Bluebird

August 30, 2021
This complex, intrigue-filled novel follows Eva Gerst, a teenage German refugee during the final months of WWII. When they arrive in New York City in August 1946, Eva and her largely nonverbal friend, Brigit, are welcomed, housed, and fed by the American Friends Service Committee. Eva, though, is burdened by a guilty secret: she is the daughter of a celebrated Nazi doctor who led medical experiments on prisoners at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp before purportedly escaping to America. Eva has made a deal to find and surrender her father to the American government, but her personal quest is to kill him. Initially alternating between Eva’s point of view and that of another German girl, Inge von Emmerich, in wartime Germany, the narrative builds into a suspenseful thriller with many twists—some surprising, some predictable—and a blossoming romance between Eva and a young Jewish man assigned to help her adjust to life in America and who becomes enmeshed in her mission. Cameron melds historical events into the generally credible personal journey of a young woman confronting the truth of her past. An author’s note details the numerous little-known wartime and post-war programs that so firmly ground the story. Main characters are presumed white. Ages 12–up.