I thought I knew a lot about World War II and the horrible mistreatment of Jewish people in Nazis Germany, but Richard Herman’s novel, Behind The Cellar Door, put me right there, in a profound way.
Published by Maine Authors Publishing, this book is really much more than a novel. It astonishes me that anyone could write a first novel that is so compelling and insightful, but that is just what Richard Herman has done.
This is also a timely book, because there is a lot of insight into democracy and the loss of civil liberties.
The story begins when a Berlin university student’s Jewish friend disappears. She, ironically, falls in love with a Nazis SS officer. And as the Nazis take control of Germany, her family is targeted by the secret police. Not long after that, she joins the Resistance.
The story is told from the girl’s point of view, as she endures the terror of Nazi oppression and later, the brutality of Russian soldiers.
Herman had a family medical practice in Maine, and now lives in Maine and Florida with his wife. On the back of the book, I read that Herman’s passion now is writing. It will certainly be a challenge to write a novel as good as his first.
I promise you, you will never think of WW II in the same way after you read this historical novel.