by Debbie Rix
Publisher: Bookouture
Pages: 399
Format: eARC
Buy the Book: Amazon
Goodreads: Germany, 1939: Annaliese is a doctor’s wife, living in an elegant grey stone house with ivy creeping over the balcony. But when her husband is ordered to work at the Dachau labour camp, her ordinary life is turned upside down by the horrors of war. 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 back to her. As she reads on, she realizes the past is catching up with her. She must confront a decades-old secret – or risk losing everything…
Germany, 1942: Annaliese’s marriage is beginning to crumble. Her husband, Hans, has grown cold and secretive since starting his new job as a doctor at Dachau. When a tall, handsome Russian prisoner named Alexander is sent from the camp 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 truth about the shocking conditions at the camp. Horrified, Annaliese vows to do everything she can to save him.
But as they grow closer, their feelings for each other put them both in terrible danger. And when Annaliese falls pregnant she has to make an impossible decision between protecting herself and saving the love of her life…
Kritters Thoughts: The book starts with Annaliese as an older woman with her adult son confronting her about his father and wanting the truth; immediately after, the book goes back in time and stays there until the very end. Annaliese lived in Germany when a few encounters with a man, Hans will change her life forever.
Annaliese marries Hans who becomes a doctor who works at Dachau. While I do believe he went there thinking that he would be doing good work, it quickly changed and I do believe that he didn't think he could get out of the Nazi hold. After finishing the book, I read a few other reviews just to see other's thoughts and a few said they couldn't believe how naive Annaliese was and I can see that. There has been many accounts that the German people weren't fully aware and in that time where news wasn't on tv twenty-four hours a day, I can believe that Annaliese didn't know what all was happening at her husband's work.
The author did such an amazing job of writing a World War II book where some of the atrocities were included, but it wasn't overwhelming. I knew that there were experiments done on those being held in these camps, but to see them through the eyes of a doctor who had a little bit of a moral compass was interesting to read.
This was my first Debbie Rix book, but will not be my last.
Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row
Ebook 2021 Challenge: 159 out of 100
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one copy of this book free of charge from Bookouture. I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
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