Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Germany 1940. As secretary to the leader of the SS, Magda spends her days sending party invitations to high-ranking Nazis, and her evenings distributing pamphlets for the resistance. But Magda is leading a dangerous double life, smuggling secrets out of the office. It’s a deadly game, and eventual exposure is a certainty, but Magda is driven by a need to keep the man she secretly loves safe as he fights against the Nazis…
Forty years later. Nina’s heart pounds as she steps into an uncertain future carrying a forged passport, a few bank notes, and a scribbled address for The Tower House taken from an intricate drawing she found hidden in her grandmother’s wardrobe. Separated from her family and betrayed by her country, Nina’s last hope is to trace her family’s history in the ruins of the past her grandmother ran from. But, when she finally finds the abandoned house, she opens the door to a forgotten story, and to secrets which will change everything: past, present, and future…
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Secretary to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Secretary by Catherine Hokin is a dual timeline story set in Germany during World War Two and the 1980’s as the city is split between East and West. It’s a slow burner, as I have found with several of this author’s books, but once it finds its footing it really develops into an eye opening remarkable story that gives a fascinating insight into one families experiences of war and its long time reverberating impact. The book opens as Magda, a young woman who is methodical and never careless, always wanting to be safe, is given a gift by her boss Heinrich Himmler.
Tension radiates from the pages and she is on tender hooks thinking she has been discovered. It’s clear she doesn’t want this gift, that she would return it in an instant. For it symbolises torture, danger and evil. She has worked under false pretences with the danger of discovery imminent on a daily basis. ’We have played our parts so perfectly, they believe we are the same as them. What if no one ever believes we were not?’ An interesting statement that will stick in the readers mind as they navigate their way through this complex, twisty and eye opening read.
The story is told from two female viewpoints, that of Magda during the war years working for Himmler and then we move back and forth between Berlin in the 1980’s as her granddaughter Nina tries to understand why her city is split in two and just what role Magda played in the death of so many innocent people. I’ve read so many books set during World War Two so it was refreshing that the history of Germany is explored in a new way here. I really felt as if a window was opened into the past and the ramifications of the war were explored so many years later.
The Berlin that Nina inhabits is split into West and East with Nina living in the East. She is a complex character who initially I found difficulties in feeling any sympathy for. She seemed very whingy and moany. Not at all happy with her life and ok I could see why this was the case as her life is ruled under an iron fist, with innumerable rules and regulations and constant fear that you could be taken off the streets and imprisoned for something in this present day wouldn’t be viewed as a misdemeanour at all. But still she was hard to crack and perhaps because she was so young I didn’t value her daily life experiences earlier on in the book as much as I should have given the crucial role she played later on. I found myself much more interested in Magda’s story at least until the last quarter or so of the novel.
Nina is a crucial element to the overall story and she becomes the catalyst in bringing the past and present together in order to confront itself. She is a character who is confused and lonely and deeply caught up in a longing for a life in the west that was so very far away even though a wall was all that separated the two worlds. When we first meet her she is a young girl attending her grandfathers funeral but we then journey with her as she becomes a teenager. She has great respect for Magda but she can’t understand why her past is such a closed book. Just what did she do during the war that she will not talk about and how does it impact the present political situation.
Nina becomes a rebel and endures many spirit shattering experiences. She places herself in the firing line in dangerous situations and you do think why is she doing this? But it’s like the essence of her grandmother is deep within her. That need, desire and want to do what is right in the face of such oppression and unnecessary suffering. She is similar to Magda in that she can’t stand by and do nothing but in becoming active with the best of intentions she is putting her life on the line. One girl can’t change the course of time or history on a national scale but she can delve back into the past on a more personal, family level and in doing so she uncovers a story that is heart-breaking and inspiring in equal measure. Will Nina believe the cold hard facts as presented or can she search further, pull back the layers and see the wood for the trees and find out just what Magda has been running from all these years? Was this running and invasion necessary? Do we judge people far too rashly?
I found the parts of the book set during Magda’s time working for Himmler during the war were the sections that I wanted to get back to when I was reading about Nina. The research undertaken for this book must have been immense as you really do feel you are in Berlin during Nina’s time. But still it’s further back in the past that caught my attention. I think we still think the bringing down of the Berlin wall occurred only a few years ago when in fact it was 30 years ago. But Magda, for me, was the stand out character. The rise of national socialism in the late 1930’s meant Magda’s life direction took an unusual and over time life threatening turn.
She had been brought up to believe in and stand for equality for all. That the same standards and laws should be applied to everyone regardless of religion or politics. But when Hitler is hell bent on eradicating Jews Magda can see that her families opinions are not held by everyone. When she is offered a job as secretary to Walther, who runs a factory which employs many Jews, she jumps at the chance and as the political situation in Germany deteriorates and the venom of Hitler expands beyond the country borders, world wide, Magda finds herself entangled in a double life that if discovered could lead to the ultimate punishment.
Magda was brave, fearless, courageous and determined and the love she has for someone will see her push through the darkest of times as her resistance work increases. For what she and Walther are engaged in, if discovered, would mean not just their downfall but the end of so many others. Even after reading lots of books featuring resistance work I still am always surprised by the fact that so many people put their lives on the line when they didn’t need to. It shows their compassion and need for right to triumph over wrong, good to win over evil and their urge to fight against so much needless injustice. Magda believes, and rightly so, that nobody is worth more than anyone else on the basis of birthplace or wealth or blood. ’We bury ourselves in Hitler’s world so we are in step with them, not running behind’. She certainly did this as accepting the role of Himmler’s secretary, well she really had no other choice, really leads her to the lions den and what she learns and witnesses is very helpful. But is she too close to the centre? Will her actions be misinterpreted by those she is really fighting for? ‘We didn’t stand by, or turn away .We did something. That has to count’. But will it count when Nina makes a discovery and sets about finding the answers that arise.
Secrets and a tangled web are slowly revealed and in my mind the last quarter of the book was by far the most superior with so many twists and turns and things began to make much more sense. There are several reveals which leave you open mouthed in shock and you think wow what a clever, intriguing and spellbinding story Catherine Hokin has written. I find this author leads you along a certain route for the majority of her books and then bang with one single sentence whatever opinions you had formed of the book are shattered and the plot takes on a whole new level of intensity. I just wish as I have said previously when reading her books that this intensity would come much earlier in the book. What you think is perhaps just an average read becomes something so much more once you reach a certain point and I would love for this to be evident from the outset. Saying all that Catherine Hokin is a really impressive author and any book I have read by her has opened my mind in a new way to the past and I love the way connections are made with surprising reveals and explanations. The Secretary is definitely worth a read and will truly show you how the events of the war years were still being felt right up until the early 90’s.
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