Stroyar, J.N. "The Children's War" and "A Change of Regime"

Stroyar, J.N. "The Children’s War" - 2001

Stroyar, J.N. "A Change of Regime" - 2004

When people say that Germany lost WWII, I always answer, the Germans didn’t lose the war, the Nazis did. Have you ever wondered what would have happened if the Nazis had won? Well, J. N. Stroyar gives us a pretty good idea. Little is known about the author. She is an American scientist who lives in Germany and has done extensive research on dictatorships around the world.

In her two books "A Children’s War" and "A Change of Regime" she draws a picture that couldn’t be more vivid if it was reality. She describes Europe (and the rest of the world) how it would be today if the war had ended differently. In her scenario, the Nazis won and are still reigning most of Europe. In her history, Hitler’s astrologer convinced him that attacking the Soviet Union was a bad idea, and the German nuclear weapons program saw better progress.

I can honestly say that this is one of the best books I have ever read. The story is completely intriguing, the characters are described in the best possible way, they really are characters, every single one of them, even the description of the landscape that usually is just added to the story is so interesting, you want to devour every single word. There are some very powerful scenes where you think you are part of this book, you can hardly put it down.

You won’t forget this story very fast, I’ve read it six years ago and I still think about it daily. The only bad part is that there isn’t a third book, actually!

From the back covers:

THE CHILDREN'S WAR

"'Peter has had more identities than he can remember and suffered pains and humiliations he longs to forget. But, whether spy or prisoner, slave or propaganda tool, none of his roles has brought the one thing he wants above all: freedom.'

Bad papers. That's how Peter's nightmare began. Living in contemporary Europe under Nazi domination -- more than fifty years after the truce among the North American Union, the Third Reich, and the Soviet Union -- Peter has struggled to make sense of the reign of terror that governs his world. Now, arrested for bearing a false identity, he is pulled full-force into a battle against Nazi oppression. The crusade for freedom that belonged to generations past is now Peter's legacy -- and his future depends not on running away, but on fighting back.

Escaping a Nazi prison camp and joining the Underground Home Army, Peter dedicates himself to breaking down the system that betrayed him. But by facing the evil at the heart of the Nazi political machine, Peter falls deeper into a web of intrigue and adventure that risks everything he holds dear -- in this life and for the sake of future generations.

A disturbingly real vision of what could have been, 'The Children's War' is a page-turning epic thriller with a mesmerizing premise and an unforgettable cast of characters. J.N. Stroyar's searingly authentic, impassioned vision of human triumph over the forces of corruption and cruelty stands as a powerful tribute to the millions who have sacrificed and died in the name of freedom."

A CHANGE OF REGIME

"The struggle against evil continues in 'A Change of Regime', with the characters introduced in J. N. Stroyar's award-winning, critically-acclaimed novel 'The Children's War'. The Third Reich lives on! Having carried out the assassination of his former tormentor Peter Halifax returns to the secret enclave of the anti-Nazi resistance to continue the fight against the regime with his wife Zosia. Emboldened by his success in overcoming his past, Peter returns to Berlin and dices with death to fulfill his dream: providing an escape route for the slave laborers of the Reich. Meanwhile Zosia's brother Ryszard continues his attack from within as he infiltrates, as S. S. Colonel Richard Traugutt, ever deeper into the core of Nazi power, even to within grasp of the ultimate prize: Fhrer of the Third Reich. But there are other forces at work and as Ryszard is forced into betraying Peter, his political enemies plot their own Armageddon. Based on meticulous research and real-life stories, painstaking attention to detail gives the story a brutal reality. The novel addresses the issues of today as the characters wrestle with mad dictators, terrorism, and their own desperate passions. A tale of espionage, of love and betrayal, of courage and collaboration." 

 

13 years after this, the author published a third book from this series:
"Becoming Them" - 2017

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2021.