The Lost Mother – ARC Book Review

She looked at the empty cradle where her baby had been. Her heart felt tattered and empty, like the hollow streets of Berlin after its people began to live in fear.

Berlin, 1934. Homes once filled with laughter stand empty as the Nazi party’s grip on the city tightens. When AnnaTiegel’s beautiful best friend catches Reich Minister Goebbels’ special attention, an impulsive act to save her brings Anna under his unforgiving scrutiny. First, she loses her job, then slowly, mercilessly, she finds her life stripped away. After her father is killed by the Nazis, Anna’s final hope is to escape to America with her boyfriend Eddy, but when she reaches his apartment on the agreed date, she finds it deserted. Alone and pregnant, the future feels terrifying, but she must try to protect the life inside her.

Rhode Island, 1957. Peggy Bailey stares in shock at the faded photograph of two laughing women which her beloved adoptive mother struggled to pass on to her before she died, whispering ‘It was inside your baby blanket when we brought you home’. As Peggy continues to stare, she realises that she has seen one of the girls before, in the most unlikely of places… Bursting at the realisation, she embarks on a mission which takes her across America to find the truth behind her heritage. Nothing, however, could prepare her for the tragic story her actions uncover…

A poignant and beautiful World War Two story about survival and a mother’s enduring search for her child against all the odds. A heart-breaking read for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, We Were the Lucky Ones and The Alice Network.

No. of pages:- 361 pages

Date published:- will be published on 28th January 2021

Genre:- Historical Fiction

The story is divided into Present Day set in 1957 and 1934 during the Nazi rule in Germany. In 1957, Peggy realizes that she was adopted when her adopted mother Joan gives her a picture of two women who happened to be German–and one of them is the famous Hollywood actress, Louise. As she flies all the way from Rhode Island to L.A. to cover about her birth mother did she finds out more about the history of her mother…

I do love historical fiction, mainly based on WWII and Holocaust, and this was actually a different kind of historical novel I read. Really do like the plot line. The writing was gripping and intense, the author did a good job drawing the reader into the story. There were some parts where it was too emotional and heartbreaking particularly Anna Tiegel who went through hardships after she left Berlin to escape from Goebbels’s revenge and that she was part Jewish to America, where she still couldn’t escape the fact that she was German. It was so heart wrenching and too sad. Overall, this book reminds me of We Were the Lucky Ones–emotional gripping and utterly wrenching story that will make you cry.

Worth five stars!

Welcome to my Amazon page and – if you’ve been here before – my brand new author image which was taken by my very brave husband (I’m not an easy person to catch with a camera). I seem to have followed a rather meandering career, including marketing and teaching and politics (don’t try and join the dots), to get where I have always wanted to be, which is writing historical fiction. I am a story lover as well as a story writer and nothing fascinates me more than a strong female protagonist and a quest. Hopefully those are what you will encounter when you pick up my books.
I am from the North of England but now live very happily in Glasgow with my American husband. Both my children have left home (one to London and one to Berlin) which may explain why I am finally writing. If I’m not at my desk you’ll most probably find me in the cinema, or just follow the sound of very loud music.
I’d love to hear from you and there are lots of ways you can find me, so jump in via my website https://www.catherinehokin.com/ or on my Cat Hokin FB page or on twitter @cathokin