Daughter of the Reich

A Novel

By: Louise Fein

Narrated by: Marisa Calin

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 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 about her world 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. Together, they dream about when the war will be over and plan for their future. 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 pause-resister filled with vivid characters and a meticulously researched portrait of Nazi Germany. In this riveting story of passion, courage, and morality, Louise Fein introduces a bold young woman determined to tread the treacherous path of survival and freedom, showing listeners the strength in the power of love and reminding us that the past must never be forgotten.

©2020 Louise Fein (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

Excellent book

This is a wonderful read! I couldn’t put it down and hated when it ended. A must read!

I’m a father and grandfather of all girls. I finished the book in tears

Even as a father of 2 daughters with one granddaughter I don’t gravitate to books with female protagonists written by female authors. Maybe I’ve been missing something. Movingly performed and beautifully written, Daughter of the Reich has opened a whole new literary genere. And my heart.

Loved it.

I don’t normally write reviews but had to here.Love the narrator made it exciting,would think be enjoyable to a large audience,even made me cry at the end.

#1 book on my list!

This is an amazing book!! It is a must listen! It is so well written that you slip into the story as if you are one of the characters. Truly the best book I have ever listen to! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A BEAUTIFUL STORY OF TRUTH SUFFERING AND LOVE

I struggle to find the words to explain the full range of emotions that filled my heart, mind, and soul. The writer and the reader touched my heart more than any other book about WWII. My own life was deeply affected by this terrible war. what my mother suffered when she found her beloved who had joined the war in 1939 and the letter from the war office three months later that he was missing in action and assumed dead. For my mother the news was like a double edge sword. She found herself pregnant with a baby from this taboo love soon after he left for Europe. She went to a home for unwed mothers to have her love child. But, then to have to part with their baby tore her heart apart. she never recovered from those events. Later she married my father and my older sister brought her much happiness. Unexpectedly her family received a letter. He had been captured and spent most of the war in a prisoner of war camp escaping at last in the beginning of 1945. How thrilled she was to know he was alive and recovering in a hospital. When she received that letter she was pregnant with me. She hated me from almost the beginning of her pregnancy because she couldn't leave my father with my older sister and leave to wait for her first love. She secretly wrote letters to him but withheld the truth of his baby and her current family while my father was overseas in the Pacific.

She never told him she was married with a daughter and pregnant with another baby. they wrote back and forth, but she kept the truth of his baby from him and her present marriage and children from him. When he surprised her and came home unexpectedly with out telling her he was coming. He felt so betrayed by her withholding the truth from him. He refused to see her and break up her marriage. In her grief and anger she tried to kill my father. I suffered her hatred because she blamed me too.

He went on with his life and married a beautiful woman and had a family with her. You see my mother's first love was a forbidden love too. Although he was a year older than her he was also her uncle. Their love was kept in secret until three months after he left for Europe and she discovered she was pregnant with a forbidden pregnancy. Forbidden by God in this very religious family.

My heart bled with the love story and pain that was so well told and read. I was right there with them every minute. I couldn't put this book down. Her forbidden love and pregnancy explained the emotions my mother also went through. Despite searching, she never found the baby she gave up for adoption.

Beautiful

My first ever review. I am absolutely torn to bits. I could not stop listening. The words to describe how I feel escape me. Highly recommend.

We are all children of the same God

It was a little difficult in the beginning because of the harshness of the narrators voice but the story was compelling and you get used to that voice. Do you notice that later on in the book her voice becomes softer as she becomes more tolerant. Those who are not tolerant remain with very harsh and guttural voices. Fascinating presentation

Best book I’ve read in years.

Wonderful story has you invested and loving the main characters. The performance was perfect.
Heart breaking, yet restores faith in humanity.
A must read for all interested in WW2.

Love Story Plus Much Much More

I really enjoyed listening to book. The narraton was great. Hetty is the daughter of a high ranking Nazi official and believes everything she is being taught obout the Reich and the Jewish people. What began as a normal life changed when the Reich took control. However, all of her beliefs are questions when she encounters Walter, a past childhood friend and falls deepbly in love with him. Walter and she begins to take many risks meeting at a time where she is taught that Jews are pigs and dirt beneath the German's feet. She should be staying away. In fact, death is a possibility if they are caught. Set agains the background of all of the horrors of Hitler's reign. It's unbelieveable the way people are treated during this time period. So many elite verses so many people who are considered to be scum of the earth. Hitler was able to capture peoples's minds.

Looking for a great listen ... try this book.

The other side

It was nice to get a glimpse of the other side of life during Hitlers rise.