By Janis Robinson Daly

Published March 26, 2026-Black Rose Writing-Historical Fiction- 281pp

Book Summary

When dreams collide with war, survival becomes the ultimate performance. In October 1916, eighteen-year-old Josephine Therese Marzynski leaves Boston for Berlin to pursue her dream of studying opera at Germany’s most prestigious music conservatory. Living with family friends and immersing herself in German culture, she finds unexpected beauty and friendship in the heart of enemy territory.

But when America enters the Great War in April 1917, Josephine’s world transforms overnight-from welcomed student to enemy of the state. Trapped in Berlin as rationing tightens and suspicion mounts, Josephine must navigate daily police check-ins, bureaucratic interrogations, and the constant threat of internment. Her survival depends on German friends who risk their own safety to protect her, while she struggles with divided loyalties between her American identity and the people who have become her chosen family.

Based on the true story from Josephine’s memoir and set against the backdrop of a city slowly starving under the weight of war, Under Two Flags is a gripping tale of resilience, moral complexity, and the transformative power of music in humanity’s darkest hours. As Josephine fights to secure passage home, she confronts impossible choices that will test everything she believes about loyalty, survival, and the true meaning of patriotism.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Under Two Flags is the retelling of the memoir of Josephine Therese Marzynski, an American woman studying opera in Berlin, 1916-1917. Janis Robinson Daly ‘s grandfather, Eliot Harlow Robinson, Sr., was the ghostwriter for Josephine’s first-hand account, With Old Glory in Berlin, published in 1918. Now Daly has recreated this riveting story, focusing on Josephine, a spunky, young Jewish girl from Boston, with an overriding desire to follow her dreams.

Janis Robinson Daly composed and directed this thrilling account of the 18-year-old opera singer’s 13-month study at the Konservatorium der Musik in 1916, before the United States entered World War I. Daly’s composition is filled with realistic emotion and immersive descriptions of the German people, their militaristic attitudes, and the exquisite scenery. The details of rationing and dwindling of necessities sink readers deep into the passions of a people experiencing war. Emotion pours through Daly’s words the way emotion pours through Josephine’s voice. Family, neighbors, classmates, Berliners and German soldiers. All are portrayed through the lens of a young woman, far away from her family, stuck in a country at war. Josephine’s patriotic, homesick sharing of an emotional July 4 with a neighbor in 1917 is a favorite.

Under Two Flags is presented in the format of an opera: an overture, acts, scenes, an intermission, and the finale. This format is the perfect stage for Daly’s enlightening use of similes to describe characters and situations by making comparisons to scenes from various operas, a charming. compelling addition to the prose.  

Brava! A piercing operatic light on a driven young woman in a chaotic, uncertain time in history. Suspenseful. Dramatic. Rewarding. Highly recommended.