Author: Debbie Rix
Started: Jan. 1, 2022
Finished: Jan. 4, 2022
Thanks to Debbie Rix, Bookouture, and Netgalley for the chance to read this book in advance of publication in exchange for an honest review. This book will be available to the public on Jan. 13, 2021.
In Germany, at the beginning of Hitler's reign, Annaliese meets a doctor named Hans Vogel who gives her all she could want in life. In order to advance his career, he takes on the role of medical researcher at Dachau - a German labor camp. As an officer in the Third Reich, Hans is expected to have a large family to help the Aryan race and he and Annaliese are having difficulties getting pregnant after many years of marriage. After learning that he is impotent, Hans arranges for Anna to sleep with their gardener, a slave from Dachau and they will pass the child off as their own. What he did not count on was Anna falling in love with the gardener. When the Allies defeat the Germans, Hans escapes Germany and Anna decides to stay behind with her son. Years later, Anna learns the many secrets Hans kept from her and how much she should have known.
This is a well-told and researched Holocaust story from the German perspective. The characters are based on real people with a dose of fictionalization to make them more appealing. I particularly appreciated the author's notes where she explained the truth and the real intrigue behind the story and how it came to be. Debbie Rix took care to develop a story that would keep the reader intrigued from beginning to end. I will be reading some of Rix's backlist and getting to know her better as an author.