Summer of Fire

Ages 14 & up; grades 9 & up

When Canadian teen Delora James finds herself banished to Germany for the summer, reading the professor’s old journals seems like a good time-waster. Once Del begins to read the translated diary of Garda―a teenager in World War II, pregnant and desperate―she is engaged by Garda’s compelling story. Through a series of rebellions, she begins to draw similarities between her own world and Garda’s, and is able to see past her own hostility.

Sixteen-year-old Delora has been shipped off to Hamburg, Germany to live with her controlling sister. Her ‘behaviour’ at home has caused considerable concern so she is under house arrest till she proves she can behave otherwise.

Through her sister, she meets an English professor who asks her advice on a book she is working on. Del then encounters 16-year-old Garda, whose journals make up the professor’s story. Del is transported back to Nazi Germany in the Fall of 1942, is riveted by Garda’s story and draws parallels not only between the places they reside in but in the oppression they both feel.

Garda’s rape by a member of the Hilter youth, the subsquent pregancy and enstrangement from her family resonate with the reader and with Del. We are presented with the horrors of the Nazi regime through the eyes of an innocent girl. It is a strong dose of life for Del and mirrors so many of her conflicts. As Garda breaks free of her oppression, Del finds strength and acceptance of her world and those who love her.