FOUR STARS
This book seriously needs an epilogue. With all the drama and excitement that literally had me holding my breath, it just suddenly ended and went to the Author’s Notes, which are worth reading, by the way.
The whole book is a powerhouse that addresses the darkest part of modern history, the Nazis and the Third Reich, and their efforts to create a master race. Of course, I knew that was one of their major objectives from my time spent in history classes and reading on the subject myself, but until I read this book I had never heard of the Lebensborn Society , which was essentially a bunch of “perfect” young German girls who were breeding “perfect” children for Hitler and the Reich. Some of them were already pregnant by “perfect” German men. Others were bedding down with SS officers, who were strangers. Yes, the Reich was running brothels; breeding operations. I was stunned when I discovered this and I wanted to know more.
The story centers on Gundi, who is pregnant by her Jewish boyfriend and is being cared for at Heim Hochland, a maternity home for unwed mothers who show physical traits of being members of this master race. The nurses there all assume that the father of her child is also Aryan and she’s not at liberty to correct them.
The second character is Hilde. How I wanted to slap her for being such a suck-up and thinking she deserved special privileges because of who the father of her baby was. I wanted her to get her comeuppance so bad. Anything bad that happened to her she deserved and then some. I’m not sure I’d actually call her an antagonist, but she was young, foolish, and unlikable. Her conniving, lying, and manipulative ways knew no boundaries. She was the poster child for the Reich. The sad part of it was she just wanted to be loved and accepted. We all do. Right? She just went to extremes to get it and sacrificed too much, which made her a totally believable character.
Then there was Irma. She surprised me more than any of the other characters in the entire book. I wasn’t too keen on her at first, but then I saw another side of her that made me step back and rethink her. What a conundrum she was in as the story progressed. She was a nurse at the Heim Hochland and part of her orders were not to get close to the girls. How does one do that?
The story is based on facts. The author definitely did her homework and presented what she’d learned in a way that horrified yet informed me at the same time. I was drawn into the lives of these three women and hoped for the best for Gundi and Irma. I didn’t care what happened to Hilde, since I didn’t like her, but it would’ve been nice to know what happened to all of them one year, two years, three years, or even after the war. I wanted to know what happened to Leo and Sister Dorothea. I wanted to know more about Renate and Gisela and even Hannah. We were left hanging with no sort of wrap up, which is why I’m giving this book four stars.
It was wonderfully written and tackled a subject that is dark, grisly, inhumane, and not known to everyone. But it needed an epilogue. Still a great read.
*I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
**Expected release date is October 11, 2022
Hanging out with Kristi 