Hippocrates has been quoted as saying, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” But what if someone was trying to poison you? In this novel set in 1943, Rosa Sauer, a young German woman, is forced along with nine other women to serve as one of Hitler’s food tasters. It seems a glamorous job filled with exquisite food and fine delicacies, yet death looms.

Rosa moves from Berlin to live with her in-laws in the village of Gross-Partsch while her husband serves in the war. Here, her posh city ways clash with the reality of a people who live day-to-day. The Wolf’s Lair (the code name of Hitler’s headquarters in East Prussia, now Poland) is no better. The women are bussed to the building twice daily, once for breakfast and lunch and then later in the evening for dinner. The story follows these ordinary women through their extraordinary circumstances.

Postorino’s novel was translated from Italian to English, however you would never guess that while reading it. The uncluttered simplicity of the writing is charming. It gives you room to soak up every word and still have time to follow the complex relationships between the characters.  Even so, the thing I admire most is that no one is really the villain. This is especially important in how we view Rosa. At times she can be selfish and even cowardly. There is also no attempt at heroism.  She is not a hero, she is just a woman. That is where the power of this novel lies.

It is important to note that this story was inspired by one of Hitler’s real food tasters, Margot Wölk. At age twenty-five, she was among fifteen women who would taste Hitler’s food in The Wolf’s Lair. Risking death daily. This continued for two and a half years. Wölk was the only taster to survive World War 2. Her service went unattributed until a newspaper interview on her 95^th birthday in 2012. Wölk died at age 97 in 2014.