The White Rose Resists

A Novel of the German Students Who Defied Hitler

By: Amanda Barratt

Narrated by: Christa Lewis, Greg Tremblay

Inspired by the incredible true story of a group of ordinary men and women who dared to stand against evil.

The ideal of a new Germany swept up Sophie Scholl in a maelstrom of patriotic fervor - that is, until she realized the truth behind Hitler's machinations for the fatherland. Now she and other students in Munich, the cradle of the Nazi government, have banded together to form a group to fight for the truth: the White Rose. Risking everything to print and distribute leaflets calling for Germans to rise up against the evil permeating their country, the White Rose treads a knife's edge of discovery by the Gestapo.

Annalise Brandt came to the University of Munich to study art, not get involved with conspiracy. The daughter of an SS officer, she's been brought up to believe in the Führer's divinely appointed leadership. But the more she comes to know Sophie and her friends, the more she questions the Nazi propaganda.

Soon Annalise joins their double life-students by day, resisters by night. And as the stakes increase, they're all forced to confront the deadly consequences meted out to any who dare to oppose the Reich.

©2020 Amanda Barratt (P)2021 Tantor

Captivating

I love that there were both male and female readers on this book for different characters. I loved the intertwining of the lives and how the story played out. The ending though!! ❤️❤️❤️

Sadly Relevant Today

I love learning about people who stand against the evils of the world but this book hit harder because of how much is being echoed in 2025. Book bans, bigotry, Nazis...and, of course, the resistance to these harmful, hateful practices of weak individuals. People were executed for speaking out against one person and his bigoted ways and, though we aren't being executed at this time, people are making death threats and harming others for speaking out against another weak, paper man. How pathetic that people, in this day and age, embrace Nazism...or that anyone ever did. Worshipping a person who kills or attacks those who don't agree with them?!? The Scholls and those in The White Rose are heroes and inspirations to those who embrace humanity, decency, diversity, and inclusions. The courage, strength, and dedication they had to stand against evil, even knowing the danger they were putting themselves in, is admirable and something I hope to emulate.

Also, the way the story was told was well done. Changing the readers made the content more gripping.

powerful story

The story, well told from several viewpoints, helped me understand the passions and motivations of people living in extraordinarily difficult conditions. Heartbreaking faith displayed.

It was fine.

The story of the White Rose resistance group is powerful, With a book this long, I expected more details about the real work they did, with well-known facts as highlights. In the case of this book, however, a lot of time was spent building up emotions and circumstances, then the story cut away, only to return to the scene a week or years later. If the fictional aspect of this story was better, I may have been able to overlook the missing factual detail, but it was not great either. The ending was unexpected (in a that-seemed-like-a-cop-out way). Almost like she didn't know how to end the story, so pick something fantastical to end it quickly.

I also disliked the narrator. I've listened to one other book she performed (also about the White Rose actually) and felt the same. She only has a couple voices, and all the women characters have an aloofness that seems unrealistic...unless they are in a panic, and then it's old fashioned unbelievable drama for a paragon two.

Excellent book

Very well written. The subject was interesting and compelling. I appreciated that the author was not afraid to mention the faith the students had in God.
it took a while for me to get into it.