The German Heiress
by Anika Scott
William Morrow Paperbacks (April 7, 2020)
“Meticulously researched and plotted like a noir thriller, The German Heiress tells a different story of WWII— of characters grappling with their own guilt and driven by the question of what they could have done to change the past.” —Jessica Shattuck, New York Times bestselling author of The Women in the Castle
For readers of The Alice Network and The Lost Girls of Paris, an immersive, heart-pounding debut about a German heiress on the run in post-World War II Germany.
Clara Falkenberg, once Germany’s most eligible and lauded heiress, earned the nickname “the Iron Fräulein” during World War II for her role operating her family’s ironworks empire. It’s been nearly two years since the war ended and she’s left with nothing but a false identification card and a series of burning questions about her family’s past. With nowhere else to run to, she decides to return home and take refuge with her dear friend, Elisa.
Narrowly escaping a near-disastrous interrogation by a British officer who’s hell-bent on arresting her for war crimes, she arrives home to discover the city in ruins, and Elisa missing. As Clara begins tracking down Elisa, she encounters Jakob, a charismatic young man working on the black market, who, for his own reasons, is also searching for Elisa. Clara and Jakob soon discover how they might help each other—if only they can stay ahead of the officer determined to make Clara answer for her actions during the war.
Propulsive, meticulously researched, and action-fueled, The German Heiress is a mesmerizing page-turner that questions the meaning of justice and morality, deftly shining the spotlight on the often-overlooked perspective of Germans who were caught in the crossfire of the Nazi regime and had nowhere to turn.
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
What a slippery thing conscience could be. It had driven her in two directions. To her father, with all the duties of family and work… And then she had been driven to help the workers, an act that put everything else at risk. One side of her conscience undermining the other. And still she had listened to both. She had thought she could do justice to both.
In Jakob’s experience, you had to watch the Tommies when they were being too nice. You never knew when they’d turn on you, remind you of what a Nazi you’d been, regardless of the truth. The Tommies would call you a lowly foreigner in your own country.
My Review:
She was called The Iron Fräulein, Clara Falkenberg was a curiously captivating and intriguing study of contrasts. Her mother was British yet appeared far more fanatic about the Nazi agenda than her opportunistic German father. Clara was the only daughter and the publicity darling for her wealthy family’s ironworks business, which made several more fortunes during the war using forced labor. Clara was also the former Reich’s most eligible heiress and graced magazines on both sides of the ocean. However, in post-war Germany, her notoriety worked against her.
This was my introduction to the powerful and emotive word voodoo of Anika Scott and wow, does this gal have some major skills! The storylines were smartly crafted and absorbing, intricate, well scaffolded, intriguing, thoughtfully observant, and heart-squeezing while cast with a peculiar assortment of broken, flawed, complex, and often unlikable yet deeply compelling characters. I felt conflicted yet totally engaged from start to finish. And all this in a debut novel… the little pea in my brain just exploded.
I was provided with a review copy of this cunningly crafted book by HarperCollins and TLC Book Tours.
Anika Scott was a journalist at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Chicago Tribune before moving to Germany, where she currently lives in Essen with her husband and two daughters. She has worked in radio, taught journalism seminars at an eastern German university, and written articles for European and American publications. Originally from Michigan, she grew up in a car industry family. This is her first novel.Find out more about Anika at her website, and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.
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