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Sunday 9 January 2022

The German Wife [Audiobook] by Debbie Rix

 

Narrated by Tamsin Kennard

💥💥💥 due to be published 13-January-2022 💥💥💥

Description from Goodreads:

"Germany, 1939: Annaliese is a doctor’s wife, living in an elegant grey stone house with ivy creeping over the balcony. But when her husband is ordered to work at the Dachau labour camp, her ordinary life is turned upside down by the horrors of war. And Annaliese finds herself in grave danger when she dares to fight for love and freedom…

America, 1989: Turning the pages of the newspaper, Annaliese gasps when she recognizes the face of a man she thought she’d never see again. It makes her heart skip a beat as a rush of wartime memories come back to her. As she reads on, she realizes the past is catching up with her. She must confront a decades-old secret – or risk losing everything…

Germany, 1942: Annaliese’s marriage is beginning to crumble. Her husband, Hans, has grown cold and secretive since starting his new job as a doctor at Dachau. When a tall, handsome Russian prisoner named Alexander is sent from the camp to work in their garden, lonely Annaliese finds herself drawn to him as they tend to the plants together. In snatched moments and broken whispers, Alexander tells her the truth about the shocking conditions at the camp. Horrified, Annaliese vows to do everything she can to save him.

But as they grow closer, their feelings for each other put them both in terrible danger. And when Annaliese falls pregnant she has to make an impossible decision between protecting herself and saving the love of her life… "

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This book is a departure from my usual but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I usually read crime/thriller books but I do have an interest in the World Wars and this sounded like something a bit different so I took a punt and I definitely wasn't disappointed.

With strong characters, a riveting story line blended between real events and fiction, this book had me hooked from the very beginning to the very end.  It's a story of love and survival set amongst the horrors of World War II.  It's told from the German perspective and provides an illuminating insight into what life was like for a German SS Officer sent to Dachau in order to further his medical experiments and his wife.  I'm not going to lie, this is a tough read in parts as you would expect from the subject matter but it's not overly gratuitous.  

This book is filled with moral dilemmas and whilst I didn't want to like or sympathise with any of the main characters, I found myself torn and asking myself the question "what would you have done in the same situation?"  I absolutely do not condone in any way, shape or form, the horrors inflicted by the Nazis on their fellow human beings but this book does make you question what you would have done had you been in their shoes.  I would hope to think that I would make different choices in the beginning but hindsight is a wonderful thing!

This is a story about love and hope amongst horror and fear and one that I would recommend to others who enjoy this genre.

I must give a shout out to the narrator, Tamsin Kennard, her voice absolutely drew me in completely and was perfect for this book.

Many thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.

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