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Totally engrossing, I had a very hard time putting this book down.
A masterful blend of WWII historical fiction, mixed with well-crafted fictional characters, conversations and imagined events – that feels so real it brings this harrowing slice of the past to full technicolor life for the reader.
Seamless in its flow, the author adds layers, background and nuance to a story well-known, building a compelling picture of the very complicated essence of a hard-to-fathom man, – Hitler – along with some key members of his inner circle, together representing history’s most despised true-life characters, each deservedly regarded as the absolute epitome of all that is evil.
With a fascinating twist, the story unfolds with the introduction of Klara, a humble and innocent young German woman who is forced into a position as Hitler’s private cook. The author’s depiction of Klara and her evolving view of Hitler, and her Homeland, and all the events that transpire, is pitch-perfect – as she comes to experience and understand with mounting horror what is actually being plotted and executed by the military leaders behind the closed doors of Hitler’s summer home, and what it will mean to her own life. (It’s hard for the reader not to draw parallels with the terrifying realization of how close we all came to actually becoming Klara.)
As difficult as it was to read, I loved this book, – the horror and the brutality even more unbearable as we see the atrocities as they appear to “real” people and their families, in direct contrast to the absolute disregard and chilling other-worldliness exhibited by the demons spearheading the logistics of their inconceivable plans.
Klara herself could not be more relatable – a truly magical combination of heartbreaking vulnerability, and a core of steel that presents itself when it comes to protecting those she loves. No spoilers here, (you have to read the book), but it’s safe to say my heart broke completely and utterly for her, personally, as it did for the millions of Jews and other prisoners we may never meet as horrifying and disturbingly as we do between these pages.
The second in a trilogy by the author, I will definitely have to find the time to read the first in the series, and with that cliffhanger ending, can’t wait to read the sequel.
A great big thank you to the author for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.
