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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
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,426 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.
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  1. Print length
    358 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    Jan. 7 2016
  5. File size
    2908 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
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  8. Enhanced typesetting
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01AC4FHI8
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Whole Sky Books; 1st edition (Jan. 7 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2908 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 358 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,426 ratings

About the author

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Phyllis Edgerly Ring

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/

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
1,426 global ratings

Top reviews from Canada

Lena A Scallion
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Engaging
Reviewed in Canada on October 4, 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.
One person found this helpful
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Giselle Roeder
4.0 out of 5 stars They did not talk about it
Reviewed in Canada on February 19, 2017
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I cannot believe how much of WW2 is revealed, how people felt, how they had to hide their true feelings, or actions, how they even had to hide it after the war was over. What really amazes me are the similarities to my memoir "We Don't Talk About That" - a true account while this author claims hers as fiction. Since I lived through and experienced it all, even more than "The Munich Girl"' tells, I can assure the reader that a lot of it is based on historical facts. You may read it as a delightful, absorbing romance or, like me, be reminded of awful happenings living in a "dictatorship" (in my case twice). This book will enlighten you and give you insight to how people learned to not talk about it.
2 people found this helpful
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Elizabeth Gayle Fellows
5.0 out of 5 stars The Munich Girl
Reviewed in Canada on September 18, 2016
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Very interesting, comprehensible and thought provoking. Enjoyed the bit of mystery to it, and the concise geographical and political thoughts. Excellent read.
2 people found this helpful
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Benita S.
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful story of love and understanding
Reviewed in Canada on May 9, 2020
I enjoyed this novel very much. It tells the story of Anna, a middle aged German American woman who searches to understand her family history and role during WWII, after her mother dies and leaves a fascinating manuscript. Through the words of her mother, we learn of 2 young women supporting each other during a terrible time in history and what they do for love. Wonderfully written.
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Melissa
5.0 out of 5 stars Friendships, sacrifices and legacies.
Reviewed in Canada on April 25, 2016
When I first read the synopsis for The Munich Girl, I knew I had to read this book. As a lover of historical fiction, I have read from a variety of different perspectives of World War II, however this was the first time I had read about German citizens who lived “freely” in the presence of the Third Reich. I use the word “freely” loosely as regular German citizens were far from free during Hitler’s reign.

Phyllis Edgerly Ring did a wonderful job of portraying Eva Braun’s life through the eyes of Peggy and as a result of Anna’s tireless research. She got straight to the point of the story without dragging on an introduction and the plot line moved steadily throughout. Although I read this in Kindle format, this book was nicely put together. Each section began with a photo and each chapter was marked with Eva Bruan’s initials in a Kleeblatt.

I found it interesting how the author created similarities between Anna’s relationship with her husband Lowell and that of Eva and Hitler. It was clever in that it allows readers to build compassion about the situations both women were in. Eva was portrayed not in a cruel anti-Semitic way, but as a woman who was caring, absolutely devoted and very intelligent.

I was pleased that this book wasn’t centered around, or bogged down with the politics of World War II. Instead it was more of a tale about friendship, sacrifices and legacies.

The Munich Girl is a heartbreaking story with revelations from start to finish. I would highly recommend it to lovers of historical fiction. This would be especially of interest of those who enjoy reading about different perspectives during World War II.

I was sent a copy of The Munich Girl by Phyllis Edgerly Ring from the author in exchange for an honest review.
2 people found this helpful
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Josephine
2.0 out of 5 stars Eva Braun
Reviewed in Canada on December 14, 2018
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I read this book because I was interested in Eva Braun. I found the book easy to read but not consistent with much info.
It was a bit boring.
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Irene R Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars The Munich Girl by Phyllis Edgerly Ring I was given ...
Reviewed in Canada on March 20, 2017
The Munich Girl by Phyllis Edgerly Ring

I was given this book for an honest review by the author.

.

" My mother had a whole life then that seems as much a mystery as Eva Braun's."

The lure of this book was not only the subject Eva Braun, Hitler's companion but also the mystery of a daughter discovering her mother's past life during WW11.
Munich Girl was a fascinating read. If I had not known I was reading an Historical Fiction Novel I would have thought the book was a Memoir.
An interesting book for a book club.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Rosa Demanins
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent novel
Reviewed in Spain on November 23, 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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Dave
5.0 out of 5 stars Anna's history isn't like yours.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 5, 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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Liz
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, fascinating and deep
Reviewed in Australia on April 16, 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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Lawrence Moffitt
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read for people who love good historical fiction
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 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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Susanne Weigand
5.0 out of 5 stars An uplifting (and in parts sad) story
Reviewed in Germany on March 13, 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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