A Woman of War

by Mandy Robotham

For readers of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Kate Furnivall comes a gritty tale of courage, betrayal and love in the most unlikely of places.

Also published as The German Midwife.

‘A powerful, haunting debut’ Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network

‘Incredibly powerful, harrowing but ultimately uplifting. I couldn’t put this down.’ Katie Fforde, author of A Rose Petal Summer

‘A fascinating story which had me forgetting it’s fiction! So well written, I was left pondering if the events could actually be true. Enthralling!’ Kitty Neale, author of A Sister’s Sorrow

‘Absorbing and totally believable – a wonderful WW2 novel.’ Molly Green, author of An Orphan’s War

‘I cannot give enough praise for A Woman of War. This is definitely #1 on my list of [historical fiction] books I’ve read in 2018.’ NetGalley Reviewer

‘If you are looking for a page turner, this is it. I read the book cover to cover in 48 hours. If I could give this book a 6/5 stars I would!’ NetGalley Reviewer

‘The writing was excellent and the characters realistic […] an interesting and thoughtful page turner.’ NetGalley Reviewer

‘Very compelling.’ NetGalley Reviewer

Germany, 1944. Taken from the camps to serve the Führer himself, Anke Hoff is assigned as midwife to one of Hitler’s inner circle. If she refuses, her family will die.

Torn between her duty as a caregiver and her hatred for the Nazi regime, Anke is swept into a life unlike anything she’s ever known – and she discovers that many of those at the Berghof are just as trapped as she is. And soon, she’s falling for a man who will make her world more complicated still…

Before long, the couple is faced with an impossible choice – and the consequences could be deadly. Can their forbidden love survive the horrors of war? And, more importantly, will they?

Mandy Robotham’s highly awaited next book, The Secret Messenger, is out now.

• ISBN13: 9780008324230
• Publish Date: 7 December 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: AVON, a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
• Edition: Digital original
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[readingwithwrin]

2.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for a free e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Before starting this book I think people should remember that this is just an imagining of something that could have happened. We have no idea if this did happen, but we know that a child was never made public if it did.

Anke is a midwife but is also a political prisoner in Nazi Germany. She tries to keep her status as a midwife hidden for a time but it is eventually found out in the camp she is in and then is put to work delivering babies and taking care of the expecting mothers. Her experience and high regard eventually lead her to being brought to Braun in order to safely and efficiently deliver her baby. This is where most of the book takes place and we get to see life at the top of the mountain where Hitler lived sometimes.

We do get to see flashbacks of what got her to be into this position she is in now and those were what I most enjoyed as the book went on.

Overall I did like this book. I was immediately drawn into Anke's world and the inner turmoil she felt about having to take care of and then deliver Brauns child is one that I felt as well. Anke is a character who always tries to do what's best for the mother and baby and sticks to her morals in this story for the most part. I could have done with one thing happening but I also wasn't surprised when it did. But that one thing having happened also made me not give this book a higher rating. I did like some of the side characters especially Christa (I think that's how you spell her name) and how they worked together so well.

[wcs53]

This was a great read - one that was hard to put down. It was a fictional 'what-if' story, with quite a few ethical questions thrown in. It tells the story of Anke, a German midwife who has been forced to work in a concentration camp, due to her sympathies towards the Jewish people, among other things. She is summoned by the Nazis to be midwife to Eva Braun, Hitler's mistress. The story weaves its way through the latter part of WWII and poses a number of questions, especially moral and ethical ones faced by a number of the story's characters.

This is a great debut novel that I enjoyed more than I thought it would and has a lot to offer to readers with a variety of tastes.