The Enemy

Holbrook, Sara. The Enemy. 2017. 256p. ISBN 978-1-62979-498-3. Available at FIC HOL on the library shelves.

In 1954 Detroit, the enemy is not as far as you think. With only nine years since the end of the Second World War, many survivors of the Nazi concentration camps have relocated to the United States, along with hundred of thousands of displaced persons and refugees. Nazis are still the favored villains for children, but Communists are also gaining ground. In the midst of the Red Scare, being different often means being the subject of intense scrutiny. Twelve-year-old Marjorie Campbell’s father, like most fathers, fought in the War, and brought back a dislike of the Germans. Her mother went to college during the war, but thing more than a glorified housewife and is not expected to contribute to society aside from raising her children, Margie and six years old Carol Anne.

At school, Margie is asked to share her desk in an overcrowded classroom with a new student from Canada, Inga. At first glance, it is clear that Inga is different. Her clothes are worn and shoddy, with a European flair. She wears two braids, when no one else does. She doesn’t speak English, and it soon becomes clear that she and her parents are Germans. Torn between loyalty to her friends and family, and her curiosity for the wider world, Margie has to thread a careful line, for adults and children alike are paranoids and are seeking to stamp the Red Menace wherever it can be found, and being friends with a Nazi is definitively not a reputation enhancer.

Can Margie, who discovers a subversive book titled  1984 at the local library, embrace her inner courage and become friends with Inga despite the obvious danger to her family and her reputation, or will she decide not to rock the boat by remaining safely involved with her group of friends?

An excellent book to understand the fear that grasped the United States in the 1950s, Margie’s story provides a powerful look at how being safe often means allowing evil to take place. Fans of Margie’s story should take a look at A Night Divided, another historical book where an oppressive society, in this case East Germany, attempts to control the thoughts of its citizens and how a teenage girl fights back.