Under Two Flags - by Janis Robinson Daly (Paperback)

About the Book

Berlin, 1916. Boston-born opera singer Josephine Marzynski is trapped in Germany during World War I. Torn between her music studies and loyalty to America, she discovers the truest anthem of freedom is the one she creates.

Book Synopsis

She sewed her country's flag into her skirt hem and sailed straight into enemy territory.

Josephine is a daughter of Jewish immigrants with a mezzo-soprano dream and nowhere left to go. When a letter arrives offering her a chance to study at a prestigious Berlin conservatory, she does not hesitate. She crosses a U-boat-haunted Atlantic and steps into a city bristling with ration cards, propaganda, and suspicion.

But war has a way of closing in. As an American in wartime Germany, every word she speaks is a risk, every friendship a potential liability, and every day a test of how much she is willing to endure.

When America enters the war, the walls tighten further. Police checkpoints. Handcuffs. A clock ticking toward a ship she may never be allowed to board.

Getting in was an act of courage. Getting out may cost her everything.

Fans of Kristin Hannah and Kate Quinn will recognize the spirit here, the story of a bold young woman who performed her way through one of history's most dangerous stages, note by agonizing note.

If you love emotionally resonant stories of survival and the unyielding courage of women who refuse to be silenced, this is your next great read.

Review Quotes

"Janis Robinson Daly provides an intimate and refreshingly personal perspective. Rather than focusing solely on battlefields and generals, she places us inside the heart of a young woman whose greatest weapon is her voice. This novel...is thoughtful, immersive, and emotionally sincere without becoming sentimental. In the end, Under Two Flags reminds us that patriotism, identity, and art are rarely simple." -Suzie Housley, Midwest Book Review