The Kommandant's Girl & The Diplomat's Wife

ASKING readers to plough through 700 pages of anything is a big call. When its WWII it's going to be heavy going.

ASKING readers to plough through almost 700 pages of anything is a big call and when the subject turns to World War II and the Polish resistance movement, you know it's going to be pretty heavy going.

Fortunately these two novels, which were written separately (but have been jammed together and re-released) prove relatively compelling. Let's start with The Kommandant's Girl who is, in fact, a young Jewish woman named Emma.

She has been married all of three weeks when the Nazis invade Poland, forcing her husband Jacob to disappear while she assumes a new identity and goes to work for a high-ranking Nazi official, who falls in love with her. So Jerry Springer, especially given Jacob's return, Emma's double life, the news that she is pregnant and the fallout involving the baby's father.

The resolution provides a neat segue into The Diplomat's Wife, which temporarily departs from Emma's story and centres on her friend Marta. Like Emma, she is part of the resistance movement and, when the war ends, she finds herself in love with and pregnant to an American serviceman named Paul.

Marta has no sooner reached England (where she is scheduled to meet up with Paul) when she learns his plane has crashed.

Alone and desperate, she promptly accepts a proposal from a British diplomat named Simon, who apparently lacks the ability to count to nine. When Marta delivers a full-term baby seven months after they have exchanged vows, she is able to pass her daughter off as his (despite their relationship having remained unconsummated prior to their wedding day).

What happens next involves a veritable labyrinth of plot twists. Will the two women ever find true happiness? The answer will keep you guessing until the final page is turned.

VERDICT: A worthwhile odyssey.

The Kommandant's Girl & The Diplomat's Wife, Pam Jenoff, Harlequin, $29.99.