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.