The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorris

Theodene Allen

Sep 25

Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, particularly when it's about WWII. Just getting a feel for how people lived and what life might have been like draws me to want to read more and more. There are so many situations and possibilities of what did and didn't happen.

Interestingly, The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorris is about an American woman, a magician. Fenna is the mastermind behind a traveling magic show. In her frustration with her assistant, she considers branching off on her own when a British man visits after a show to recruit her help with the war efforts.

Fenna ends up in London developing all sorts of equipment that can be delivered to pilots and soldiers. This equipment often have another purpose, like hidden maps on a deck of cards or board games with hidden tools. She even develops a way to heat up soup for warmth, but the test products blows up at a senior officers office. Yikes!

A man from Fenna's past, who's always supported her and even asked her to marry him before she started her magic show, swings by to see her in England. He doesn't stay long, saying he needed to return to the States.

Not much time is passed when Fenna learns her friend has gone missing. The British think he's joined the Nazi, but Fenna doesn't believe it. She offers to be a bait to lure him so she can learn the truth. Luckily, Fenna learned enough Dutch growing up that she could pass as a native. Fenna drops with a team into the fields of Holland in hopes of finding her friend before the others after discovering their goal was to kill him on sight.

This is a fantastic storyline that is like no other I've ever read in historical fiction. I give this book 5 out of 5 tiaras because of the adventure I went on throughout this book! I've never read a story where an American relocated London to help with the war efforts, especially not a woman, a magician at that! There are many ways Fenna had to hide throughout this story, a very fitting title.