Sunday 16 January 2022

The German Wife - Debbie Rix

 Inspired by true events, this is a heart-stopping, unforgettable story of ordinary people fighting for
survival in the darkest of times. Fans of 
Orphan TrainThe Tattooist of Auschwitz and My Name is Eva will be utterly gripped by this beautiful, tragic World War Two novel.


Germany, 1939: Annaliese is trapped in a loveless marriage. Her husband Hans has become cold and secretive since starting a new job as a doctor at Dachau. Every morning she watches from her kitchen window as he leaves in his car. The sight of him in the dark uniform of the SS sends shivers of fear down her spine and she longs to escape…

When a tall, handsome Russian prisoner named Alexander is sent from Dachau to work in their garden, lonely Annaliese finds herself drawn to him as they tend to the plants together. In snatched moments and broken whispers, Alexander tells her the shocking truth about the camp. Horrified, Annaliese vows to do everything she can to save him.

But as they grow closer, their feelings for each other put their lives at risk. And Annaliese finds herself in grave danger when she dares to fight for love and freedom…

America, 1989: Turning the pages of the newspaper, Annaliese gasps when she recognizes the face of a man she thought she’d never see again. It makes her heart skip a beat as a rush of wartime memories come flooding back to her. As she reads on, she realizes the past is catching up with her. And she must confront a decades-old secret – or risk losing her only son…

Author Bio:

Debbie Rix has had a long career in journalism, including working as a presenter for the BBC. Her first novel, The Girl with Emerald Eyes was set around the building of the tower of Pisa and she has since released Daughters of the Silk Road and The Silk Weaver’s Wife. Debbie writes heartbreaking historical novels about love, tragedy and secrets.


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My Review

The German wife is a book that tries to understand what life must have been like for those women whose husbands, sons, fathers and other menfolk were involved in Hitler's Germany. The wife in question, Annalise, is married to a doctor at the Dachau concentration camp. We see the story from her point of view, when she is very much in the dark about what her husband is doing and from his point of view. While the book doesn't defend his actions, it does attempt to explain, to an extent, why he might have been involved in such a thing.
As is often the case with this kind of book, it's easy to forget that these were real events. While many of the characters on the page are the result of the writer's imagination, the events that they are witnessing are not. There are also some real-life characters shown here.
I have mixed feelings about this book and that is largely because of what it deals with. It is a gripping story, but also an unsettling one. I enjoyed the book and wanted to know what would come of the people within it, but as I say, the subject matter isn't really an easy one to deal with. Overall though, this was a good and interesting read.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.




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