Love by the Morning Star by Laura L. Sullivan (review)

Half-German Jewish, half-British Hannah Morgenstern flees to her mother’s family estate in England to escape Nazi-ruled Germany. Knowing she must accept whatever treatment the Liripips give her, she’s nonetheless dismayed to find herself a servant unwelcome to even speak to her aunt and uncle. Additionally, she acts as a lady’s maid to beautiful Anna Morgan, spy and Nazi sympathizer, who was meant to enter the house as a servant, but whom the Liripips have mistaken for Hannah and treated as family. Anna becomes intent on marrying Teddy, the charming Liripip son, even as his step-cousin Hannah has fallen head over heels for him as well, and a collection of mistaken-identity errors leaves all three confused about who loves whom. It’s hard to get past the weirdness of the lighthearted upstairs/downstairs portrayal of looming war and genocide, and the story sometimes becomes too labored to achieve the zaniness necessary for comedies of error. Nonetheless, well-executed moments of humor (including Lord Liripip’s thinking his sprightly new servant had been a courtesan) and a sprinkle of sly innuendo will make precocious readers giggle, while the nicely tied-up love story will satisfy those romantics urging characters to follow their hearts. Sullivan offers apt observations on human nature, though her character development ultimately falls short; high-spirited, Anne Shirley-esque Hannah, for instance, inexplicably abandons her quest to uphold Jewish traditions. Still, like Hannah, this novel manages to amuse if not charm, and it may suit those erudite high-schoolers who appreciate a good Wodehouse reference.