Reviewed by Emma Crowley
1944. ‘I have to go away, my darling. Please, be brave, stay alive, for me.’ Her mother’s voice breaks. The little girl tries to stop the forbidden tears from falling, as the train takes her mother, and she is left alone in the camp…
Berlin, six years later. When Hanni Winter shows her new husband the heartbreaking photos she captured during the war, his reaction is unexpected. His face white, Freddy can’t take his eyes off the photo of a young girl around four years old. ‘That’s Renny,’ he whispers, ‘my sister, she was taken by the Nazis…’
Hanni remembers her perfectly – the child with the wide eyes and bitten lips, who wouldn’t let herself cry despite the chaos and cruelty all around them in the camp. Her heart had broken for the little girl as she took her picture, desperate to reveal the truth about the Nazis to the world. If that child is Renny, then they must try to find her. They must return to hell on earth.
But when Hanni arrives at the black and white arch of the camp, she comes face to face with a man she fears more than any other. Can she find the strength to fight again, or will every hope for the future be lost forever?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Girl in the Photo to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Girl in the Photo is the third book in the Hanni Winter series by Catherine Hokin and what an outstanding series it has been so far. It just seems to go from strength to strength and each new book pushes the story on very well whilst also maintaining the tension and mystery throughout. Hanni is a standout character who has been through so much but still harbours many secrets close to her chest and now some of those are edging ever closer to the surface. If they find the light of day will the relationship that she has worked so hard to build with Freddy come crashing down or is the love they have for one another strong enough to withstand the onslaught of new information that is about to come to light?
I have loved this series since book one The Commandant’s Daughter as it’s really different from the usual World War Two stories I have read. It goes beyond the war and focuses on the effects it had on people and how their actions during that time had such a lasting impact. I loved that within the first two books there was a mystery running alongside the main plot and it added even more excitement and intrigue to the story. Here I felt the story became more personal as what has been haunting Freddy really comes into play. I kept waiting for the mystery element to appear but it didn’t and I must confess to being slightly disappointed as I thought it had added so much to the first two books but then I pushed that minor gripe aside and really it’s my own selfishness wanting this as the storyline here was so strong and didn’t need any extra frills. We really got to the heart of what had been driving/haunting Freddy for so long and in doing so Hanni’s own secrets start to come to light and I knew it would be interesting to see how their two lives would intertwine even further and become affected by everything that was unfolding and developing.
The book has a beguiling opening. It’s 1944 and a young girl is in a room with other children in Theresienstadt, a place where death, horror and illness lingers around every corner. There are no toys or luxuries in the room and the threat of being taken away into the unknown and the worst occurring is ever present. The little girl knows she is called Renny and she spends all her time waiting. She knows her mother is gone but she believes she will be back. We then move forward to 1950 and in Berlin Hanni is celebrating the opening of her photography exhibition which has been a huge success. Hanni’s exhibition gets tongues wagging as it has photos of Theresienstadt. These images are tackling her past but the finer details she has kept secret from Freddy, the love of her life. She has long held secrets and silences and kept a curtain drawn around the life she had before and during the war.
When Freddy sees one of her photos he can’t believe his eyes. He is almost sure it is long lost sister Renny. He never gave up hope after all these years that he would find out exactly what had happened to her. Seeing this photo instils a spark in him that had lain dormant but never fully extinguished. He now knows that she was still alive in 1944.This leads to further questions -is there a chance that she is still out there somewhere? Why did Hanni never say she was at Theresienstadt and what else has she been keeping from him? His job as a detective has led him to have a keen eye for detail and he is determined to try and discover what happened to Renny.He wants the truth and will use any means necessary to get it? But at what cost will it come to his relationship with Hanni?
I found in the previous books and even throughout this story the further things developed that Hanni had numerous chances to tell him the truth and it became frustrating that she seemed to back down when opportunities presented themselves. She doesn’t fight hard enough to make him listen in order to share the truth and specific facts that have needed to be aired for quite some time. She really needed to trust Freddy enough to face up to herself and who she was and trust him enough that he will still love her when she reveals the truth. But I felt she knew that she was in too deep and that Freddy was very hot headed and carried such a lot of hatred and given the history of the whole situation both on their own individual levels, as a duo and just the general background and circumstances to Freddy being left with no members of his family she knew she was threading a very thin line. Was she just too comfortable in her new found happiness? Yet, the guilt and what she witnessed and experienced not to mention the connections between her evil father and the story as a whole she was caught between a rock and a hard place. But still I thought if she loved Freddy enough she would make that sacrifice but whether that occurred it remains to be seen?
I found the development of the story was just perfect. A very balanced opinion of all people involved in the core plot of the book was presented and as a reader I swayed back and forth as to the right thing to do and the further I delved into the story the more tense and dangerous things became which only increased my anxiety over the whole situation. For I desperately wanted a positive outcome that would work for everybody. That Freddy might be one of the lucky ones to find a lost relative from during the war and that Hanni could unburden herself without all the revelations destroying what she had worked so hard to build up.She had tried to put the past behind her but the past always has a way of catching up with you whether you wish it would or not.
Freddy embarks on a dangerous journey to Theresienstadt and beyond and I admired when Hanni finally got the courage to go with him whilst knowing that the information and silences she harbours will have a very detrimental affect on Freddy when they break free at the surface. For surely they must? I thought this quote summed up perfectly the emotions Hanni was wrestling with throughout the book-‘ His happiness matters more to me than mine, mine matters more to him than his’. Hatred, lies, murder, neglect, deprivation, pain and suffering all become apparent the further Freddy delves into the story of what happened to his sister. There were so many twists and turns that began to occur that to go into any specific detail would ruin the book but suffice to say I was glued to every page and swayed between joy and sadness as we raced towards the conclusion. What I will say is that Catherine Hokin is brave in the fact that readers want a certain resolution or outcome and in order to get there she is not giving her characters an easy time of it. She could sew things up all nice and neatly but instead hardship and raw emotion exist side by side right until the very last word. I was heartbroken and in a way bitter at what I was reading in the last quarter but upon reflection things needed to end the way they did to allow time, breathing space and reflection before we move on to the conclusion of Freddy and Hanni’s story in book four.
The Girl in the Photo is another brilliant book from Catherine Hokin. She has really found her voice with these Hanni Winters books. As I said I wanted more mystery/murder but then I realised the first two books provided this as a precursor to the main event which we got in book three. The overall plot right from the very first word of book one to the last of book three has just been so carefully and beautifully executed. Catherine Hokin, has taken her readers on a fabulous journey, one which you will want to go back to the beginning and start all over again for both Freddy and Hanni really get under your skin as they have such incredible and powerful voices.I really felt as if the author took control of everything and I would have gone in whichever direction she was leading.
There are no lulls or boring sections placed in the story as mere filler. Instead every word and action is so relevant in what are compelling, memorable and riveting stories and The Girl in the Photo is no exception. I am delighted there will be a final chapter to conclude Hanni’s story as things were left on such a cliff hanger and really I don’t want things to end the way they appearing to be at the moment. The web of lies and deceit still exist and need to be resolved and there have been many dangerous and unpredictable complications which have set us up nicely for the conclusion which I am very much looking forward too. If it’s anything of the calibre of the series so far myself and many readers will be in for a real treat.
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