09/05/2022
Starting in 1938 and stretching through the end of WWII, this atmospheric Berlin-set story by Tyndall (Who I Was with Her ) follows 15-year-old Charlotte Kraus as she immerses herself in the growing underground Swing culture. When Charlie’s best friend and longtime crush Angelika “Geli” Haas introduces her to the swing kids—jazz-loving teenagers who embrace contraband British and American music, privately declaring their opposition to the Nazi party’s conformist values—Charlie is immediately taken with their joyful and fierce covert rebellion. Charlie and Geli, joined by Minna, who is Jewish, and Renate, who is deaf in one ear, become regulars in the free-spirited underground scene. Though still enamored with Geli, Charlie embarks on an intimate blossoming relationship with another young woman, while the war brews in the background. Supporting characters—including the story’s clearly telegraphed villain—are thinly developed, and clunky, expository dialogue occasionally stalls forward momentum. Nevertheless, Tyndall artfully blends historical fiction and queer romance with the increasingly grim details of life under the Third Reich to generate an intensely heartfelt tale of high-stakes rebellion that will sweep readers all the way to the novel’s gut-wrenching conclusion. All characters cue as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Eric Smith, P.S. Literary. (Oct.)
A heartbreaking and bittersweet novel about the need for queer joy even in the midst of the horrors of war. The ending had me in tears.” — Malinda Lo, New York Times bestselling and National Book Award–winning author of Last Night at the Telegraph Club
“Layers and layers of secrecy, the constant terror of being caught, the ecstatic joy of being with other Swing Kids—these elements combine to create an engaging, vivid scene. A compelling story." — Booklist (starred review)
"A powerful story of complicity and resistance in WW2 Germany, and a reminder that we all have a choice to make in the face of oppression. Its jaw-dropping ending will live in your heart long after you finish this book." — Jordyn Taylor, author of The Paper Girl of Paris
“Nothing Sung and Nothing Spoken captured my heart from the very first lines and held me breathless to the end. The feelings between these girls—in friendship and in love—are as intense as the situation in Berlin as World War II rages on around them. Perfect for Code Name Verity fans looking for their next tale of wartime devotion.” — Kip Wilson, author of White Rose
“A captivating story about coming of age during World War II.” — School Library Journal
“An intensely heartfelt tale of high-stakes rebellion that will sweep readers all the way to the novel’s gut-wrenching conclusion." — Publishers Weekly
Praise for Who I Was With Her: "A beautiful, poised, and thought-provoking debut about love, loss, coming out, and discovering living life on your own terms." — New York Times bestselling author Kathleen Glasgow
"Rival cross-country high school athletes Corinne and Maggie are lovers but have kept their relationship a secret; when Maggie dies, Corinne is left to grieve alone. The story is told in alternating before/after timelines, so readers experience Corinne’s romance with Maggie as well as the aftermath of her death. Suspense is ramped up well as the plot develops to reveal who else knew about but kept their relationship a secret, why, and at what cost. The focus on bisexuality is welcome." — Kirkus Reviews
A heartbreaking and bittersweet novel about the need for queer joy even in the midst of the horrors of war. The ending had me in tears.”
New York Times bestselling and National Book Award Malinda Lo
"A powerful story of complicity and resistance in WW2 Germany, and a reminder that we all have a choice to make in the face of oppression. Its jaw-dropping ending will live in your heart long after you finish this book."
Praise for Who I Was With Her: "A beautiful, poised, and thought-provoking debut about love, loss, coming out, and discovering living life on your own terms."
New York Times bestselling author Kathleen Glasgow
A heartbreaking and bittersweet novel about the need for queer joy even in the midst of the horrors of war. The ending had me in tears.”
“Nothing Sung and Nothing Spoken captured my heart from the very first lines and held me breathless to the end. The feelings between these girls—in friendship and in love—are as intense as the situation in Berlin as World War II rages on around them. Perfect for Code Name Verity fans looking for their next tale of wartime devotion.
10/01/2022
Gr 9 Up— For Charlotte "Charlie" Kraus, the threat of getting caught going with her friends to underground clubs and listening to forbidden jazz was supposed to be the worst thing she faced. That and dealing with the zing she feels whenever her best friend Angelika Haas grabs her hand. Little does she know the worst is yet to come, as Hitler soon invades Poland. Living under the Nazi regime in Germany makes going to the club even riskier, but how can you stop going to a place where you find acceptance and freedom and are surrounded by those who also resist? Tyndall presents a captivating story about coming of age during World War II. Starting before the war begins and ending after it does, the book is broken into sections after different lengths of time. Charlie faces not just the struggles of the war and of being against the Nazi regime but also complications in her family, friendships, and romantic relationships, particularly because she's attracted to girls. Those looking for an action-packed WWII novel will be disappointed, as the time period is the setting more than the war itself. German words and phrases are translated and explained throughout the book, while others, such as BDM standing for Band of German Maidens, are left to the reader to discover outside the text. All characters are cued as white. VERDICT A worthwhile addition to collections where historical fiction is popular, particularly for those longing for ones with LGBTQIA+ characters.—Amanda Borgia
Christa Lewis’s affecting performance illuminates the types of social and political resistance taken up by teenagers in Nazi Germany during WWII. Lewis’s smooth transitions between English and German accents immerse listeners in the world of underground jazz clubs that queer Berlin teen Charlie Klaus and her friends, Geli, Minna, and Renate, discover. What begins as a reprieve from the constant refrain of “Children, Kitchen, Church” at state-sanctioned youth groups evolves into an increasing understanding of the growing dangers for their Jewish friends and neighbors. Lewis underscores the emotional nuances of once strong friendships tested by war and illuminates uncomfortable truths about the price of ignorance. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Christa Lewis’s affecting performance illuminates the types of social and political resistance taken up by teenagers in Nazi Germany during WWII. Lewis’s smooth transitions between English and German accents immerse listeners in the world of underground jazz clubs that queer Berlin teen Charlie Klaus and her friends, Geli, Minna, and Renate, discover. What begins as a reprieve from the constant refrain of “Children, Kitchen, Church” at state-sanctioned youth groups evolves into an increasing understanding of the growing dangers for their Jewish friends and neighbors. Lewis underscores the emotional nuances of once strong friendships tested by war and illuminates uncomfortable truths about the price of ignorance. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
2022-07-27
Charlotte Kraus is once again following her crush, Angelika Haas. This time Geli takes them to an underground dance hall filled with American jazz music. This music is one more thing deemed inappropriate for a proper girl in 1930s Berlin—just like girls’ having loose, unbraided hair or wanting to kiss other girls or not being devoted Hitlerjugend members. Spanning the years leading up to and through World War II, the story follows Charlie and her small group of friends as they are coming into young adulthood. Minna is Jewish and scared for her family. Renate, who is deaf in one ear, prefers wearing boys clothing and drops out of school; hiding her disability is critical. Geli is the daughter of an SS officer. And while Charlie wants to continue her schooling, she’s not on the university entrance track and is expected to work. Tyndall has composed a moving, ardent narrative of the Swingjugend, or swing youth, that readers will at times find prescient as they consider recent events. Oddly, however, given that the characters live in a society dominated by race theory, the music’s origins in Black American culture go unmentioned, and the anti-Blackness at the heart of Nazi hostility toward jazz and swing is erased, subsumed under generic statements that “anything not German is degenerate .”
A sincere story about the courage required to be true to oneself that overlooks central historical elements. (Historical fiction. 14-18)
