Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Diplomat's Wife
    Unavailable
    The Diplomat's Wife
    Unavailable
    The Diplomat's Wife
    Ebook406 pages7 hours

    The Diplomat's Wife

    By Pam Jenoff

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook


    From the New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan's Tale

    How have I been lucky enough to come here, to be alive, when so many others are not? I should have died . But I am here.

    1945. Surviving the brutality of a Nazi prison camp, Marta Nederman is lucky to have escaped with her life. Recovering from the horror, she meets Paul, an American soldier who gives her hope of a happier future. But their plans to meet in London are dashed when Paul's plane crashes.

    Devastated and pregnant, Marta marries Simon, a caring British diplomat, and glimpses the joy that home and family can bring. But her happiness is threatened when she learns of a Communist spy in British intelligence, and that the one person who can expose the traitor is connected to her past.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarlequin MIRA
    Release dateAug 15, 2012
    ISBN9781459248366
    Author

    Pam Jenoff

    Pam Jenoff was born in Maryland and raised outside Philadelphia. Upon receiving her masters in history from Cambridge, she accepted an appointment as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army. The position provided a unique opportunity to witness and participate in operations at the most senior levels of government, including helping the families of the Pan Am Flight 103 victims secure their memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, observing recovery efforts at the site of the Oklahoma City bombing and attending ceremonies to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of World War II at sites such as Bastogne and Corregidor. Following her work at the Pentagon, Pam moved to the State Department. In 1996 she was assigned to the U.S. Consulate in Krakow, Poland. It was during this period that Pam developed her expertise in Polish-Jewish relations and the Holocaust. Working on matters such as preservation of Auschwitz and the restitution of Jewish property in Poland, Pam developed close relations with the surviving Jewish community. Pam is the author of The Kommandant's Girl, which was an international bestseller and nominated for a Quill award, as well as The Winter Guest, The Diplomat's Wife, The Ambassador’s Daughter, Almost Home, A Hidden Affair and The Things We Cherished. She also authored a short story in the anthology Grand Central: Original Postwar Stories of Love and Reunion. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and three children.

    Read more from Pam Jenoff

    Related to The Diplomat's Wife

    Related ebooks

    Historical Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Book Club

      Jul 29, 2020

      Book Club
      1 min read

    • Article

      March Fiction

      Feb 15, 2022

      Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson (Century, £20) In 2018 the ever-prolific James Patterson got together with Bill Clinton to write the best-selling The President Is Missing: a novel that combined Clinton’s insider knowledge with Patter

      2 min read

    • Article

      Prohibition

      Sep 10, 2021

      It had been ten days since my last fix. I knew what I was going to do was wrong, but unless you knew the yearning that your body exerts, the internal pull which strangles your very soul into submission, then you cannot judge me. Yes, it was wrong. Ye

      15 min read

    • Article

      Dark Tales

      Dec 2, 2021

      Dark Tales
      6 min read

    • Article

      Equinox

      May 18, 2022

      In this strange world, where identities change with the rising and setting of the sun, supernatural forces are at work – and they’re causing trouble… St Leonars prison was an appropriately imposing building. It rose out of the surrounding shacks and

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Last Survivor

      Aug 26, 2020

      MY FRIEND ROSA AND I talked about the weekend as I settled into work in the Port Authority offices on the sixty-fourth floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center. Rosa was the same age as me, 31, and we loved catching each other up on our lives. My

      6 min read

    • Article

      Four Poems

      May 1, 2019

      We found ourselves to be quite fondof the ad campaignundermining late-stage capitalism: how the sprightly old womankept bursting into private conversationsat the candlelit restaurant and shouting, You can’t eat nickels!!and then doing that little hip

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Night Wand

      Oct 15, 2021

      The Night Wand
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Pain Jar

      Dec 3, 2020

      The Pain Jar
      7 min read

    • Article

      In a Silent Way

      Nov 25, 2023

      In a Silent Way
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Inner Chamber

      Feb 2, 2023

      The Inner Chamber
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Wanders: When home is not a haven.

      Jul 25, 2013

      The job in the North was a good job for what it was. I was not excited about it, but I was satisfied because it would take me away from the city where I had lived with Paul, and where every drugstore and bar and credit center was heavy with the memor

      13 min read

    • Article

      On Death Row, There's No Such Thing As Closure

      Aug 2, 2019

      It is August of the year 2000, and I am cold. I know the sun is shining outside, but there are no windows in the courtroom. The lighting is subdued, darker in the back where spectators sit and lighter in the front where tragedies play out—like a the

      5 min read

    • Article

      All Of Us Here

      Jun 4, 2020

      All Of Us Here
      6 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      Begin Again

      Jun 14, 2022

      My grandfather came to live with me. There was nowhere else for him to go. What had happened to all his children? Death, decay, exile—I hardly know. My own parents died of pain. But I must not be too gloomy, at the beginning, or you will leave me, an

      6 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      A Wolf On The Bus

      May 10, 2021

      Exhaustion flooded my body, leaving a dull ache pulsating just behind my eyes. With my right thumb and index finger, I squeezed the bridge of my nose, exhaling deeply, trying to soothe the pain. This tactic worked temporarily; at least until the bus

      17 min read

    • Article

      The Final Truth

      Jan 21, 2020

      The Final Truth
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Straw Hat

      Aug 2, 2018

      The Straw Hat
      6 min read

    • Article

      KILL A STRANGER Chapter 2

      Dec 31, 2020

      If you’ve never been in a situation like this before, you just can’t understand it. I’ll be blunt. It was absolutely terrifying. The nightmare started just like that. Bang. I literally woke with a start, and realised that I was being flung around in

      5 min read

    • Article

      Sweet Sorrow

      Aug 19, 2019

      Sweet Sorrow
      8 min read

    Reviews for The Diplomat's Wife

    4/5

    60 ratings17 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Rather unbelievable but still a great story, twists turns, and certainly a page turner as you look forward to see what happens next.
    • 5/5
      Well - this just proves that summer is actually here! It's the first evening of summer vacation, it's 11:23 and I've finished my first book. I didn't start it tonight - it just so happened I finished it tonight!This book was such a pleasant surprise. I loved the Kommadant's Girl. So, I picked up this one in the book store. I read the back and it sounded amazingly familiar - I figured it would be a repeat of the Kommadant and wasn't all that intrigued...until I started reading it!This is the story of Marta - the Kommadant's killer. The story begins from the moment she drops over on the bridge after seeing Emma off to a safe future. Marta is captured and tortured by the Gestapo hoping for information about the resistance. She is eventually rescued by Paul, an American who is liberating the Nazi prison where she is kept.They have a whirlwind romance and Paul proposes. Marta travels to London before Paul to meet up with the aunt of a fellow refugee. But, Paul never shows up - killed in a plane crash on the way to London. Devastated, Marta marries Simon, a diplomat she met on the boat ride to London.That's about all I can tell you...except Marta does a covert mission back to Germany and meets up with Emma and finds out what really happened to Jacob and just whose baby Emma was carrying at the end of Kommandant.She also meets up with....You will just have to read it. This is another great story by Jenoff. There are just enough twists and turns to keep you involved, yet it's predictible enough to be comfortable. And true love prevails! Yippee! :)
    • 5/5
      Historical fiction at it's finest. Filled with romance and suspence, I just couldn't put it down!
    • 5/5
      This is my first book by Pam Jenoff and it won't be my last. I decided to read the Diplomat's Wife because I had seen a notice at my local library that she was going to be there for a signing or question and answering. I didn't make it to the engagement but I am very glad that I decided to pick up her book.The Diplomat's Wife is a novel with everything. Mystery, suspense, thrills and chills, and romance. The story is set in the year 1945. Marta has survived a Nazi prison camp and is rescued by an American Soldier named Paul.You follow Marta through her life of recovery, loss of true love and so much more. I am afraid I might give away too much of the plot if I say any more.Pam Jenoff does a superb job of keeping the reader enthralled in the story. I give Pan Jenoff five stars for keeping me entranced and going to bed late just so that I could finish the book.If you need a new author than check out Pam Jenoff!!
    • 3/5
      This book was an interesting read, covering a time period frequently used in books in a slightly different way. The post-war story was a bit unbelievable. I have not read "The Kommandant's Wife," but this title led me to believe that the previous title includes characters from this book and leads right up to this book in chronology, so I may check out the previous title. (I had no trouble reading this book without having read the first.)
    • 3/5
      Very nice story and some interesting plot twists. It was an easy read and a book you don't want to put down. The characters were all likeable. I wish there had been more development of the relationship between Marta and Simon, but overall a good read.
    • 4/5
      rom Patty Engelman at Booklist: After working in the Jewish resistance in Kraków, Poland, Marta Nedermann is rescued from a Nazi prison by American soldiers. A simple gesture of human comfort by a soldier named Paul is etched in her mind, and when she sees him again in a camp for displaced persons in Salzburg, Marta is overjoyed. They meet again in Paris and become engaged, only to have Paul die in a plane crash. Marta is now scared, pregnant, and alone in a strange city. Simon Gold, an English diplomat, needs her language skills, and he wants her as well. They marry, and two years later, the English government taps Marta for help in finding a traitor in the British intelligence corps, sending her on an undercover mission. From Publishers’ Weekly: Marta goes on a dangerous mission to Poland, where a Communist takeover is imminent and where the seesaw plot takes more than one surprise twist.I didn’t quite know what to expect from The Diplomat’s Wife, having not read Jenoff before.The mystery was more than decent: although the identity of the mole was not difficult to figure out, the ‘hows’ and ‘whats’ were not so evident–in fact, were a complete surprise.But, at its heart,The Diplomat’s Wife is a historical romance. And that is my only complaint: the accidental meetings between Marta and Paul were just too numerous to be believable. But then, I don’t care for romances and have a very low tolerance level for such devices.If you do like historical romance, then you’re in for a treat with this. Enjoy!
    • 3/5
      WWII is over but how do you get on with your life when you lost everyone you love and almost your own life?Marta is rescued form a Nazi prison camp by Paul, an American soldier, and sent to a hospital in Salzburg, Austria. There she recovers from the brutal interrogations and an old gunshot wound she received when caught working with the resistance. The personal connections she makes with fellow patient Rose, her nurse Dava, liberator Paul, and a stranger she meets on a boat to England will change her life forever. The novel, even though the storyline was a bit predictable, was an intriguing, quick read. Overall I felt the beginning was a bit rushed and had a hard time feeling any connection to the love story aspect of the book. A fast, simple read for an escape with history and romance...
    • 3/5
      A few too many coincidences, and a little predictable. Though I did like the way the author bridged between the two novels.
    • 1/5
      I was really looking forward to reading this book because I had enjoyed The Kommandant's Girl so much. It started out rather promising, although about thirty or so pages into the book I began to realize that I wasn't going to enjoy this book nearly as much as I had enjoyed The Kommandant's Girl.First off, Marta just isn't...Marta. She spent the war being brave and fighting in the resistance, but in this book she was terribly co-dependent. I could understand that a little, considering what she had gone through, but she had never struck me as that type to such a degree. It gets plain ridiculous after a while, and it's sad to watch a character that I had previously admired in The Kommandant's Girl to self-destruct.The book relies on a mind-numbing series of unbelievable coincidences. Now, I was kind of expecting some unbelievable coincidences to happen, since the author pulled the same trick in The Kommandant's Girl; however, these were just bad. I know that it's fiction and the book doesn't have to be completely believable, but come on here, give the reader some credit. The last time I checked, this was marked "fiction" and not "completely unrealistic fantasy." I can't go into too much detail without giving away spoilers, but anyone who has read the book knows what I'm talking about.This book was a big disappointment, especially since I had just finished The Kommandant's Girl the day before and was so eager to read this book. I'll be hesitant to read another book by this author.
    • 5/5
      I read this after finishing The Kommandant's Girl which is sort of a prequel to this book. This book tells the story of what happens to a minor character from Kommandant's Girl. The book had lots of twists with many interesting characters and certainly held my attention. I didn't want to put it down. However, the ending was a little predictable and I wasn't surprised (my neighbor read it though and didn't suspect how it would end). I really enjoyed this piece of historical fiction and look forward to reading more from this author. I recommend reading The Kommandant's Girl first - I thought that book was even better.
    • 4/5
      The first half of this book was exactly what I expected it to be, but the second half was completely different than I expected. It actually had a good bit of action and suspense toward the end. There were several twists that kept the story interesting. Not everything that happened was completely believable, but it was still a very good book.
    • 4/5
      It started off a little slow for me but I eventually got into it. It wasn’t one of those you can’t put down books but I was satisfied when I was done reading.Marta is a Jewish member of the Krakow resistance who gets captured after shooting a Kommandant to rescue a friend, Emma. Emma escapes but Marta is taken to a camp and tortured to try and get information about the resistance. She is eventually rescued after Hitler kills himself and the Americans liberate the camp she is in. Two soldiers find her and one wants to leave her behind saying she is too sick but the other one insists that they take her. Next thing Marta knows she wakes up in a make shift hospital. She befreinds another rescuee named Rose and their nurse, Dava. While recuperating she meets the soldier that rescued her and finally finds out his name, Paul Mattinson. She feels an instant connection with Paul but his unit is due to deploy to the Pacific. Marta convinces Dava to let her off the grounds to spend one evening with Paul. Paul and Marta get stranded in an old gardner’s shed due to an unexpected downpour.The next day Paul leaves and Marta finds out Rose passed away from a high fever. Dava tells Marta that Rose’s aunt had sent her a visa to come to England. Rose had asked for one for Marta as well but did not get a reply yet. Dava tells Marta the visa is only good until the next day so Marta should use it to go to England and justifies it by saying she can return Rose’s belongings to her aunt in person.Marta finally agrees and departs for England. Unfortunately the train she is riding runs into track problems and are forced to detour through Paris. Due to the delay Marta’s visa expires and she is stranded in Paris. She goes to the consulate but they say they cannot extend her visa without the original applicant applying for an extension, in other word’s Rose’s aunt. Disheartened Marta starts looking for a Red Cross shelter to stay at while she tries to figure out what to do. She doesn’t have enough money to return to the hospital or to even buy food for herself. As she is wandering through Paris she is shocked to see Paul sitting in a cafe with another soldier and two women. She is so hurt to see Paul with another woman she immediately tries to run away but runs into a waiter. Paul spots Marta and chases her down. He explains that the other soldier had a sweetheart in Paris and the other women was her sister or cousin. He helps her get her visa extended, they go out for dinner and eventually end up staying at the servicemen’s hotel that Paul is checked into. While wandering around Paris they hear the Japanese have surrendered and the war is officially over. Paul ends up proposing to Marta and she accepts. They agree that Marta will go deliver Rose’s items to her aunt and then Paul will meet up with Marta in England in two weeks time and then they will go to the United States.Marta makes it to England meeting Simon, a British diplomat, on the trip. When Simon finds out Marta is from Poland he offers her a job with the consulate to help translate Polish and help them against the Soviets trying to take over Eastern Europe. He is disappointed when she tells him she is engaged to a US soldier and will be moving to the States.Once Marta is in England she meets Rose’s aunt, Delia, and the butler, Charles. Delia thanks Marta for bringing Rose’s belongings and takes a liking to Marta. She insists that Marta stay with her until Paul’s arrival. They become close companions during the two weeks. On the day of Paul’s arrival Marta goes to the designated train station and waits and waits and Paul never shows up. Charles shows up and insists that Marta come home since Paul does have Delia’s address and no other trains would be arriving that night. Eventually Charles notices a story in the paper about a US military unit’s airplane suffered engine troubles and crashed into the ocean killing all on board. Of course that turns out to be Paul’s unit. Marta is devestated and to add to her troubles she suspects she is pregnant.In her daze she goes wandering the streets and coincidentally enough runs into Simon again. When he finds out what happens he again offers her a job. With Delia’s encouragement she accepts and after a few weeks Simon ends up proposing. Marta accepts and everyone accepts that their baby was just born prematurely.Stop here if you don’t want spoilers. Marta eventually winds up getting sent to Czechoslovakia on a secret mission to get information from someone she knew from the resistance. While on the mission she is rescued by Paul! It turns out he was the sole survivor from the crash but since he was already listed as dead the US government offers him as a position with their intelligence agency with a new identity. Eventually he and Marta get the information she needs and make it back to England. They both admit they still love each other but Marta is now married.A lot goes on but eventually Marta discovers Simon is actually a traitor who was spying for the Soviets. He tries to poison Marta and kidnap their daughter to take back to the Soviet Union. In the end it turns out the entire scenario was a setup. Dava, the nurse from the hospital, killed Rose in order to get Marta the passport to England where Simon setup to meet her. When he finds that Paul is in his way he arranges for the plane’s mechanical failures to kill Paul so Marta has no where else to turn. In the end Paul rescues Marta again and they end up getting marries. Yay! Happy ending :)
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this novel, set around the end of WWII. It follows Marta Nederman as she is rescued from prison, where she had been since being arrested for aiding in the resistance effort in Poland. She recovers, and travels to England using someone else's identity. She finds love and eventually is married to a member of the staff at the British foreign office where she works as a secretary. She settles into an ordinary life, raising her daughter & attempting to build a happy home for her family. When the office needs someone with her experience in the resistance movement to reach contacts in Prague she volunteers to carry out a covert mission, surprising her husband. She thinks that she is the one with something to hide, but she soon realizes that she isn't the only one in her life with secrets.
    • 2/5
      I read this one because the title caught my eye, and was seriously disappointed. The beginning of the story tracing Marta's ordeal with the Gestapo and her subsequent time in a refugee hospital was by far the best part of the story, but once Paul's plane crashed, both the story and the book headed downhill. Thought it opened strongly, the book never really took off for me- neither of the two big shockers were at all surprising to me because they were so telegraphed ahead of time (though knowing they were coming didn't make them any more realistic or believable...) The book had potential, but I feel like it just glossed over the issues it raised, and I never really connected with any of the characters. I certainly won't be rushing out to pick up the Kommandant's Girl because I fear it will be an equally shallow treatment of a potentially interesting story.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. The story picked up where The Kommandant's Girl left off with the character of Marta-just after World War II. Marta survives a German prison, finds and loses true love and starts a new chapter of her life as a British diplomat's wife. The story is fast paced and left me wanting more. Although not necessary to read the Kommandant's Girl first, I would suggest it as there are some spoilers to that story.
    • 4/5
      Marta Nederman is finally freed from the Nazi prison by the Allied forces in 1945. She was being held in solitary confinement and tortured constantly. It takes weeks for her to fully recover. She becomes close friends with Rose, the young woman in the next bed, who is a death comp survivor. She meets Paul, an American solider, who rescued her from the prison where she was being held. One evening, after spending some time with Paul, she returns to the hospital and learns her friend Rose has died.Within hours Marta begins her journey to London. In order to leave the country she assumes the identity of her friend Rose and use her Visa to go to London. Marta wants to take Roses belongings to her Aunt, Roses only surviving relative.Things don't work out as planned and she ends up in Paris stranded. She meets up with Paul again. He helps her get an extension on her visa. Paul asks Marta to marry him. They agree to meet up again in London in 2 weeks.Marta's hopes are dashed when she goes to meet up with Paul and learns his plan has crashed. She is alone in a strange country and pregnant.Marta eventually marries a British diplomat by the name of Simon Gold. She will help the British government uncover Soviet spies. She also meets up with people from her troubled past.This novel moves at a very fast pace. Sometimes to fast. This story continues from where "The Kommandant's Girl" leaves off. Characters are introduced and disappear within a few pages.The time frame for this book is right after WWII ends. I enjoyed the book for the most part. I thought the first book was more interesting.