In My Enemys House (Hardcover)

by Carol Matas (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"They won't kill everyone in the ghetto right away," he continued, his voice matter-of-fact. "They still need workers. But not for too long. After all, they have us Poles to work for them, don't they?"

He paused then, and looked at me. I was frozen like a Polish winter. I was cold right through into my bones.

"You know, Miriam," Mr. Kraszewski suggested, "you could be one of us."

Award-winning novelist Carol Matas brings readers into the heart of Nazi Germany with the harrowing story of Marisa, a Polish Jew whose blonde hair and blue eyes make it easy for her to pass as a Christian. With the Nazis ready to herd the remaining Jews of her town into a ghetto, and with her family either scattered or dead, Marisa takes the papers of a Polish girl and in that disguise goes to Germany in a desperate attempt to survive as a Polish worker.

After traveling to Weimar, Marisa finds work as a servant for the Reymanns, a wealthy farming family who treat her with dignity and respect. Their daughter Charlotte becomes fond of Marisa and wants to be her friend. Marisa's life with the Reymanns may seem safe, the Reymanns appear fair, but she can never forget that Herr Reymann is a high-ranking Nazi official and Charlotte attends the League of German Maidens. Marisa is hiding in plain sight in her enemy's house.

Carol Matas's unflinching account of Marisa's dilemma as a Jew living a lie in order ot survive will give readers a new perspective on the nature of good and evil even as it touches their hearts.

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; 1st edition (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689813546
• ISBN-13: 978-0689813542
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,339,981 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In hiding.....in your enemy's house., February 25, 1999

By	Rebecca Herman (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book tells what it would be like if you had to hide, in plain sight of your enemy. Marisa, who is Jewish, is fifteen when Nazis invade her city in Poland. Her entire family is killed in a roundup, except for Marisa and a brother and sister. The brother and sister flee into the woods to join the partisans. That is their chance to live. But Marisa's chance is to pose as a Christian girl and work as a servant to a German Nazi. She will have to keep silent, forget who she is, forget everything except that she must not tell the truth, no matter what she does

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I hope you get the same vibes out of this book as I did., November 28, 2004

By	tms - See all my reviews

This review is from: In My Enemy's House (Mass Market Paperback)

When I was first told about this book I thought it would be just another book about World War II and how a Jew went into hiding to escape Hitler. This book is about a girl named Marisa and how her blonde hair and blue eyes disguises her as a Polish worker. Marisa's family is separated and she is left alone with her cousin Shmuel, who she is in love with. He knows that the only way for Marisa to survive is to get papers from a family friend and take the identity of a Polish girl and work as a servant, to hide her true identity of a Jew. So that is what she does, she goes to Germany to get work and ends up working on a large farm for a Nazi family. The longer she stays on the farm the more confused she gets about her feelings toward this family. She gets very close to the oldest daughter on the farm named Charlotte. Charlotte has a secret and Marisa has to decide to betray her and tell her father about it to protect Charlotte and her own secret or to further endanger herself and Charlotte. Marisa is surprised that Charlotte and the rest of the family treat her like part of the family. Although Marisa kind of loves the Reymanns family she also hates them for some of the things they stand for, like all the insults and their hatred towards Jews, and for basically being Nazi. Can she stand pretending to be someone she's not?
At first I didn't think I would enjoy this book very much, but it shows you different views about how people thought about Jews and Hitler. Like the view of a Jew to the view of a Nazi. Even the view of anti-Hitler groups, they hated Hitler's ideas but they hated Jews too. This book would be enjoyed by mature children and adults. I hope you get the same vibes out of this book as I did.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT World War 2 book!, January 6, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: In My Enemy's House (Mass Market Paperback)

What would you do if the only way to survive was to hide in the enemy's country? And even worse, in the enemy's house? This is exactly what Marisa has to do to save her own life. Her blonde hair and blue eyes disguising her as a Polish worker, Marisa goes to work in Germany, the papers of a Polish girl named Maria hiding her real identity as a Jew. Eventually, Marisa ends up working on a large farm for a Nazi family. As she stays on the farm longer, Marisa wonders- What should I think of these people?- as she becomes closer to Charlotte and the rest of the family and remembers her own family members, killed at the hands of the Nazis. The words of her father, cousin, and many more guide her through the toughest times as she learns that her heart should open up to see the real person inside everyone- even some of her enemies.

I loved this book, along with the many other World War 2 fiction books by Carol Matas. These books are great if you like to read historical fiction- they have real facts, great characters, intreging plots, and even a little bit of romance! I hope you like this book and maybe even the other Carol Matas books as much as I do!