Every day he stood exactly where he was directed. He listened for his number, shouted his answer in the freezing cold. He was ragged and he was starving, but he was alive. He was one of the fortunate ones whom fate had left standing. And he needed to stay that way. For Hannah.Berlin, 1941. Felix Thalberg, a printer’s apprentice, has the weight of the world on his shoulders. His beloved city is changing under Nazi rule and at home things are no better – Felix’s father hasn’t left the house since he was forced to wear a yellow star, and his mother grows thinner every day.
Then one night, Felix meets a mysterious young woman in a crowded dance hall, and his life is changed forever. Hannah is like a rush of fresh air into his gloomy, stagnant life and Felix finds himself instantly, powerfully infatuated with her. But when he tries to find her again, she’s vanished without a trace.
Was Hannah taken away by the Gestapo and held prisoner… or worse? When Felix himself is imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, his thoughts are only for her safety. And when a life-threatening injury lands him in the ward of Dr Max Eichel – a Nazi medical officer with a sadistic reputation – his love for his lost Hannah sees him through the pain.
Until one day Dr Eichel brings his pretty young wife to tour the camp and Felix’s world is thrown off-kilter. Framed in the hospital window he sees – impossibly – the same girl he met that fateful night… her wrist in the vice-like grip of the deathly calm SS Officer. And it’s clear Hannah recognises him at once – there is no mistaking her expression, she has been dreaming of him too...
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Fortunate Ones to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
If you are looking for something that little bit different from your World War Two fiction then Catherine Hokin's The Fortunate Ones is the book for you. Taking the reader deep inside Germany during the destructive years which changed the world forever, the author brings her readers on an incredible, emotional, beautiful and moving story with the power of love at its centre. To be honest, I was expecting another book based simply around the events of the war of which I have read so many and its certainly a genre I enjoy reading but here Catherine Hokin took things to another level and the book just went from strength to strength the further I delved into the story. It had such fantastic and emotive writing with each word so carefully chosen as to make the reader stop, think, take stock and to absorb everything they were learning and feeling.
We have all read descriptions of what went on during the war in labour and concentration camps, and also as to what people went through living in fear in the towns and cities, but it felt like I was reading about everything for the first time. Simply because the author opened my eyes and grabbed my attention through such detailed and rich descriptive words and paragraphs. She seemed to have this unique ability to make things I had read about before fresh and never once did she shy away from saying exactly how things were despite how gruesome and appalling some of the images that sprang to mind while reading. At the same time, she was always able to capture such a real and intensive love that burned from first sight which then took the characters through many difficult and challenging times.
There are two distinct voices throughout the story which alternate every few chapters or so, these being Felix and Inge. In turn the book is split into four parts which begin in Berlin in late 1941 and take us through the war and beyond to 1956. I am glad that the story didn't solely focus on the war years but instead brought us passed this to see how the characters were coping with the impact of all their traumatic experiences and what they had witnessed. It showed that the effects of both war and love didn't end with the conclusion of fighting in 1945. Instead the influences and impressions had long term consequences. The story opens with a very prologue as a man is being interviewed post war about his imprisonment and what he had been made to do. These brief pages made me keen to read on and discover more. We then return to Berlin.
It is 1941 and Felix, aged 18, is struggling through the tough times where food shortages are rife and people are being taken because of their faith. There are strict rules and regulations for Jews and Felix thinks he is lucky as so far he is only categorised as a middling - mixed blood - whereas his father is full Jewish. His father Arno has retreated into himself, never leaving the apartment and barely speaking following the label put upon him and the loss of his job from the university. Felix and his mother Kirsten are the sole providers for the family but times prove even more desperate the longer the war rages on. He struggles to fit in but does whatever his mother requires of him when it comes to joining organisations and obeying rules. He is an apprentice printer which in the long term will stand him in good stead. One night as he is out dancing in a club he encounters Inge and as soon as he lays eyes on her he is smitten and this initial feeling of lust will develop into much more and sustain him through his times of incarnation, punishment and terror.
Inge tells him that her name is Hannah, a name which he will cling to for many years. They know nothing about each other, not even the fact that they come from very different backgrounds, but a second meeting in a park cements his feelings for her. Yes it may seem strange that such a deep and lasting love develops despite only meeting twice and then endures separation and the unknown for so long but the way the story was written everything felt very realistic as if this love could truly happen and that it was strong enough to fortify Felix through the times of cruelty and acts of inhumanity.
We journey with Felix as his life is turned upside down and capture and imprisonment becomes a reality but throughout it all he clings to the memory of Hannah and even when at his lowest ebb the memories of her sustain him and give him strength even though he has only met her twice. The descriptions of what Felix experiences were very hard to read as they were so vivid and haunting. You think you have read it all when it comes to what punishments were meted out and then out of nowhere the author surprises and horrifies you even further. But as the years pass Felix wants to know what happened to Hannah? Was she too taken prisoner? Will the letters he write to her remain unsent? This dogged determination and passion will keep Felix striving forward even when the war ends but will he be happy with what he eventually uncovers? Is he really only clinging to an image that he has carefully constructed in his head when in real life the reality is very much different and stark?
I was slightly apprehensive having so much of the story told from a male perspective as I am used to and comfortable with hearing more from a woman's point of view when it comes to the war. But in The Fortunate Ones, this genuinely did work and it's all thanks to the carefully constructed images and characteristics of each character and scene that Catherine Hokin creates. We get such a sense of the real inner feelings of both Felix and Inge and I felt I plunged with them to the depths of terror, fear and anger but yet there were very brief moments of love and relief. The further I read on, and the more difficult it became to leave the book out of my hands, the more raw, powerful, fascinating and intriguing the story became.
Inge otherwise known as Hannah was a character who I felt compassion for but at the same time I felt a slight resentment towards her in that she couldn't seem to break free from the chains around her even though she knew what was going on was unlawful and horrific. I wondered was Felix's love for Inge stronger as I thought there were numerous times where Inge didn't mention Felix or even think about him. I knew she was miles away from him in another world completely, having been forced into an arranged marriage with a much older man. A man who in turn will throw up many surprises as to his true characteristics and the actual nature of his job the further you move through the story. There were moments, flashes as such, which showed Inge's daring side and how she attempted to break free from the upper echelons of Germany's society that she found herself in. But they came few and far between.
Was she just a bit too biddable instead of striking out on her own? But yet one particular scene at the labour camp shows her making the ultimate sacrifice which then turned my initial thoughts and opinions on their head and demonstrated maybe she was cleverer than I gave her credit for and maybe her two meetings with Felix meant just as much to her as they did to him. The world where Felix and Inge meet is very different to the one post war, they cannot be the same people given all they have witnessed. Can their love help them persevere through the unbearable times?
I have seen some people with some complaints regarding the ending of The Fortunate Ones but I loved it and I thought it was very apt and I wouldn't have changed a thing. This book was truly a phenomenal read so expertly crafted and the fact the idea for the basis of the book sprung from a short story where a man and woman met in a Berlin cafe and whose paths briefly crossed just shows what an imagination and talent the author has to turn such a simple idea into an honest, intense and heartbreaking story. Catherine Hokin has written a very accomplished novel that blends to perfection imagination with historical fact. It should be read in as few sittings as possible as trust me you will be completely lost in the world that Felix and Inge inhabit. I have no hesitation in recommending this incredible story and the author has certainly become one I will look forward to reading more from in the future.
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