Historical Fiction: My Enemy, My Beloved, by Karl Vanghen

My Enemy, My Beloved, by Karl Vanghen, is the poignant love story of two teenage children growing up during WWII. Henrik is a German boy who was forced into serving the German army, then was captured and became a POW of the United States. He was brought to a POW camp in Minnesota, where he met and fell in love with Elsa, a local farm girl. This book shows their trials and struggles to be together, as well as demonstrates the times of a post war Germany.


I really liked the way the book went back and forth between Henrik's and Elsa's points of view. The development of the main characters was done well, and the love story between the two was engaging. There were parts of the story that I felt did not seem authentic to the times, but it is a work of fiction, so I stayed with the tale as just that.

There were some good details and a disturbing sense of how it must have been to be a German soldier, not necessarily a Nazi, during that time. The devastation of loss and the struggle to go on were also entwined in this story.

There were a few mechanical errors, but none severe enough to interrupt my enjoyment of the story. Overall, a very good read.

On a scale of 1-4, I give this book a 3.5.

This book was published by North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc.
ISBN: 0-87839-384-6

Thank you to Karl Vanghen for the gift of this book.