On March 12, 1940, Spanish Sea Captain Gonzalez pulled four
German castaways from the ocean and put course to Cadiz.
One of them, speaking only in German, asked the captain to
take them to Portugal instead. As a gift for agreeing to do
so, the German gave the captain a gold-and-diamond-emblem.
The story, however, starts in Munich in the year 1919.
Fifteen-year-old Paul and his mother are forced to live with
his mother's sister and family, as servants, after his
father commits suicide. Paul bears the ridicule and torment
by his spoiled cousin, Jürgen, and turns to his dreams for
comfort.
Paul falls in love with the young woman who is supposed to
marry Jürgen. She reciprocates and Jürgen is so fueled with
rage that he vows to kill Paul. Paul learns from another
cousin, a terrible secret about his father, just before the
man kills himself. Blamed for providing the gun, Paul and
his mother are kicked out of the house and forced to live on
the streets until Paul earns enough to gain a room in a
boarding house. Even though Jürgen is stronger, Paul
prevails in the several attempts on his life. Jürgen takes
a position on Hitler's Storm Troopers and Paul, smart and
resourceful, gains employment and manages to better his life.
Over the next two decades, many events, orchestrated by
Jürgen or consequences of Paul's actions, propel Paul in a
direction he would have never dreamed he'd follow.
Juan Gomez-Jurado took factual information surrounding a
special and valuable emblem handed down from a Spanish Sea
Captain to his grandson, researched the possibilities, and
came up with THE TRAITOR'S EMBLEM. Set in Germany during
times of struggle and heartache, THE TRAITOR'S EMBLEM is a
fictional mixture of love story, historical events, and
humility and honor against arrogance and cowardice. I found
THE TRAITOR'S EMBLEM an interesting story and enjoyed the
opportunity to read it.
The Straits of Gibraltar, 1940. In the heart of a storm at
sea, Captain Gonz lez rescues a group of German castaways.
When the torrent subsides, the leader of the survivors
gratefully offers the captain a strange-looking emblem made
of gold and diamonds, in exchange for safe passage to the
coast of Portugal. Decades later, in 2002, the son of
captain Gonz lez receives a substantial offer for the
emblem. He does not sell it, but the buyer reveals an
astounding story behind that mysterious object: it holds the
key to Paul Reiner's lifelong quest... Munich, 1919. After
his family fall into disgrace, 15-year-old Paul Reiner and
his mother work as servants in the palace of Baron Von
Schroeder. Unhappy and full of despair, Paul dreams of the
heroic father he never knew. But one night, seconds before
committing suicide, Paul's cousin reveals a terrible secret.
Paul's father didn't die in the First World War, as he had
always been told. He was killed by someone very close to
him, and for unclear reasons. This discovery turns Paul's
world upside down and from that moment, Paul sacrifices
everything to discover the truth behind his father's death,
even his love for Alys Tannenbaum, a Jewish photographer who
helps him on his dangerous pursuit. Together they fight for
their love, the truth behind Paul's family and the vengeance
of Paul's half brother who rises to become a high-ranking
Nazi and on Hitler's orders and successfully infiltrates the
Mason organization to root out their Jewish members. In the
vein of Dumas' and Zaf n's masterpieces, Juan Gomez-Jurado's
The Traitor's Emblem is an epic novel spanning decades of
family betrayal, impossible love and the high price of
vengeance. Set against the dark and menacing streets of
Depression-era Munich and the cruel rise of Nazism, G
mez-Jurado's spellbinding thriller proves again that he is a
master of narration.