers mention ‘Pacing’3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the pacing of the book, with one review noting how it handles a heavy subject matter in a very human way.

"...It is a serious courageous book, involving a hefty subject and person. It is a great read!" Read more

"...Brown, portraying her in a complex psychological light, and at times as kind and compassionate...." Read more

"This is a wonderful eye opening book that tells the story of the human and caring side of a family and a friend that was never mentioned and a..." Read more

3 customers mention ‘Writing quality’3 positive0 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book, with one noting how the German dialogue adds authenticity to the narrative.

"...the descriptions, particularly the ones of dreams, and the dialogue also pulled me in. The black and white photos of Eva Braun give the book charm...." Read more

"...Let's start with the one undoubtful thing: Ms. Ring's writing is superb. It is fluent, descriptive and accurate...." Read more

"...n't want to finish reading this as the book was fascinating and so well written ! Hope my next book is as good." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

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Kathy Gilman
A great read!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 December 2015
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I loved reading The Munich Girl by Phyllis Ring! I could identify with the main female character - very human. I loved the descriptions, particularly the ones of dreams, and the dialogue also pulled me in. The black and white photos of Eva Braun give the book charm. While I was reading it, I wanted to know what was factual and what was fiction. It feels like an accurate depiction of events. It seems well researched, is peppered here and there with German dialogue and I was getting hungry reading about the German pastries.

The Munich Girl is a multi-faceted book. It is about a woman discovering who she is, not only her true birth identity, but who she is in relationship to men. This self-questioning intensifies when she is drawn into a manuscript depicting Eva Braun's life and her relationship with Adolph Hitler 60 years prior. I have never read anything about Eva Braun before. I don't usually read WWII novels (this one goes back and forth in time easily) as they bring up visions of strife and torture which unfortunately are not fiction. But this view of Eva as seen from events as they unfold rather than in hindsight allows us to see her with fresh eyes and to understand better the choices she made.

This book is also about family ties and the secrets that are kept to protect others which eventually become burdens. It is a book with people who have international marriages between England, Germany and the U.S. It is a love story. It is a serious courageous book, involving a hefty subject and person. It is a great read!

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Jon Dee
Some Stones Are Best Left Unturned
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 August 2018
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As I'm sitting in front of the laptop trying to review "The Munich Girl", an historical fiction / romance novel by Phyllis Edgerly Ring, my mind stutters. How does one sum-up an emotional roller-coaster ride, which not only sees the highs and lows of its protagonist's story but of WWII, Adolf Hitler and Eva Brown's.

Anna is anything but a confident woman. She is normally full of self -doubt, and does her best to attend to her husband's needs and demands, serving as both his academic editor, and housewife, while helping him to cost-effectively run his late father's WWII magazine.
All this is about to change, as Anna discovers a link between her late mother Peggy (who's half German) and Eva Brown, the notorious tyrant's mistress. A simple article which Anna sets upon to write for the magazine spirals into a quest after her mother's old life in Germany during the war, when an old manuscript that Peggy had written resurfaces.
Oh, and there's Hannes. The mysterious German who pops into her life and seems to be on top everything, especially when she needs him the most. This is a story within a story within a story, that will take us on a journey to Eva Brown's life story.

I am rather ambiguous about "The Munich Girl". Let's start with the one undoubtful thing: Ms. Ring's writing is superb. It is fluent, descriptive and accurate. The fact that some of the dialogues are in German (and translated) does not hurt the above, and in fact that is hardly noticed. Great job by the author on that front.

The fact that Anna discovers a manuscript is okay, however Anna's time-line is not continuous. It's divided to before/after a significant event, and I have found myself struggling at times to understand whether this is the "pre-event" Anna or not.

While the story itself is very compelling, and has twists and turns, some plot milestones were a bit too "convenient" for me. Without giving away any spoilers: While the Peggy/Eva Brown manuscript was fascinating, I found Anna's story hard to believe, especially her husband's fate, who is probably the most underdeveloped character in the book.

In a complete contrast, all the other characters were extremely developed and complex, which brings to my ultimate issue with "The Munich Girl":
The novel gives a voice to Eva Brown, portraying her in a complex psychological light, and at times as kind and compassionate. Personally, whether Ms. Brown was like that or not, I find it hard to cope with novels which romanticize, to any extent, Nazi Germany and its key figures. Sure, there were good Germans at the time, yet I think their contribution to the German history is negligible compared to the atrocities done by the German state and its accomplices.
Whether Eva Brown was among them or not, is irrelevant, she has made her historical choice by being the lover of a mad mass murderer, and standing by his side (and if she indeed prevented his order to execute the POWs in Germany as this novel claims, it was too little too late).

I had a similar issue with "Alone in Berlin" by Hans Fallada, but while "Alone in Berlin" handles the lives of everyday people, I found that Ms. Ring - perhaps unintentionally - had made the Hitler-Brown relationship to a touching love affair. A stone that I thought would have been best left unturned.

The novel gets 4/5 stars, I did enjoy reading it, although as I mentioned it has some complications. I'll let you be the moral judges of the historical events.

The reviewer is the author of And The Wolf Shall Dwell", a political-spy thriller.

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Dave
Anna's history isn't like yours.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 December 2018
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This is a wonderful eye opening book that tells the story of the human and caring side of a family and a friend that was never mentioned and a history her daughter Anna never knew. Anna trapped in a loveless marriage is unaware that her life is about to change after her Mum (Peggy) dies. Even more surprising is the history her Mum has that she only found out about after she died and her husband well i let you read that bit. Her Mums friend is the woman in Hitler's life Eva Braun (whom her Mum had some close shaves with) .. This is a story that tells the human side of a relationship in the build up and during the The Second World War based on people rather than guns and hate, with the story off Anna in 1995. It turns out that Anna's Mum met Eva when they were both young teenagers on a train when Peggy helps Eva and befriends her at a railway station and they share a journey from the Austrian border deeper into Germany. What follows is the moving story of that relationship and how Eva is very different to her partner why she chooses the path she does is a mystery but isn't that the case with most out us but obviously not with such evil. It is true that some are blinded by love to such a unbelievable level that just seems beyond understanding, it as in this case stay with someone after they change in such a unbelievable way. I have to remind myself that the vast majority of soldiers that fought for the Germans did so with full commitment to what they felt was a true and justifiable cause, as has been the case throughout history for so many Armies it would be hard to count them all.
It is often hard to see good in the lives that history has blackened I'm not referring to the Nazis but to individuals and so this story is about individuals that have partners with strongly opposing views as in the men in their lives are on different sides of the war one a Austrian the other a German Jew.
This is a deep and challenging book that I think is for both men and women there is the love story but there is a lot more to it than this there is the well I'm not going to spoil it but I think this is a must read book and I'm very glad i have. I hope you do as well.

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Top reviews from other countries

Lena A Scallion
Interesting and Engaging
Reviewed in Canada on 4 October 2016
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It was a most interesting book and I enjoyed every moment I spent with the characters. I missed them when it was over.

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Larry Moffitt
Great read for people who love good historical fiction
Reviewed in the United States on 31 December 2015
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Anna, daughter of Peggy who was a close friend of Eva Braun in Germany, comes across the pages of her mother’s loose-leaf diary that begins pre-war with Peggy’s first meeting with Eva the shopgirl who has a passion for photography.

The best historical fiction, of which this book is one, is a compelling story informed by thorough research. To render the innermost thoughts of people who actually lived, with the right pitch and timbre to convincingly pull the reader into their world, is literary artistry. Phyllis Edgerly Ring accomplishes this, masterfully inserting us into the reality of the time, locations, events of Eva, Hitler, wartime Germany. We are there.

This is the story of Eva Braun, Hitler’s invisible woman, and the story of Eva’s friendship with Peggy. It’s also the story of Anna fifty years later, peeling back layers of mystery surrounding Peggy and the painting of Eva that had always hung in their living room when Anna was growing up. There are a couple of riveting encounters with Hitler, but the book is not principally about him.

At its heart, The Munich Girl is two intriguing love stories in different times. In addition to the story of Eva and Hitler, as seen through the eyes of Peggy, there is Anna fifty years later. Peggy’s daughter is a betrayed and put-aside wife who develops a closeness with her editor, Hannes. Her and Hanne’s growing relationship is interwoven in Anna’s search for her family’s connection to Eva, as well as Hanne’s own family history in wartime Germany. Going back and forth between the two eras begins to reveal startling connections between Anna, Hannes and the people at the very center of the tragedy that was Nazi Germany.

The 1940s in Germany is like a train wreck from which you can’t avert your eyes, and we’ve seen the newsreels of mesmerized masses seig-heiling Hitler’s motorcade. Ring gives us the hearts and minds of “the other Germany,” the traumatized, exhausted, terrorized, starving Germany and the people whose existence was one of scurrying back and forth between bomb shelters and food lines. “In order to know whether your bread was buttered,” Peggy records in her diary, “you had to hold it up to the light, where its shine would show you it was.”

Testimony at Nuremberg revealed that Eva Braun had diverted Hitler’s final order to execute the Amereican and European POWs, and thus saved thousands of lives. She had access and did not suffer rationing, but neither was she oblivious. She was a lonely and perhaps needy woman who lived the two-edged blessing/curse of being the Führer's favorite.

Phyllis Edgerly Ring creates her characters in three dimensions. She lets them breathe and get on with their lives. And then she does a spot-on job of being a fly on the wall, observing everything with great clarity. Ring’s prose style is rich, layered and captivating, and I found myself going back to re-read or highlight a sentence or paragraph I thought really nailed it. I don’t usually read a novel twice, but I am already a third of the way through my second round of The Munich Girl.

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Liz
Amazing, fascinating and deep
Reviewed in Australia on 16 April 2020
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Complimentary copy received from voracious readers only for an honest review.

Loved this fascinating look at Eva Braun and Germany during WWII.

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Susanne Weigand
An uplifting (and in parts sad) story
Reviewed in Germany on 13 March 2016
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Bear with me when I am talking about myself. I am German and both my parents have lived through WWII and it was something we often talked about in my family. And in my time at school we were taught a lot about the war and Nazism. Later I read a lot of articles and several books about this dark period of German history. But for some reason I always shied away from learning more about Eva Braun, probably because I couldn’t understand why a young woman would willingly devote herself to a man like Hitler. So when I learned that Phyllis Edgerly Ring had written a book about her I became very curious.
I like the picture that the author has drawn of Eva Braun, her pride and her ambition, her insecurities and loneliness, her devotion and heartbreaking friendship and the story of her life.
But, and this is more important: This book is offering so much more. The story of three women (and only one of them is Eva) and how their lives crossed and intertwined. The story of a family and their complicated, but heartwarming connections. And even a love story I enjoyed. (And I seldom enjoy love stories, mostly they are too cheesy and sweet.)

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Rosa Demanins
An excellent novel
Reviewed in Spain on 23 November 2018
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I loved this book for its original story, its original outlook on the woman that was Eva Braun, and it is also full of reality-bites as well. There are surprising twists and revelations that leave a reader just thrilled. Kudos to the author, a wonderful read.

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The Munich Girl: A Novel of the Legacies that Outlast War Kindle Edition

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Phyllis Edgerly Ring