The Plum Tree: An Emotional and Heartbreaking Novel of WW2 Germany and the Holocaust

The Plum Tree follows Christine Bölz, a seventeen-year-old domestic worker in a small German village during the 1930s and 1940s. She dreams of a larger world, glimpsed through music, books, and her connection to Isaac Bauerman, the cultured son of the wealthy Jewish family she works for. The two develop feelings for each other, but their relationship faces impossible obstacles as Germany changes under Hitler's regime. As anti-Jewish laws proliferate and dissent is suppressed, a new regulation forbids Christine from continuing her job and any contact with Isaac. Over the following months and years, Christine encounters the Gestapo and the horrors of Dachau while struggling to survive, be with the man she loves, and eventually speak out about what she has witnessed. Set on the German homefront during World War II and the Holocaust, this novel explores themes of courage, love, and the human cost of war.