Really enjoyed this book. Feel bad saying that. But it was very well written. Heart wrenching. Great descriptive writing skills.

A fantastic read, full of atmosphere and emotion. Looking forward to reading more from the author. Highly recommended!

This story is based on a young mother who became a victim to the Nazis and had her children taken from her because her family plotted against Hitler. There are so many details to the life as a prisoner, albeit a special one, who was moved around with similar people. The detail and eye witness accounts make you feel as if you are there. It makes the monstrosities of the Nazis come to life. It makes you feel for what was endured and lost in this terrible time.

This book was such a powerful read.

The author deserves so much recognition for delivering this amazing piece of non fiction

Despite a difficult subject, the author does so well with this book and tackling the emotions

The book is a great piece of work and I would highly recommend to anyone who “enjoys” reading about the nazis and historical fiction

Catherine Bailey has written many books that explain a time, an era, a moment and a society without shoving history or facts down the readers gullet. She has the lightest of touch choosing beautifully researched facts and sprinkling them with light erudition across our paths. Here again she takes an unexpected and unknown story to shine a light on much bigger and often sinister moment in time. Highly recommended.

Incredibly interesting story of Fey being arrested and her children being placed into an orphanage. I was really intrigued to read this having recently read a lot on the July 20th assassination attempt on Hitlers life, that Feys father was subsequently found guilty of being involved in and then killed, resulting in Feys arrest due to the German view of kin liability, and no doubt Hitlers ego and desire for revenge. Researched well this book is a mix of novel and history book, full of facts. I would have liked a bit more on the emotional impact on Fey but over all this is a moving book and ideal for anyone interested in WW2

Partly memoir, partly very well documented book about WWII, griping story of Fey Pirzio Birolli and her family.

Despite their noble origin and good connections to high ranked nazis and partisans in Italy they weren't spared in the war. When an assassination (her father was one of conspirators) attempt of Hitler fails and her husband is underground in Rome, Fey and her sons are picked up by the SS. Children were sent away, their names changed, and she went through a calvary, prison, camps etc.

The book is full of historical facts, and really interesting.

I liked it.

<i> "In country over country, there was no instituitonal response to this collective emotional crisis. People had to find their own coping mechanism" </i>

Fey's War is one powerful read as far as non-fiction goes. Credit to Catherine Bailey for converting a WWII memoir into a complete novel by weaving history and facts into the context.

Contessa Fey Pirzio-Birloi is the daughter of Ulrich Hassell (integral part of the German opposition to Hitler), wife of Count Detlmo (an Italian cavalry officer who was fighting the reich) and mother of Corrado and Roberto aged 4 and 3. When an assassination attempt of Hitler fails and her husband is underground in Rome, Fey and her sons ae picked up by the SS. The ordeal starts much before, but 7 months through the war her lonely journey away from her sons is portrayed in the backdrop of the war and the camps and prisons.

Sippenhaftung - the German term meaning "kin liability", Fey along with other family members of various people involved in the assassination plot or political prisoners or POW are a crucial bargaining chip. Hence, they are kept comfortable even in concentration camps and moved from one camp to other as the Russians and the Americans are knocking at their doors.

Historical facts are a big plus. You wonder about the mentality of a common German citizen, a nation villified as a whole in the war. The stigma of one man borne by the nation. The books talk of the underground network of German political/moral forces trying to kill Hitler and put an end to the havoc. That gets missed out in writings - an opposition. The political scenario between Italy and Germany also gets diffused and history finds two willing partners in crime - at Nation level.

The book, maybe since it took an enormous scope, goes light on the emotional element. Fey's struggle is here and now with some intermittent references to her children (and hence more natural?). It is factual. Also, towards the end of the war, the chaos and confusion resonate well with a regime change. In one of her observations post the war, she talks about a society that was hosting dinner parties for the Allied commanders who an year ago were hosting the Nazis.

The reference to the horrors and the almost factual data strewn in by the author are mere details. You find multiple lucky breaks and in a sense you are hopeful that you are not reading a tragedy.

Liked it.

Noted: Thanks to Penguin books UK and Netgalley for providing the ARC of this book for review. The book releases on 23 Jul.

This is part information book, part memoir of the main protagonist, Fey written by Catherine Bailey. It is a very moving true story of loss, despair, uncertainty and reunion in the last years of the Second World War. The novel also provides background information on the political and military situation in Germany, Italy and Austria through Fey's story.