Defending Britta Stein by Ronald H. Balson (Review by Lara Ferguson)

Attorney Catherine Lockhart is reluctant to take on what seems to be a simple case when she is drawn into Britta Stein’s dilemma by a close friend and mentor. It appears, that perhaps Ms. Stein has simply started to become a little confused. But Catherine becomes intrigued, and then determined as she hears the facts of the case and begins to investigate. Why would this elderly woman who has never even had a parking ticket suddenly paint these heinous words on the side of a local bar? Could the things she said about its owner be truth? So begins the journey of discovery. Britta must share her story, and Catherine, Emma (Britta’s niece) and Liam (Catherine’s investigator husband) must find the way to prove it as truth. As the tale progresses, Balson weaves known facts of the Danish people’s bravery and heroics during WWII, with fiction, in such a way that history becomes real, creating compelling characters, past and present, who are determined to make a mark on their world. He builds a credible, readable story, inserting facts where appropriate, but leaving room for supposition and imagination along the way, making the narrative relatable to the reader. Defending Britta Stein draws the reader in, exposing not only the darkness in the world during WWII, but also places of light and hope. What begins as your typical courtroom drama–flashy, publicity-seeking attorney versus smart, principled and truth-seeking attorney in a seemingly unwinnable case, transforms into a compelling personalization of an astounding act of national resistance and unity.