Emma's Review: The German Child by Catherine Hokin

Reviewed by Emma Crowley 

She lies unmoving on the threadbare cot, her throat hoarse from long hours of screaming but her tears keep falling. Her heart has been cleaved in two, now the Nazis have taken the only thing she has left – her child. She is utterly powerless against them. But as Annaliese cries herself to sleep, she makes a vow - she will find her precious baby again. Whatever it takes.

Berlin, 1979. Lawyer Evie has come to the city to investigate the horrifying stories of infants torn from their mothers during the war. One of the cases is Sebastian, whose yellowing birth certificate tells a heartbreaking tale. Evie is drawn to this lost man, and vows to do all that she can to help him.

But poring through old records, it is Evie who recognises the faded photo in a newspaper article. Her heart stops as she realises her whole life has been a devastating lie – and that her and Sebastian’s pasts are impossibly, unimaginably connected…

Book Links: Kindle 

Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The German Child  to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.

The German Child by Catherine Hokin underwent a name change whilst I was reading it and I have to say I do think the new title is more suitable. In this story Catherine Hokin has created one of the most vile characters that I have read about in a long time and that’s saying something considering how much historical fiction I read set during World War Two. Helene is the character in question and my immense dislike, and I’ll go one step further and say my hatred of her just grew and grew with each turn of the page. The utter animosity, lack of contempt and sheer gall of her was incredible right from page one and this never let up until the final page. Even though she is a fictional character and I have finished the book I am still thinking about her and I know if there were to be a further book (which I know there won’t be as it was concluded very well with all ends being tied up) she would be there in the exact same state of mind and would be continuing on the way she had for the entire book. But who is Helene and what has she done?

A brief introduction is provided with the book opening in September 1941. The Nazi’s are in power and rule with a stern and brutal fist. Life runs on orders and punishments. Helene is a loyal party member who alongside her husband runs in Hitler’s close circle. Himmler is her boss and she assists with clearings -removing Jewish children and other young undesirables from their villages. Her reputation proceeds her and Polish villages are being decimated of their young population. She is a woman with no feelings at all. Instead she agrees with and is complicit in wanting Germany to be strong and proud again and purged of its antisocial elements in order to make the country a commander on the world stage. She loved making room for the children with value and removing those who did not meet the criteria and she was dogged in her determination to fulfil Hitler’s wishes carrying out the programme with relish. She did not possess one maternal instinct but fulfilled her duty by having one child in order to further the Aryan race. But to say that child was met with disgust and emotional cruelty would be an understatement. 

As the story moves back and forth between the war years and 1980 Helene did not alter one bit in terms of her personality or her beliefs. There was no aspect of apology or seeking forgiveness or atonement and she could see nothing wrong in the role she played in the war. She maintained the same faced throughout and her only worry was that she would be caught and therefore be unable to continue the horrific work that she had begun during the war. Evil, hideous, malevolent and malicious are just a few of the words that I would use to sum her up. I felt at times we barely scratched the surface of what she was capable of and I don’t in anyway view this as a fault as the author had to keep everything balanced without giving too much away.I had not heard of the Lebensborn homes nor could have imagined what occurred there and I feel that Catherine Hokin has done a fantastic job of enlightening me on this aspect of the war which I had no previous knowledge of. So many children lost, stolen, kidnapped from innocent people and all to comply to the tyranny and madness of one man.

The homes are where the character of Annalise is introduced and when we meet her there is an air of innocence about her. That the home is providing a stop gap where she can have her baby in peace and comfort and no prying eyes will judge given that she is unmarried and pregnant by someone who she thinks will be there for her but in fact the complete opposite occurs. Annalise’s eyes are quickly opened once she gives birth and as the blurb suggest her baby is taken away from her which in turn sets the scene for another significant part of the plot to be created and explored. I did feel though that once the awful incident with Annalise occurred that she didn’t feature enough and when she did it was too brief and explanations were given too quickly. I would have loved a few more chapters from her perspective but again I understand there was a lot to cover and some aspects had to take precedence over others.

In 1980 in Washington we are introduced to Evie who works for the government and is part of a new section called the Office of Special Investigations who are tasked with investigating war crimes which had their origins in WW2. Evie and her boss Marty are completely overwhelmed with the scale of the task ahead of them but there is no better woman to investigate those who have slipped through the net and are perhaps hiding thinking the crimes they perpetrated during the war will remain a secret. Evie is one determined woman and it was so refreshing to have someone in a role of power where she could open many doors although one particular door leads to a whole maelstrom of emotions and things get a little too personal for her liking. Leading to Evie being placed in a very difficult position and one which I initially questioned would she be able to handle? Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place but she has power, might and strength and she knows that so many people and the deeper she delves that many lost children are depending on her to bring the people who escaped to justice in the hopes that they will pay for their crimes.

The story was moving along at an OK pace and I felt I was learning a lot about Evie but yet I wanted things to go back to the war years so I could learn a bit more about Helene and then bang all of a sudden with one discovery by Evie I was sitting up and everything was turned on its head. I thought oh my god how ingenious of the author and what an even bigger can of worms has now been opened up in which everything has to be revaluated and Evie has to tread very carefully indeed as everything she thought she knew was in fact false and a façade. I am being deliberately vague here as there is so much that could be said that would give away far too much of the plot and there are many layers which need to be uncovered before Evie will find the answers and justice that she seeks. But suffice to say my admiration and respect grew more and more for Evie the further the story developed although I will say her meeting with Sebastian who was a museum director well yes it provided another interesting angle to an already complicated tale that Evie found herself the centre of but for me Sebastian I could take or leave him. Yes, I did think it was brilliant how his story connected to the overall plot but I felt the romance side of things just came too quickly and to be honest I focused more on the bigger picture at play.

Is The German Child worth a read? Yes, definitely. It’s a real eye opener into an aspect of the war that deserves to be brought to the attention of many readers. It was very clever of the author to bind the past with the present and demonstrate how in many ways the concepts and the ideas and beliefs at the time of the war had not changed over 40 years later. There are complex characters that feature and certainly some you root for more so than others. This was a fantastic read which you will want to read in as few sittings as possible and Catherine Hokin has certainly done her subject matter and the thousands of innocent and lost children justice.