43. The Sunflower House by Adriana Allegri

listened on Libby

336 pgs.

2024
Adult Historical Fiction
Finished 8/31/2026
Goodreads rating: 4.32
My rating: 5
Setting: 1938 - 1941 Germany (with short storytelling from 2006)

My comments: I'm giving this a 5 rating, although I didn't love it. I learned a lot and it was written beautifully.  This is written from the p-o-v of two Germans - one who is an SS officer, and the other who is just going along with everything that Hitler and the entire country seem to be going along with.  It's all about facilities throughout Germany that are creating and adopting out children that fit the Nazi clear blood ideology.  Nuts - but  supposedly true.  Whew.

Goodreads synopsis: Family secrets come to light as a young woman fights to save herself, and others, in a Nazi-run baby factory—a real-life Handmaid's Tale—during World War II.

In a sleepy German village, Allina Strauss’s life seems idyllic: she works at her uncle’s bookshop, makes strudel with her aunt, and spends weekends with her friends and fiancé. But it's 1939, Adolf Hitler is Chancellor, and Allina’s family hides a terrifying secret—her birth mother was Jewish, making her a Mischling.

One fateful night after losing everyone she loves, Allina is forced into service as a nurse at a state-run baby factory called Hochland Home. There, she becomes both witness and participant to the horrors of Heinrich Himmler’s ruthless eugenics program.

The Sunflower House is a meticulously-researched debut historical novel that uncovers the notorious Lebensborn Program of Nazi Germany. Women of “pure” blood stayed in Lebensborn homes for the sole purpose of perpetuating the Aryan population, giving birth to thousands of babies who were adopted out to “good” Nazi families. Allina must keep her Jewish identity a secret in order to survive, but when she discovers the neglect occurring within the home, she’s determined not only to save herself, but also the children in her care.

A tale of one woman’s determination to resist and survive, The Sunflower House is also a love story. When Allina meets Karl, a high-ranking SS officer with secrets of his own, the two must decide how much they are willing to share with each other—and how much they can stand to risk as they join forces to save as many children as they can. The threads of this poignant and heartrending novel weave a tale of loss and love, friendship and betrayal, and the secrets we bury in order to save ourselves.

32. The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

listened on Audible
2017, William Morrow
356 pgs.
Ad Historical Fiction
Finished: 4/7/18
Goodreads rating:  3.89 - 28,302 ratings
My rating:  3.5
Setting: Mostly WW II and aftermath, Germany

First line/s: "The day of the countess's famous harvest party began with a driving rain that hammered down on all the ancient von Ligenfels castle's sore spots -- springing leaks, dampening floors,  and turning its yellow facade a slick, beetle-like black."

My comments:  This book had a point of view a bit different from other World War II fiction that I've read.  Three German women, all mothers, all widows, and all from very different backgrounds, come together to survive in the aftermath of what Hitler has done to Germany.  It follows them and their offspring from 1938 until 1991.  This is an interesting look at the lives of the German people as they decided whether to joint the Nazi party, to fight against it, or just go along with it.

Goodreads synopsis: Three women, haunted by the past and the secrets they hold
          Set at the end of World War II, in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of German high society, a powerful and propulsive story of three widows whose lives and fates become intertwined an affecting, shocking, and ultimately redemptive novel from the author of the New York Times Notable Book The Hazards of Good Breeding.
          Amid the ashes of Nazi Germany s defeat, Marianne von Lingenfels returns to the once-grand castle of her husband s ancestors, an imposing stone fortress now fallen into ruin following years of war. The widow of a resister murdered in the failed July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Marianne plans to uphold the promise she made to her husband s brave conspirators: to find and protect their wives, her fellow resistance widows.
          First Marianne rescues six-year-old Martin, the son of her dearest childhood friend, from a Nazi reeducation home. Together, they make their way across the smoldering wreckage of their homeland to Berlin, where Martin s mother, the beautiful and naive Benita, has fallen into the hands of occupying Red Army soldiers. Then she locates Ania, another resister s wife, and her two boys, now refugees languishing in one of the many camps that house the millions displaced by the war.
          As Marianne assembles this makeshift family from the ruins of her husband s resistance movement, she is certain their shared pain and circumstances will hold them together. But she quickly discovers that the black-and-white, highly principled world of her privileged past has become infinitely more complicated, filled with secrets and dark passions that threaten to tear them apart. Eventually, all three women must come to terms with the choices that have defined their lives before, during, and after the war each with their own unique share of challenges.
          Written with the devastating emotional power of The Nightingale, Sarah s Key, and The Light Between Oceans, Jessica Shattuck s evocative and utterly enthralling novel offers a fresh perspective on one of the most tumultuous periods in history. Combining piercing social insight and vivid historical atmosphere, The Women in the Castle is a dramatic yet nuanced portrait of war and its repercussions that explores what it means to survive, love, and, ultimately, to forgive in the wake of unimaginable hardship.

MOVIE - The Book Thief

PG-13 (2:05)

Limited Release 11/8/2013

Viewed 1/27/2014 at Crossroads

RT Critic: 50 Audience: 79

Cag:  4.5 Liked it a lot

Directed by Brian Percival

20th Century Fox

Actors:  Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Sophie Nelisse

Reviews:  Based on the beloved international bestselling book, The Book Thief tells the story of an extraordinary, spirited young girl sent to live with a foster family in WWII Germany. Intrigued by the only book she brought with her, she begins collecting books as she finds them. With the help of her new parents and a secret guest under the stairs, she learns to read and creates a magical world that inspires them all.

My comments:  This is one of those movies that makes a lasting impression.  The story, about how Hitler and WWII affected the German population, was incredibly powerful and well-told.  The acting (and the choices of those actors) was exquisite.  I have put off reading this book - mainly because it's so dense - but have heard nothing but good reviews and high praise for it.  The actress who plays Lisl, Sophie Nelisse, is mesmerizing - she is absolutely beautiful, innocent-looking, and an incredible actress (especially for one so young).  Geoffrey Rush is so perfect as "Papa," and their relationship in wonderfully believable.  The character of "Mama" and Emily Watson's performance of it - well - I was incredibly impressed.  Two words.  Stunning.  Sad.