Thank you to the author/Netgalley for the gifted copy.
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Published: October 11, 2022
SUMMARY:
Three women, a nation seduced by a madman, and the Nazi breeding program to create a so-called master race.
At Heim Hochland, a Nazi breeding home in Bavaria, three women’s fates are irrevocably intertwined. Gundi is a pregnant university student from Berlin. An Aryan beauty, she’s secretly a member of a resistance group. Hilde, only eighteen, is a true believer in the cause and is thrilled to carry a Nazi official’s child. And Irma, a 44-year-old nurse, is desperate to build a new life for herself after personal devastation. All three have everything to lose.
Based on untold historical events, this novel brings us intimately inside the Lebensborn Society maternity homes that actually existed in several countries during World War II, where thousands of “racially fit” babies were bred and taken from their mothers to be raised as part of the new Germany. But it proves that in a dark period of history, the connections women forge can carry us through, even driving us to heroism we didn’t know we had within us.
My thoughts:
For as much historical fiction as I read set during WWII, I feel I am always learning something new and that is certainly the case here with Jennifer Coburn’s latest novel. This is a harrowing, emotional story based on historical events that make is all the more disturbing.
Told from the points of view of three women, this story is quite powerful, and I found myself totally absorbed by the events that took place in this book. I had never heard of the Lebensborn Society prior to reading this book, so you know that sent me down a rabbit hole of research once I finished and I greatly appreciated the author’s note at the end. This is definitely a book that will have you feeling a range of emotions – and not all positive.
This is a powerful, challenging read. It really makes you wonder what made the Nazis believe they had the right to start this type of program in the first place. It’s disturbing but also quite enlightening and the clearly did her research and was able to deliver a story that I know will stay with me for quite some time.
