The Enemy’s Daughter by Anne Blankman - OPTIONAL

The Enemy’s Daughter by Anne Blankman, 288 pages. Penguin, 2025. $19

Content: PG (dead bodies mentioned as the ship sinks)

BUYING ADVISORY: EL - OPTIONAL

APPEALS TO: SOME

In 1915, 12yo Marta and her father used false papers to board the Luisitania to hurry home to Germany to persuade Marta’s brother not to join the German army during WWI. Just as her father’s deception is discovered, the boat is hit by German torpedoes - sending it to the bottom of the ocean. Marta and her father barely survive, but while he is dragged off as a prisoner, Marta is left to find her own way home.  In enemy territory.  She is taken in by a Irish family living in London, but she knows if anyone kearns her true nationality, she will become an outcast and a target.

The potential is there for an exciting book, and the beginning is pretty great.  Once Marta settles in London, however, it drags and drags.  I get that the point is for Marta (and us) to learn that whom we are at war with isn’t necessarily our enemy, but since Marta has to flee when everyone turns on her, the point is not made. 

Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS