The Woodcarver of Krakow

Although classed as another World War 2 read, this was different from the others that have recently flooded the market. Two brothers Tadeusz and Jacek are raided by their grandfather after their mother’s death because their father is fighting in the Polish army. The lived in Tatras mountains, a place I have visited myself, a stunning, serene, idyllic place, until the Nazi invasion of Poland when their reality was torn apart. Tad leave Poland, forced to leave all that he knows and loves behind him. He makes it to England eventually and joins the Polish air force intent in fighting for his country’s freedom, all of the time with his brother who he loves dearly in his thoughts and in his heart. This book really highlighted Poland and how it and its people suffered during the Nazi and Russian occupation, It was interesting and well written and I liked that it was different from other World War 2 novels that I’ve read in the past.

Thank you to Book Guild and NetGalley for a copy of The Woodcarver of Krakow by Rachel Clare. I’m really torn on this one but I will give it 3 stars. Here’s why I’m torn, the storyline is really good. It’s full of Polish history we recently learned on a WWII History tour of Poland and German. The best I can remember it’s very accurate in the book. It’s told in a back and forth between the present family trying to find out about their past family and the telling of the past Polish family’s story during WWII. Here’s why I couldn’t give it a better rating, it was very repetitious, predictable in places and way too many unneeded descriptive details that only made the story drag. I found it an average read when it could have been a great read with more fine tuning.

Having thoroughly enjoyed ‘The Roses of Marrakech, Rachel’s debut novel, I could not wait to get started on ‘The Woodcarver of Krakow’ ; I was not disappointed. The clever way the story is presented from both the 1930’s and current day is easy to follow, with some wonderful characters along the way. The relationships created, notably the one between grandmother, mother and daughter are wonderful and so relatable – I found myself smiling at the very similar relationship between my own mother and daughter. Although I have never visited Poland, through Rachel’s vivid and stunning descriptions of the Country I felt myself there and would dearly love to visit in the near future. I would highly recommend this heart-warming story and look forward to reading more from Rachel Clare in the future.