The plot to kill Hitler, the deadly cat-and-mouse dance between the Nazis and the Resistance, the near-suicidal bravery of the men and women who smuggled Jewish children out of France — all of these are real. All of this happened. And although The Berne Train’s main characters are fictional, they live and love and act in a world that is deeply nuanced and realistically rendered.

Nick Browning, Mariel Beauvais and Dieter Braun are offered as authentic and flawed human beings, each working in their own way against an evil that overwhelmed an entire continent. Their courage, their passion — and even their failures — make them powerful actors who transcend the page.