The Fortunate Ones by Catherine Hopkins

Brief Summary: Felix, a mischling or half-Jewish boy, is a printer’s apprentice in Berlin. One night he meets a young lady, Hannah, and they have an immediate connection. Unfortunately, she vanishes without a trace when he tries to see her again. Their paths cross again when he is a prisoner at a Nazi camp and she is the wife of Dr. Eichel. Told from both the perspective of Felix and Hannah, the wife of a Nazi, comes a tale of survival, love, and rebuilding their lives after the war.

Highlights: I found the perspective of a German wife and how her own beliefs about the Nazis formed and changed interesting. I didn’t know about how the Nazis used the printers to counterfeit. I also didn’t know about how the Nazi officials escaped arrest and punishment after the war. Felix’s search for justice after the war was also fascinating and how it impacted his efforts to start over. Revenge and justice are strong themes. I didn’t like the ending but I could appreciate it.

What makes this book unique?: Most WWII fiction ends at the end of the war or the characters are killed off. This one talks about what life was like after the war ended; as people tried to put their lives back together and rebuild.

Explanation of Rating: 4/5: informative and interesting!

Favorite Quotes: He was so tired of searching. So lonely. He couldn’t stop hoping but was it wrong to start living?

Thank you to Net Galley and Bookouture for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review

I have read many books set during World War 2, both in Britain and in Europe, and it continues to be one of my favourite genres. While there is an element of sameness throughout, each book is very different with a unique story that unfolds through the eyes of some very different people. I love to hear how the war touches each of these characters and the parts they played.

In THE FORTUNATE ONES, the story begins in Berlin during the war years and continues beyond. It is a very different tale in which we follow two main characters Felix Thalberg, a German of mixed blood with a Jewish father, and Inge Ackermann, a young idealistic German woman married to a a high ranking SS officer who is brute of a man. Two very different people whose paths were destined never to cross...

It's 1941 in Berlin and 18 year old Inge Ackermann's family have arranged her marriage to a high ranking SS officer and prominent Nazi doctor, Max Eichel. The union is to combine the fortunes of the two families although Inge never sees a penny of it. One night before she is to be wed, Inge's friend Leisl arranges for them to slip away to a dance hall during a party she is to make an appearance. It is there, Inge meets handsome young Felix Thalberg. Wanting to be someone else somewhere else in that moment, she gives her name as Hannah Huber. And together they dance, lost in the moment, and they kiss. But when the sirens ring out, Inge and Leisl must hurry and return to the hotel's own shelter before their absence is noticed...but not before Felix asks her to meet him again. When she does, she is jumpy and jittery, and seeing shadows where there are none. After just a few short minutes, she leaves again, knowing she will never see Felix again.

Felix Thalberg is an apprentice printer when he meets beautiful young Hannah Huber in the dance hall. Her blonde curls striking against the Prussian blue of her dress. They dance, they kiss, and they fall in love. But all too soon, she is gone again. But Felix never stops hoping that he would find her again. From the outset, Felix has conjured up a story and an image of Hannah, convinced that she must be a Jewish girl from the nearby area. Over the years she becomes a sort of talisman for him that keeps him alive.

Felix is what is known as a "mischling", a person of mixed blood - half German and half Jewish, which in the Nazi's opinion makes him Jewish. His father is turned out of his lecturing position and forced to wear a yellow star to identify him as Jewish. His mother, an aryan, refuses to leave her husband and is therefore shunned by the community. Felix himself is unsure where he fits in Germany's new regime, being neither German or Jewish. But one day, the choice is made for him when he is arrested and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, with his father on one truck and him on another...and his mother left behind.

Upon arrival at Sachsenhausen, Felix is in the yard when he sees a face at the window watching him. It is Hannah. She is here too! Felix calls to her, feeling sure she is in danger, especially when he sees "the Needle" Dr Max Eichel standing right behind her. He believes that she is a prisoner...and in a way she is...but not in the way he thinks.

Inge has been forced to marry Max Eichel. She is expected to be the "perfect" Nazi wife, an ornament on his arm at functions, never asking questions and to simply obey her husband's every command. Except that she can't. She knows something isn't right and that her husband is up to something. But what? She knows at home he is brutal, callous and abusive...but what she doesn't know is that at the camp he is a monster who performs horrific experiments on prisoners. Oblivious to what he does, but at home his abuse speaks volumes, and Inge sees no way out.

When Inge saw Felix through the window, she knew he was destined for a fate worse than death. She didn't know what really went on at the camp but she was sure it wasn't good, particularly with Max as the camp's doctor. In the lining of her bag she kept a secret, and she used it now to secure a promise of something better for Felix, without Max learning of it or that would surely guarantee Felix's death.

Felix is assigned to a place in the camp where they make counterfeit money, where he is given a slightly better existence than others in the camp. He is fed, he is clothed and his bed is not shared with others. For that he is grateful...but what he doesn't know is that, until Hannah saw him from the window that day, he was destined for a fate worse than death. He is still a prisoner and it's the thought and memory of Hannah that gives him hope and strength to survive.

Max doesn't know what Inge is hiding, but he knows it's something to do with that Jew in the camp's courtyard. He saw the way she looked at him and he her. They knew each other, of that he is sure. So Max vows to do everything he can to find the Jew and take pleasure in punishing Inge for it.

Despite the arrangement of her marriage to Eichel, Inge did enjoy the early days but she soon discovered it turned nasty if she questioned Max or dared to offer an opinion. Soon after seeing Felix and Sachsenhausen, the tides turned and Max became even more abusive as if he were punishing her. He taunted her, ridiculed her, gaslighted her that in the end had her questioning her own sanity. As tensions become rife as the war nears its end, Max plans his escape before the regime falls and they are captured. He was all set to leave Inge behind...until he discovered she was pregnant. She was so close to being free of him at last...and now she knows she can never leave.

Inge always knew Max was monster towards her but when she discovers by chance just how sadistic he really is, she secretly begins to collect evidence, listening to conversations, noting names, and hopes one day she can make him pay for his evil intentions.

The story unfolds through the eyes of both Felix and Inge, in alternating chapters, and their narratives are both heartwarming and heartbreaking. I loved both of them and reading their stories. There was no way either character would come through this unscathed...but can their love sustain them and help them persevere?

Admittedly, I did fine THE FORTUNATE ONES slow to start but that could have been reflected in how tired I was when started it. I did find a lot of description and not a lot of dialogue to begin with, of which I am not a fan, but as the story developed I discovered this style worked as it was primarily reflective. I soon found myself immersed within the lives of both Inge and Felix and hoping they would find each other again.

There was so much to love about THE FORTUNATE ONES, as well as a lot of hate, but it is a beautiful story that is also heartbreaking. The fact that it was from a German perspective in highlighting that not all Germans were Nazis or agreed with the regime is refreshing. So often Germans were all seen as the bad guys when really they were just following orders like everyone else. Not everyone was a Nazi and not everyone agreed with Hilter's regime. And the fact that it wasn't solely about Jews in a concentration camp was also gratifying.

Felix is an especially interesting character. He is mixed blood, Jewish and German, he is talented, he is relentless in his search for justice, he is complex yet relatable and he is flawed. Inge was also interesting in the way she is naive to begin with but quickly learns the harsh realities from which she had always been protected. As a German she is of safe people and yet she still had no way of escape.

From Berlin to Argentina, THE FORTUNATE ONES is a captivating and engaging read from beginning to end set during one of the bleakest times of human history. It is well researched but doesn't feel like a textbook, which is a good thing, and the story unique.

Although it didn't end the way I had hoped in a couple of ways, it was still probably the best outcome... Still I would have liked to see a couple of loose ends tied up but that's just personal preference. It is still a wonderful story that deserves recognition and recommendation.

I am looking forward to Catherine Hokin's next novel and eagerly await it!

I would like to thank #CatherineHokin, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheFortunateOnes in exchange for an honest review.

The Fortunate Ones is a World War II novel filled with hope, heartache, dreams, and the future. I like that it's a story that mostly takes place after the war. The characters are well developed, likable, and very broken. I appreciated the unique premise -- a Holocaust survivor who makes a living fighting the Nazi past, and a Nazi wife trapped by an awful husband. There is a love and loss and all sorts of goodness. I recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

Yes, I am sick of WW2 books but I really enjoyed this one. I liked the framing of the story and the way I was sucked in to the drama and character's lives.

If you love WW2 books, you'll love this one.

Told over different time frames connected to WW2 about two people who meet up. Wonderful although harrowing descriptions. This is a book which captivates and draws you in from the start. The characters are realistic set at a dramatic and distressing time in history. You will feel drawn in and involved. Excellent writing.

This is a truly superb and special book.

The style of writing is beautiful, it’s so evocative and lyrical. I could picture the scenes so vividly.

I couldn’t put this book down. It’s harrowing and heartbreaking, but it’s so compelling. It’s all the more shocking that it is, of course, based on history. It’s a bit of a different perspective too, with the timeline going right through to the aftermath of the war.

The characters are so well drawn, I just wanted to will Felix to survive, and really wanted a way for him to be reunited with the woman he loves. A series of twists of fate, and obstacles thrown in their way, however, seem destined to keep them apart. At times it seems impossible for them.

The main female character is wonderful. She’s a strong and intelligent person, in an era and setting where she must repress this, and obey her husband. I can’t say too much about her without giving away too much of the plot, but she’s to be admired. I really liked her.

A stunning and heart-rending novel. One of the best historical fiction books that I’ve read.

I received this book as an ARC from netgalley for an honest review. Once I started I was completely engaged and couldn’t put it down. It is historical fiction based on WWII told from two POV, Felix and Inge. I won’t spoil anything except to say that I wish the ending had Provided more closure. I get it and understand why the author did it but I still felt unfulfilled. Otherwise, this was nicely written.

Actual rating 3.5⭐

The Fortunate Ones by Catherine Hokin is historical fiction novel based during and after WWII. This book is different from most because the author tells the "after" story. After the war is over, after the Nazis have lost.

I enjoyed this book, but for me this book was at its best after the war had ended, and we got to see how each of the main characters handled it.

There is Felix, and if you ask him he doesn't consider himself Jewish, but the Nazis say he is. Then there is Inge, a German young lady who is told by her parents that she is going to have to marry a much older man. A man whose name is Max and happens to be in the SS.

Yes, this book is typical in that it follows the same format that most WWII historical fiction books follow. Felix winds up in a concentration camp, and Inge has her head stuck in the sand about what her SS husband. But it is after the war that this book goes one step further. What happens to Felix and Inge, and to those around them. I do have to say that I enjoyed the ending. It wasn't typical, and that is exactly what this book needed!

I received this book from Netgalley and Bookouture in exchange for my honest review.

Hannah and Felix are an adorable couple. I really enjoyed this unique WWII story. I loved it.

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

WWII historical fiction is kind of my go-to genre when I need a refresh from YA/dystopian/fantasy. I had received this book from Netgalley a while ago, and finally had the opportunity to read it.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It isn’t your typical WWII novel, and the ending was not what I’m used to seeing from this genre. I expect them to end with the liberation of a particular concentration camp or shortly there after, but this one was different.

Early on, I was having trouble focusing because of some of the wording. I was having to reread sentences a few times to understand what was being said. That improved significantly around 25-30% in. Maybe I didn’t notice as much once the story really got going.

I enjoyed this one a lot and would recommend it to people who like WWII historical fiction and want a slightly different ending then they’ve come to expect

Great historical fiction. A unique story of a young couple who meet just before the horrors of WW2. Hannah is not able to give away her real identity and leaves Felix in despair when she disappears as so many did during this time. Very emotional with a gripping plot highlighting yet again the sheer horror and cruelty of the Nazi regime. Very educational and interesting and horrifying of what happened to a lot of these monsters following the end of the war. A good powerful read.

I don’t read a lot of historical fiction. It’s just not one of my favorite genres. But I love a good romance and the cover of this book really drew me in. It’s gorgeous. The Fortunate Ones is the story of Inge and Felix, who meet at a dance in Berlin during the early years of World War II. Their romance is brief, but they fall in love. But Inge is engaged to a Nazi officer, and Felix is part-Jewish and is eventually imprisoned in a concentration camp. The same concentration camp where Inge’s fiancé works. This book is beautifully written and held my attention the entire time. While the story is fiction, the author clearly spent a lot of time researching World War II and its aftermath. I learned a lot of things I didn’t know. For instance, did you know that many Nazi officers fled to Argentina following the end of the war? And Eva Peron is in this book. Remember the movie, Evita? I love books that teach me something. Even if you’re on the fence with historical fiction, pick this book up. It’s a wonderful story.

WWII novels are so common but The Fortunate Ones is not like most of the ones you read. One night Inge meets Felix at a German nightclub and they immediately fall in love. However they are pulled apart through commitments and the Nazis. The book is broken in parts. Part one focuses on their meeting and the elements that separate them. Part two is about the war and time at the camps. Part three is about post war survival. And part four is their reunion. It takes place over about 15 years and multiple countries.

I really liked that it did not end the way I expected or would be standard for this type of story. These main characters are very flawed and found ways to survive experiences that would kill most people. There is also a nice blend of real people who are walk through characters as well as the fictional characters. There are characters you like and characters you hate, those who help others and those who destroy them.

I would definitely recommend grabbing this one if you like historical fiction. This one gets a solid 3.5 rating from me.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so emotional and raw. I love books that make you feel something as you read them. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, and this one totally grabs you in and breaks your heart.

Read with tissues.

I just finished The Fortunate Ones by Catherine Hokin, and I feel drained. Hokin takes the reader from 1941 Berlin through the 1950s Berlin, Buenos Aires, and Bariloche. Told by new narrators, Felix, a Mischling, who meets Inge (Hannah) soon to be a married woman to a much older man at a chance meeting in a nightclub to a chance meeting in a cafè in 1950’s Berlin.

Hokin has created an epic story that shows the unfairness of war and hope that those affected by war can recover. Throughout their journeys, I felt like I was in the rooms of the characters and living their stories. I was surprised at the ending but think it is very realistic. I can tell that the author did a lot of research into wartime Berlin, life in a concentration camp, Nazi’s who ran to South America and created lives.
4.5 stars

My thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.. I look forward to reading future books by Catherine Hokin.

Although many novels are offered these days set during World War II Germany involving concentration camp inmates and the brutality of their treatment, this novel stands out to me for its deft characterization and the exploration of the strength and determination of the human spirit to overcome great odds. Touching and compassionate, this is an excellent historical read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

If all the books I have read about World War II, the Holocaust, and the home front were in one bookshelf, I would probably have to bind it to the wall from the sheer weight of the books. One would gather I would feel oversaturated with content. Yes, there is a sameness that can set in but I enjoy reading each character's unique perspectives.

In "The Fortunate Ones," Catherine Hokin begins her narrative in Berlin during the war years and beyond to the war crime trials and the hunt to find the "ones that got away." The two main characters are Felix, a German of mixed blood who along with his parents tries to not be noticed. And Inge, a young German woman who is soon to marry a high ranking SS officer much older than herself. One night at a dance, Felix and a young woman named Hannah will meet and that one meeting will fuel a passion that will help fuel Felix's desire to survive.

Let me be frank, the insta-love in this one drove me up the wall and one particular scene in the concentration camp had me raising an eyebrow. However, the novel certainly offered unique perspectives but I think the best storylines for both characters were their lives after the war. Catherine Hokin explores the anger, the search for justice, and the guilt that followed after the war but also the staunch loyalty to Nazism that still remained. That is why I crown this one with a 3 star.


Goodreads review published 30/01/20
Publication Date 20/01/20

The Fortunate Ones was a spellbinding tale of political strife during Hitler’s reign, and it what it meant to survive in the harsh conditions where food was scarce, medicine was a joke, and war was looming on the horizon or already at their front door.

Felix is just a normal young man attempting to survive, in a place that doesn’t seem to care overmuch how he might fare. Being a prisoner in a camp, his future appears bleak until he meets Inge…a woman who tells him that her name is Hannah. He believes her a prisoner, and in a way she is one, having been forced through an arranged marriage to a monster who does horrific experiments on the prisoners within the camp. Yet she’s unaware of such, kept safe at home where her husband’s abuse speaks volumes.

Inge is a brave woman, though I preferred Felix’s side of the story in all honesty. While both perspectives were of interest, there were points in the story that seemed to drag. I liked how the ending wrapped up, and I rather enjoyed the author’s writing style overall, despite where parts of the story balked. I’ll definitely be checking out more by this author in the future, and I’m awarding 4.5 out of 5 stars for a wonderful trip through WWII. Though several moments were bleak and grim, the story itself was a good one, and recommended for fans of that time period.

Oh this book!! I couldn’t stop once I started. A really unique look at life as a wife in the Reich, being in a camp working for the Reich and the aftermath of life after the war.

Felix is a printers apprentice in Berlin. His father is Jewish, his mother Aryan making him a Mischling. Since the Nazi’s have taken over, Felix’s father hasn’t left the house. He is now made to wear the yellow star and Felix’s mother fears for Felix making him join Hitlers Youth in hopes of keeping him safe.

Inge is a young woman from a wealthy German family. Her father sets up an arranged married to a Nazi doctor high in the regime. She is to look pretty and play her part but not to ask questions.

Inge by chance meets Felix before she is set to be wed. They are immediately taken by each other. Inge knows she has no choice but to marry according to the arrangement even though her heart is elsewhere. She tells Felix her name is Hannah and that is the first of many lies.

Since that meeting Felix has had Hannah on his mind. He wants to find her but how? It isn’t long after that Felix is sent to a deportation camp where is fate is unknown. Because of his printing background Felix is given a job making counterfeit money for the Reich. He starts to write to Hannah on any little scraps of paper he can find vowing that one day he will give them to her.

Meanwhile Inge has married into the Nazi world and it is not what she thought it would be. Abused mentally as well as physically Inge is shocked to discover what the Reich is all about and the part her husband is playing in it.

If you are looking for something a little different when it comes to WWII fiction this is your book. Such a well told story of love, hope and resilience during this terrible time. A definite page turner that you don’t want to miss!

Thank you to Net Galley and Bookouture for the advanced copy.

Readers who enjoy books set during the Second World War are going to love Catherine Hokin’s absorbing and enthralling tale of love and loss that is brilliantly written, wholly mesmerizing and wonderfully researched: The Fortunate Ones.

Berlin is in the grip of the Second World War and printer’s apprentice Felix Thalberg feels the weight of the world weighing heavily upon his shoulders. The city that had once been his pride and joy is being razed and changed by Nazis intent on putting their malevolent stamp on this once great city and it breaks his heart to see his father retreat even further and further into himself and refusing to leave the house after being forced to wear a yellow star whilst his mother gets thinner and thinner with each passing day as worry consumes her. Felix feels as if he has been plunged into darkness, but a chink of light comes into his life one night when in a crowded dance hall he meets a mysterious and enigmatic woman who changes his life forever, Hannah…

Hannah’s intoxicating and beguiling personality transforms Felix’s life and he is determined never to let her go now that he has found her amidst all the darkness and despair. Felix does not want their magic to be a transient or temporary affair, but when he tries to find her, his quest is unsuccessful because Hannah seems to have vanished off the face of the earth. Whatever happened to Hannah? Has she been taken prisoner by the Gestapo? Or has something even worse befallen his beloved? As Nazi zeal and fervour continues to consume the city, Felix is imprisoned in a concentration camp run by sadistic officer, Dr Max Eichel, but the hardships and atrocities he is put through fail in comparison to the pain he feels being separated from his beloved Hannah.

All seems lost for Felix as he wonders whether he will ever clap eyes on his dear Hannah again. However, when
Dr Eichel brings his wife to work one day, Felix is completely and utterly flabbergasted when he spots Hannah. It seems like hope is not lost after all, especially when Dr Eichel’s wife makes it perfectly clear that she recognises him too and that his feelings for her are reciprocated.

Amidst all this cruelty and sadness, can Felix and Hannah ever find their way home to one another? Or is theirs a love that is simply not meant to be?

The Fortunate Ones is a stunning piece of historical fiction that grabbed my attention from the very first page and kept me on the edge of my seat and engrossed throughout. Catherine Hokin is a phenomenal storyteller who writes with style, flair and confidence about the Second World War and makes her readers feel every single emotion which her characters are experiencing.

Felix and Hannah are characters it is impossible not to care about. They are wonderfully drawn and so beautifully rendered that readers will find themselves reluctant to leave the world they inhabit when they reach the end of the novel.

Catherine Hokin is a writer historical fiction fans need to add to their auto-buy list and readers who enjoyed The Tattooist of Auschwitz are absolutely going to adore The Fortunate Ones.