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Reviewed by Raanan Geberer for Readers' Favorite
The Guardian by Aneta Cruz skillfully combines historical fiction, mystery and the paranormal in one fascinating package. In Prague in 1939, Dr. Josef Stein, the head psychiatrist at a sanatorium called the Chateau, seems to be the epitome of upper-middle-class respectability. However, he has lost his faith in God after the death of his son and has developed a fascination with the occult. In addition, the Nazis have recently occupied Czechoslovakia, and the Gestapo has told him that because he is a Jew, his removal from his position is only a matter of time. One day, a distressed young woman who has apparently hugged her child to death is brought into the Chateau. She insists that she didn’t kill the child and that it is the fault of a monstrous, otherworldly entity named Magdalena, the “Guardian of Unwanted Children.” Dr. Stein knows he must investigate, even though no one will believe him.
Aneta Cruz is a master storyteller who is able to describe humdrum, everyday life in Prague, such as the daily routine at the Chateau, in the same chapters where she describes dramatic changes in that life, such as the constant, terrifying searches by the Gestapo. Reading The Guardian, one can understand why premonitions about the Holocaust were initially dismissed, since no one thought things could get any worse than they had become. Turning from real-life monsters (the Nazis) to mythical ones, Aneta Cruz has certainly done her homework; in a postscript, she tells how she has thoroughly researched the monsters and other supernatural entities that are found in European folk tales. All in all, The Guardian is an enchanting read, and you’ll keep wondering what happens next.
