Why a Booktrail?
1942, 1967, 2015: Jewish courier Ester is betrayed,so she escapes to Sweden. Her family in Oslo, however, is deported to Auschwitz.
The Courier
What you need to know before your trail
In 1942, Jewish courier Ester is betrayed, narrowly avoiding arrest by the Gestapo. In a great haste, she escapes to Sweden, saving herself. Her family in Oslo, however, is deported to Auschwitz. In Stockholm, Ester meets the resistance hero, Gerhard Falkum, who has left his little daughter and fled both the Germans and allegations that he murdered his wife, Åse, who helped Ester get to Sweden.
Their burgeoning relationship ends abruptly when Falkum dies in a fire.And yet, twenty-five years later, Falkum shows up in Oslo. He wants to reconnect with his daughter. But where has he been, and what is the real reason for his return? Ester stumbles across information that forces her to look closely at her past, and to revisit her war-time training to stay alive…
Locations
Reset- Norway - Oslo
- A: Tollbugata
- B: Pilestredet
- C: Uelands gate
- D: Observatoriegata
- Sweden - Stockholm
- E: Karlavägen
- F: Kammakargatan
- G: Berns Terrassen
Travel Guide
Travel BookTrail style to Oslo
The book opens here and it’s where Ester and her family live before the Germans find out and someone betrays them. She flees to Stockholm but her family are taken to Auschwitz. Life in Oslo is hard and painful. There is always the sense that you are being followed and Ester believes she is. Her apartment is broken into, her life is starting to feel like a trap.
Stockholm
The city to which Ester flees. Someone asks her what she wants to do whilst in Stockholm and she replies that she wants to go a dance hall. Not for dancing though, she explains that she wants to feel normal for even just a short while.
Booktrailer Review
The Courier really put a fresh and interesting spin on a war story. This is a strong novel with many layers, secretive and hidden which come to the fore. By the end, the bigger picture is quite something and you see things you might not have picked up during the novel itself. Stand back and admire as if The Courier was a painting of the war, which in a way, it is. The more you look, the more you find.
Read TheBookTrail’s bookreview of Kjell Ola Dahl’s The Courier
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Courier
Destination: Oslo, Stockholm, Auschwitz Author/guide: Kjell Ola Dahl Departure Time: 1942, 1967, 2015
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