Today is the turn of a Bookouture published book The Commandants Daughter by Catherine Hokin. Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me a place on the tour and gifting a digital copy of the book so I can bring you my thoughts.
A heartbreaking novel about the incredible courage of ordinary people during the Second World War. Fans of The Alice Network, The Nightingale and The Tattooist of Auschwitz will never forget this powerful story of hope found in the darkest days.
1933, Berlin. Ten-year-old Hanni Foss stands by her father watching the celebrations marking Adolf Hitler as Germany’s new leader. As the torchlights fade, her safe and happy childhood changes forever as Reiner, the father she adores, is corrupted by his new position as commandant of an infamous concentration camp…
Twelve years later. As the Nazi regime crumbles, Hanni hides from her father on the outskirts of Berlin. In stolen moments, she develops the photographs she took to record the horrors of the camp – the empty food bowls and desperate faces – and vows to get justice for the innocent people she couldn’t help as a child.
But her carefully constructed new life is threatened when Hanni discovers a body hidden in a bombed-out building, and meets Freddy, the tortured young detective in charge of the case. Could the fierce emotion in his brown eyes distract Hanni from her quest for atonement?
Or will Reiner stop her himself? Because on the day she plans to deliver her damning photographs to the Allies, Hanni comes face to face with her father again. Reiner Foss has a powerful new identity and he makes it clear just how dangerous it will be to expose him. Now she faces a devastating choice, between the past which haunts her, and the chance of a future with Freddy…
A hook from one of my go-to genres, Historical fiction. This is a story that incorporates the second world war and the years afterwards.
Hanni Foss was a child different from most. Her father was a Commandant in a nazi concentration camp. As an adult, she has changed her identity and hides from her father. She meets Freddy when she stumbles across a body. Freddie is the detective in charge of the case. As Hanni plans to take revenge and atone for what the nazi’s did at the camp, she comes face to face from the monster of her own life. Will she manage to find her atonement? Or will she find herself in a dark place with nowhere to run?
A novel that tells a story from an angle that you don’t usually come across. Catherine Hokin has actually highlighted an issue that I can imagine plenty of German children of the Nazi regime came up against. The issue is a hard and difficult one, as we see, but the author has conveyed just how heartbreaking it was for a child to witness what Hanni did. Not always an easy read as it does make for an intense story. Highly recommended.
The characters are very well created, and I felt for Hanni. Her predicament really tugged at my heartstrings, and I felt like I could have been there. Of course, not all the characters are likeable, and the author has succeeded in her quest to show us exactly what each character is all about the good, the bad, and (as they say), the ugly.
A historical fiction novel that is overflowing with secrets, everyone is keeping some dark secrets, and no one is willing to talk about them. These do make it an atmospheric, tense, and emotional novel. This book is the first in a new series, and it will fly, I am sure. Any historical fiction lover should enjoy this as much as I did.
Buy Link
Amazon
Author Bio:
I seem to have followed a rather meandering career, including marketing and teaching and politics (don’t try and join the dots), to get where I have always wanted to be, which is writing historical fiction. I am a story lover as well as a story writer and nothing fascinates me more than a strong female protagonist and a quest. Hopefully those are what you will encounter when you pick up my books.
I am from the North of England but now live very happily in Glasgow with my American husband. Both my children have left home (one to London and one to Berlin) which may explain why I am finally writing. If I’m not at my desk you’ll most probably find me in the cinema, or just follow the sound of very loud music.
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