“[B]eautifully written and emotional wrenching…its dynamic characters present a timely truth we should all grasp and embrace: We must stand up against those who preach hate.” —Karen Harper, New York Times bestselling author of The Queen’s Secret
For fans of The Nightingale and All the Light We Cannot See, a spellbinding story of impossible love set against the backdrop of the Nazi regime.
She … the Light We Cannot See, a spellbinding story of impossible love set against the backdrop of the Nazi regime.
She must choose between loyalty to her country or a love that could be her destruction…
As the dutiful daughter of a high-ranking Nazi officer, Hetty Heinrich is keen to play her part in the glorious new Thousand Year Reich. But she never imagines that all she believes and knows will come into stark conflict when she encounters Walter, a Jewish friend from the past, who stirs dangerous feelings in her. Confused and conflicted, Hetty doesn’t know whom she can trust and where she can turn to, especially when she discovers that someone has been watching her.
Realizing she is taking a huge risk—but unable to resist the intense attraction she has for Walter—she embarks on a secret love affair with him. But as the rising tide of anti-Semitism threatens to engulf them, Hetty and Walter will be forced to take extreme measures.
Will the steady march of dark forces destroy Hetty’s universe—or can love ultimately triumph…?
Propulsive, deeply affecting, and inspired by the author’s family history, Daughter of the Reich is a mesmerizing page-turner filled with vivid characters, a meticulously researched portrait of Nazi Germany, and a reminder that the past must never be forgotten.
more
An addictive, heart-filled, crucial read for our times — reminding us why it’s so imperative never to forget history and providing a cautionary tale about what will happen if we do.
I read a lot of World War II fiction and this is a different look at the war than what is normally written. This book takes place in Germany before the war and gives a view of how many of the German people revered Hitler and thought that he was the only person that could save their country. Most of the people who disagreed with this opinion were sent to ‘work camps’ or murdered on the street.
Hetty is the daughter of a high-ranking Nazi official. She lives in a huge house with her father, her mother who spends her time working with charities and her brother. The novel begins in 1933 when Hetty is 12. She attends BDM (The League of German Girls or Band of German Maidens (German: Bund Deutscher Mädel, abbreviated as BDM) was the girls’ wing of the Nazi Party youth movement, the Hitler Youth.) meetings and believes her father that Hitler is the only way for Germany to be saved. She wants to do whatever she can to help Germany succeed and is enthralled with Hitler as a leader. UNTIL… she sees Walter again. Walter had been a friend to her brother and she had a crush on him after he saved her from drowning when she was very young. When she finds out that Walter is really Jewish, despite having Aryan features, she knows that he is an enemy to her beloved country. When she sees him again and starts to talk to him, her world is turned upside down and she begins to wonder if all she has been taught has been a lie – are Jews really being prosecuted, are people being treated cruelly, are Jewish people starving? All of these questions begin to prey on her mind as her relationship with Walter grows stronger even though she knows that she will be severely punished if they are ever seen together. As she decides who to believe and tries to save Walter and his family, her life at home is becoming more difficult and the possibility of exposure is getting stronger as she realizes that someone is following her. Will hatred cause the end of Hetty’s love for Walter or will love overcome all of the hate?
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
This is one of my favorite books, It made me smile, laugh cry and made me feel anger. I would recommend this to anyone who likes historical-fiction and romance! This book contains both those things and you will love it!! It really shows character development as The main character develops her own life and opinions not strictly based off her family.
What a fantastic debut! Daughter of the Reich (US)/ People Like Us (UK) by Louise Fein is a fascinating glimpse into the life of a devout National Socialist family inside Nazi Germany, and one girl’s journey to break free of the ideology that shaped so much of her life. Hetty, the main character, must make some difficult choices, especially when the person she’s fallen in love with is a Jew. A must read for lovers of historical fiction, something to savor and read slowly.
‘People like Us’ is a fascinating immersive book set in 1930’s Germany and seen through the eyes of main character, teenage Hetty.
Hetty’s struggle is brilliantly portrayed, she is torn between her adoration of Hitler and her equally powerful draw towards her childhood friend (and saviour) Walter – who happens to be Jewish. Love kind of wins out – or does it – with an enormous cost to those involved.
‘People like us’ is part romance, part character study, part call to arms. The subject matter – racial hate – is sensitive but we are in safe hands with Fein who writes with great passion and urgency. The minor characters are living, breathing, three dimensional people, each with their own motivations and dark secrets.
This is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding how normal people/people like us get caught up in fascism and how it feels when friends and neighbours become enemies.
Louise Fein’s Daughter of the Reich spins childhood innocence shattered, the tendency for society to carry us along in wrong directions, and the importance of standing up against tyranny in ways small and large into an absorbing, heart-wrenching story of love and letting go — and a lesson for us all.
When I received the advance copy of Daughter of the Reich from LibraryThing I fully expected to enjoy it, because the WWII era is one of my favorite historical periods to read about. But I did not anticipate such a riveting, powerful book that would so perfectly capture the rise of the Third Reich and the tide that swept the average German along with it.
The story begins in 1933. Hetty is just a child and her brother’s friend Walter has just saved her from drowning. The story then quickly moves to 1937 when she is a preteen and focuses on the two years before WWII started. Things have changed. The Heinrich family has moved up in the world, into a big house with servants, and her father has suddenly become an important man. Things have changed in Germany but life is good. Why question Hitler’s views and actions since they have benefitted so much from them? Hetty is still a child used to doing what her parents tell her so apart from noticing that some of her teachers are no longer at school and Walter isn’t around much anymore none of this really makes much of an impact on her.
A chance meeting with Walter gives her a glimpse of what life is like “on the other side” but she finds it hard to accept. She can’t believe Walter is a Jew. How could she have not known? He doesn’t look or sound like a Jew, he says he is still a German and loves his country, but she knows now that the Jews are evil and dirty and greedy and the cause of all the bad things that have happened to the German people. It must be true; Hitler says so. So can she trust Walter, or is his true and cunning self just coming out now?
Author Louise Fein does a spectacular job of presenting the gradual but inexorable change in life in Germany. School, news, religion, recreation, jobs – everywhere you look the message is clear: the Germans owe everything to Hitler, they are the chosen people, pure, special, destined for great things. But in order for this to happen the Jews must be punished, removed, contact with them stopped. It seems amazing that the Germans so quickly went along with Hitler’s practices and policies, but they were inundated, surrounded, overwhelmed by propaganda. And well aware what happened to those that resisted.
Hetty is slow to question her beliefs, even as her feelings for Walter become stronger. How can everything she has been taught, everything she has felt about her Fuhrer, be wrong? But how can her love for Walter be wrong? Aren’t people just people?
Daughter of the Reich is spellbinding and mesmerizing. It’s intense with some parts hard to read, but there are pockets of love and joy and hope. Thanks to LibraryThing and publisher William Morrow/Harper Collins for providing this very enjoyable read that I highly recommend. All opinions are my own.
5 stars
I originally read this book under the title People Like Us. This book is going to haunt me for a long time. I read a lot of WWII era historical fiction. I felt the author did a lot of research, and I like that this story is being told from a German perspective in pre-war years from 1929-August, 1939.
The beginning catches the reader right away. Hetty a very young girl is drowning in a lake and is saved by her older brother Karl’s Jewish friend Walter. The story then skips a few years. Getty’s family circumstances have changed. Her father a low level worker for a newspaper has taken over the paper and moved into his Jewish predecessor’s house. Hetty and her family become indoctrinated in Nazi ways. Her father is a high ranking SS leader, her brother joins the Luftwaffe, her mother works with an orphanage and supports her husband, and Hetty is involved in a youth group. Walter, of course, is no longer a friend of the family.
In a chance meeting, Walter and Hetty start a relationship. Over time their love develops and we see Hetty questions the beliefs she has learned at home. Having the story told by Hetty allowed me to feel everything Hetty was feeling. I was on an emotional roller coaster. I felt so many emotions. Please be prepared for an emotional ending. It tore me up but it is also a satisfying ending. Thank you Aria Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Have you ever read a book that you both loved and loathed? Much like a horror movie that scares you senseless, scene after scene, and yet, you just can’t stop watching: That was how I felt about the book, Daughter of the Reich, written by Louise Fein. I did not want to keep reading, but I could not put it down…
For the complete review, please go to https://kindredconnection.wordpress.com/2020/05/01/daughter-of-the-reich/.
A moving story taking place in 1930’s Germany and falling in love with what was perceived as the wrong race. Even though this is a work of fiction, I recommend all read it to get a feel what it must have been like to live during that time in history.
*I won this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
I read this under the title “People Like Us” which was released last year in the UK. At 500 pages and with heavy subject matter it was a slow read for me…not what I would have normally chosen to read during this time of stressful quarantine but a review deadline loomed. It reminded me a bit of “Wunderland” in time, place and protagonist.
The story follows Hetty, a young German girl raised under the nationalism rhetoric of her SS-regime family. It was heartbreaking to watch her family pride eventually devolve into horror, shame and despair as her innocent eyes are opened through her relationships with her first love and her best friend. While at times I became frustrated with the choices she made, I reminded myself just how young she was (14-17 through much of the book) and how thoroughly ingrained in the SS cult.
It’s a story of disillusionment, horror and sadness but also of courage, resilience and hope. Perhaps a bit slow in parts but also tension-filled and absorbing. Very loosely based on the author’s father’s time in Germany.
Thank you to #NetGalley and #HeadofZeus for providing me the ARC. The opinions are strictly my own.
This is a heart wrenching story of Hetty Heinrich, daughter of a high ranking Nazi officer, and coming to terms with her beliefs. Hetty chooses love with Walter which comes with hardship and survival. A wonderful read, it gave me all the feels! Thank you to the Book Club Girl Early Read Program and Harper Collins Publisher for this beautiful ARC. This is my honest review.
Daughter of the Reich by Louise Fein is an excellent historical fiction that takes place mostly during the years 1937-1939 Germany.
This novel is unique in that it focuses more on the early years of WWII and from the thought process and inner workings of how indoctrination occurred in German communities. It was fascinating and terrifying to see all of the pieces fall into place to create the atmosphere of terror, blind following, fear, conspiracies, superstition, and anger. Seeing the nuts and bolts of the rising of the Third Reich from Hetty Heinrich’s point of view, a teen that has a father moving up the ranks of the newly formed SS, and a family steep into the blind faith that the newly formed government is their long-desired savior, is so unique that it drew me in from the very beginning. To see how things fell into place, how one fear layered onto another, how propaganda and news outlets were angled and limited, and how schools and families focused on indoctrination, was stunning. We always wonder how the German citizens could have “let it all happen”. While nothing can ever excuse what horror was done to so many people, I can see how brainwashing from a young age, fear of causing trouble if one doesn’t do what is instructed, and full immersion can do to warp young minds, and a culture in general. Having family that perished and were affected by concentration camps, I obviously have a hard time sympathizing, however in Hetty’s case, I think I can.
Yes, Hetty was spoiled, self-centered, and slightly bratty at the beginning of the novel, but she was a teenager and as the novel continues and she finds all of the dark undercurrents, lies, truths, who she can truly trust, and who truly loves her, she is able to mature, grow, and change for the better. It is heartbreaking to see what happens to Hetty, Walter, Erna and her family throughout the book. It is so upsetting to see what happens to the German Jewish citizens through no fault of their own, especially knowing what is to come. Hetty, Walter, and Erna grew so much and were all so brave and selfless in the end.
Without giving anything away, the Epilogue was stunning, and I found myself crying as I finished. Some of the tears were happy tears, but most were for all that was lost and all that were hurt. For my family, and for millions of others’ lives that were permanently changed.
I also enjoyed the author’s note and her family story as well. It gave me another connection to the haunting and beautiful story.
We must learn from the past, not doom ourselves to repeating events, and we must never, ever forget.
An unbelievably stunning novel. I am sure this will be one of my favorites this year.
5/5 stars
World War Ii settings are popular and this is a good one.
I love novels in WW 2 setting. This was a well written account with good details
I really enjoyed this book. I could really relate to the poor characters trapped between two worlds.
Gave a different perspective of the personal tragedies of Jewish and German families during WWII.
Couldn’t put it down.
Great historical romance which keeps you on the edge of your seat
A quick read about the horrors of the Holocaust. Characters are believable. Well written, but somewhat predictable.