Synopses & Reviews
August 1945, Wiesbaden, Germany. With the country in ruins, Anna Klein, displaced and separated from her beloved husband, struggles to support herself and her six-year-old daughter, Amalia. Her typing job at the Collecting Point for the US Army's Monuments Men is the only thing keeping her afloat.
Charged with securing Nazi-looted art and rebuilding Germany's monuments, the Americans are on the hunt for stolen treasures. But after the horrors of the war, Anna wants only to hide from the truth and rebuild a life with her family. When easy-going American Captain Henry Cooper recruits her as his reluctant translator, the two of them stumble on a mysterious stash of art in a villa outside of town. Cooper's penchant for breaking the rules capsizes Anna's tenuous security and propels her into a search for elusive truth and justice in a world where everyone is hiding something.
Review
"A fascinating tale of survival, intrigue, and Nazi looted art amid the ruins of 1945 Germany. It's a world in which very little is what it appears to be and everyone has a story they don't want to tell. The author exploits this place and time deliciously."
James Kunetka, New York Times best selling author
Review
"Fans of Alan Furst will be delighted with this debut novel from the perspective of WW II survivors as they dig themselves out of the rubble and face deprivation and dislocation under Allied command. Yetmen has created a fascinating and complex heroine torn between 'good Germans and bad Germans' and the Americans who struggle to occupy and heal a vanquished nation."
Thomas Zigal, author of Many Rivers to Cross and The White League
Review
"Yetmen turns the narrative of the Allied forces' Monuments Men 180 degrees and gives us a German protagonist: a young woman who, with her daughter, has survived the war but now must figure out how to survive its aftermath. Yetmen rejects heroism and absolutes in favor of a more complex portrayal of postwar Germany and its American occupiers in which good can look like evil, evil can look like good, and no one is blameless. This page-turner from a talented new writer deserves a place on every historical fiction-lover's bedside table."
Kathy Leonard Czepiel, author of A Violet Season
Review
"Readers will be hard pressed to put this book down once they reach a certain point....Although it's rare to give a Perfect 10 to a debut author, I don't hesitate to do so. I highly recommend The Roses Underneath." Romance Reviews Today
Review
"The Roses Underneath is not a book you will read and forget. It will stay with you long after you have finished." Fresh Fiction
Review
"The Roses Underneath by C. F. Yetmen is a great read! The subject is intriguing, and based on true incidents in history. It is a well written historical mystery that gives us a glimpse of what life must have been like in post-war Germany." Readers Favorite Reviews
Review
"Author CF Yetmen (this is her first novel) reveals the trials of recovery from massive conflict starkly through the eyes of a single mother. She adroitly gives each her German heroine and her American protagonist a voice in sorting through the discordant, often contradictory remnants of a world blown apart, contrasted with the nobility of finding and preserving some of the finer bits of it." Curled Up With A Good Book
Review
"The Roses Underneath is a nicely crafted fictional sequel to Robert Edsel's non-fiction The Monuments Men. Both are first-rate mysteries that are solved by less-than-perfect individuals trying to fulfill a noble purpose." The Senior Voice
Synopsis
At the end of 1945 Anna Klein finds herself making tough choices about her future as a wife and mother. The delicate balance of her personal life seems to be falling apart and she finds herself homeless and relying on the kindness of a trusted co-worker who may not be all she appears. Anna finds solid footing in her work with American Monuments Man Henry Cooper as the two confront the higher-ups who threaten to shut down the art restitution operations and others who see the chance to enrich themselves. Meanwhile her feelings for Cooper - and his for her- simmer beneath the surface and complicate her life even more.
About the Author
C.F. YETMEN is a writer and consultant specializing in architecture and design. She is co-author of The Owner's Dilemma: Driving Success and Innovation in the Design and Construction Industry and a former publisher of Texas Architect magazine. The Roses Underneath is her first novel. Visit www.cfyetmen.com.