Powerfully written, beautifully told and simply unforgettable, Debbie Rix’s The German Wife is historical fiction at its most dazzling.

Germany, 1939 and Annaliese is trapped in a gilded cage. Married to a man she doesn’t love, Annaliese feels like she has nowhere to go and nobody to turn to. With her doctor husband Hans growing more and more distant with each passing day, Annaliese watches him every morning as he goes to work at Dachau in the dark SS uniform that sends shivers down her spine. One day, a tall and handsome Russian prisoner called Alexander is sent from Dachau to help her in the garden and an immediate connection is immediately formed between the two of them. As they tend to the garden together, Annaliese and Alexander begin to get closer and closer and in stolen moments and fervent whispers, he lifts the lid on what really happens at the camp. Shocked, disturbed and determined to do whatever it takes to secure his freedom, Annaliese vows to move mountains for Alexander. However, Annaliese needs to tread carefully because her quest for justice has not gone unnoticed. Will her love for Alexander end up costing her everything? Or will she find a way to be with the man who means everything to her?

Fifty years later, Annaliese is in America reading a newspaper when she suddenly comes across a picture that stops her in her tracks. She never imagined that she would see this man ever again and as she reads on about this face from her past, a whole surfeit of wartime memories come flooding back with a vengeance. Annaliese finds herself forced to confront feelings and emotions she has suppressed for fifty years – or else risk losing her only son forever.

Debbie Rix has the storyteller’s gift and in The German Wife has written a haunting, engrossing and dramatic historical novel rich in emotion, atmosphere, intensity and heart. A spellbinding tale about the power of love, dangerous loyalties, courageous decisions and facing one’s demons, The German Wife is an immersive and rewarding reading experience fans of historical fiction will not want to miss out on.

An outstanding historical novel that gets under readers’ skin, Debbie Rix’s The German Wife is simply superb.

The German Wife is an Historical Fiction Story set during WWII and bookended by a present storyline set in 1989. Annaliese is a well off doctor’s wife. Her husband, Hans, joins the SS as he thinks it is the only way to get ahead and be able to do his research. He is ordered by the SS to work at the Dachau labour camp, where he will also be able to do his Malaria research. Annaliese is at home living happily, ignorant of what is really going on at the camp. When they seem to be unable to have a child, Hans is worried what this will do to his standing in the party, so he encourages Annaliese to have a sexual relationship with the gardener, a Russian prisoner that she seems to have feelings for. It is then that she finds out from Alexander what is really happening at the camp. She can no longer stand to have her husband touch her and as the Allies get closer, she has some decisions to make.

I found the plot quite intriguing and the story told from the perspective of an SS doctor and his wife was really unique. It was an easy read and flowed well, considering the topic. Although the title of this story is The German Wife, I found the story surrounding Hans to be more interesting and developed than Annaliese's story. Seeing how he tried to do his tests and research as ethically as he could, not harming others as much as possible and trying to stop the other doctors from being reckless was a very different viewpoint from other stories set during this time. earing how complicated life could be for an SS officer and why one would join the SS even though he did not support the party of the cause, also opened my eyes a bit. Annaliese was rather sheltered, yet at times she seemed strong and had a mind of her own. I would have loved to see her more developed and known more about her ideology and thoughts. I do like to read about the German people who were just trying to survive and not strong enough to fight back, as they all weren't evil. The story after the war ended was another eye opener seeing how some people were given passage to the US and became citizens and why. The life of a prisoner after the war was not easy and I like that there was some reference to that as well. This was a well written story that kept my attention, made me think and gave me some new tidbits of knowledge that I didn't really know about. I recommend this book if you enjoy WWII Historical Fiction.

I found this story line to be well written and one that varies from so many others in the genre. Take 2 people who fall in love and realize that at the beginning of the relationship their values align and then throughout the war how different they have become. I enjoyed the suspense while having a little bit of a love story interwoven in. This is a good book and one that will leave you thinking what would you do in the samr situation?

Today I’m sharing my thoughts on The German Wife, as part of the book tour hosted by Bookouture. Thank you for my spot on the tour, and for the advance reader copy via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

𝗠𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄
 
The Story follows Annaliese, the wife of Hans, a doctor who in a bid for advancement joins the Nazi party and finds himself posted to Dachau. He attempts to shield Annaliese from the horrors that have become his work, although she starts to have her own suspicions. Then her husband, determined to save at least one life, brings a Russian prisoner to work as their gardener. When he tells her of the true horrors of the camp, Annaliese vows to help him.

I have become very interested in historical fiction recently and couldn’t wait to read this book. I liked the main characters, although, it they did seem to be stuck in that river in Egypt for a long time. The story was so very well written that I felt genuine feelings of fear, frustration, joy, and resolve. Annaliese was a strong character, even while attempting to be a good German wife, especially under the shadow of the Nazis.

The pace, and intensity, were perfect for the story, which I couldn’t put down until I had finished, with the exception of a few occasions when I had to pause and reflect on what I had just read.  This book will stay with me a quite a while, and that is just one reason why I strongly recommend it for anyone to read. I gave The German Wife, by Debbie Rix, five stars.

My blog with the full review, and additional author and buying information is live on my website jldixon.co.uk

“A secret love. An impossible choice”


This definitely has to be one of my top reads of 2021!

I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough and was amazed to realise that I had read the book from beginning to end in less than 24 hours, using up more than its fair share of my desktop tissue box along the way!

When I read about the true events and people on which this book was based, it was immediately apparent what a superb job author Debbie Rix had done with her in depth research and beautiful blending of fact with fiction, to produce this amazing storyline, which essentially epitomises the perfect eternal triangle of emotional involvement, spanning decades and lifetimes. However, running in parallel with this sad and poignant love story, there is historical and social commentary of the terrible crimes some people were forced to commit in the name of war, a cultural representation of certain groups for whom human life had no meaning and who were almost happy to inflict pain and suffering on innocent minority groups, and a societal dilemma of exactly how far and to what lengths a person was willing to go, to protect their own reputation, status and standing. Not everyone was a guilty and willing participant in the many acts of barbarism inflicted on detainees of the German Reich and despite having studied the era, albeit many years ago now, I had no idea of the modern day slavery implications, for those prisoners ‘lucky’ enough to be spared execution or a much slower, more torturous death.

Although newlyweds, Hans and Annaliese talk ‘at’ one another, there is no real sense of either of them truly talking ‘to’ one other, so they spend much of their married life at cross purposes, neither realising just how unhappy the other is, until it is too late, their love has turned sour and vitriolic, and a sense of detached duty, is all that remains between them. Whilst Hans may come to feel a growing abhorrence and shame about the wartime atrocities, tortures and murders he witnesses inside the walls of Dachau, as one of Himmler’s favoured SS Officers; this is completely at odds with the commitment he has made to his medical research programme, which is where he wants to make a name for himself, and is why he manages to turn a blind eye to the effects his experiments are having on his human test subjects.

Annaliese despises the Reich and all it stands for and at first has no idea that her distant husband has become so firmly entrenched in its moral turpitude and barbaric practices. When she has her rose-tinted glasses removed and the light of reality shines in on her, her repugnance and shame know no bounds, especially when it is made clear to the couple that certain marital outcomes are expected of them, to promote the ongoing purity of the new Aryan race and boost its number. Once Anna is abandoned not once, or twice, but three times and is left to manage by her own resourcefulness, she summons an inner strength she never knew she possessed, in order to protect that which is most dear to her and to make a life and future of which they can be proud.

Alexander Kosomov is a Russian POW, saved by Hans as a slave gardener for Annaliese, although Alexander’s contempt for the couple is barely concealed and he maintains his pride with consummate dignity. When Hans is away working however, the inevitable happens and Annaliese and Alexander become attracted to one another, although it becomes clear that any notion of true love is all one sided and not returned, as for Alexander, survival is the only name of the game and some actions are just too risky to contemplate, especially when he feels that he has been manipulated and used by the the Vogels to further their own ends, despite Anna’s protestations that her feelings for him are genuine.

Those are the bare bones of a well structured, disturbing, multi-layered saga, which seamlessly spans many decades, from a Germany where war is still just a glimmer on the horizon, through to modern day America, where life is good and conditions perfect for the emotional reckoning of one man’s lifetime and a long overdue reconciliation. Told in well signposted chapters, the writing is fluent, evocative, emotionally challenging in its bold, intense and forthright style; but at the same time completely immersive, compelling, wonderfully nuanced and textured. The passionate and intuitive, richly crafted dialogue; together with some gripping, perceptive and highly emotive narrative, all sets a really visual sense of time and place, where pain, suffering, sorrow and regret are never far from the surface.

Debbie created an amazing cast of well drawn and developed characters who, love them or hate them, were given loud and clear voices with which to make this storyline very their own. They were all definitely a multi-faceted, complex jigsaw of human emotions, with personal agendas and motives, many of which were not always compelling or easy to identify with. They were often selfish, volatile, raw and passionate, which could make them unreliable yet strangely vulnerable, mentally scarred and broken and always somehow searching for that just-out-of-reach, illusive sense of truly belonging. As they were seldom true to themselves, with little if any synergy between them, finding them in any way genuine or believable, was always going to be a challenge. All that having been said however, I found them all quite addictive in their own way and the character I could most relate to is poor Sasha, who is destined to never really remember or get to know the man he called ‘father’, and who only gets the opportunity to meet and engage with his birth father when the man is elderly and is the only person left who can answer any of his questions with honesty.

What typically makes reading such a wonderful experience for me, is that with each and every book, I am taken on a unique and individual journey, by authors who can fire my imagination, stimulate my senses and stir my emotions.

Whilst still at heart, a love story, this book had the power to evoke so many feelings, that I’m sure I won’t have felt the same way about it as the last reader, nor the next. It really is a journey you need to make for yourself and see where it leads you!

A touching and very emotional historical novel that really shows the horrors of WWII that coincided with bravery of the “little people”. Loved every second of this wonderful book!

I really enjoyed the beginning of The German Wife. It started off with Anna living in America with her grown-up son. It’s 1984 and she is going to tell him something about their past and you get the feeling that it’s big and possibly going to change everything.

As Anna tells her story, you hear about her life in Germany. From Annaliese, a teen at 17 who has just buried her father and then married a German doctor, Hans. Who went on to join the SS to protect himself, his wife, and career. But it didn’t turn out the way he had hoped.

Hans gets assigned to Dachau to work in the medical department to work on cures for diseases to help protect german troops. As time goes on he is told to conduct disturbing experiments on the people imprisoned in Dachau against his will. This takes a mental toll on him and he becomes withdrawn from Annaliese, as their marriage starts to unravel.

It’s not helped when Hans gets a Russian prisoner, Alexander to work in their garden. Annaliese spends more time with him and begins to fall in love.

I’ve read many historical fiction books around the time of World War II and I still get shocked reading about the concentration camps. The German Wife is well researched and tells it from a German Officers point of view. As much as I find it hard to read about the way the prisoners were treated, it’s such an interesting read and it’s done in a brutally truthful way. The characters are well thought out. Annaliese is a tough but sensitive character who stays true to herself and tries to make things work.

A great first book of 2022 for me and well deserved of 5 stars.

he German Wife by Debbie Rix offers the reader a fascinating insight into life during World War Two for one woman married to a doctor who works in the Dachau labour camp. What really set this book apart from all the many others that continuously flood this genre is that at the heart of it is a basic human story. One filled with unimaginable decisions and choices that have to be made. The main character Annaliese tries to maintain some semblance of normality but deep down she knows she is caught up in something that will see her test her morals and conscience to their upper limits. This is a story where you really feel for the characters. Yes, we are told what is going on at the camp and lots of us have read about this before but not having the majority of the book set specifically in the camp itself but rather in the home of Annaliese and her husband Dr. Hans Vogel allowed for the author to really explore how those on the edges and those right smack bang in the centre of a desperate situation coped.

Did they stand by and just let unnatural things unfold? Did they believe in everything that was going on or did they wrestle with their own moral compass and try to do something against the injustice being meted out? What happens when love comes into the equation that perhaps will give you something you so desperately want and are really under pressure and obliged to fulfil? Can science be a valid reason for inflicting unmeasurable cruelty and suffering? All these questions and so many more arose in my mind as I delved deeper into The German Wife and I found myself more than keen to hopefully discover most of the answers. If definitive answers weren’t possible than there was certainly plenty of food for thought here to inspire discussion and debate and really have you thinking even more so than perhaps you have done before. Just how so many people suffered all because of the actions of one insane man and how so many followed him blindly but there were those rare few who knew what occurring was wrong but had they the strength to stand up for their own beliefs and opinions?

The book opens in October 1984 as Anna, now living in America, recollects her life in Germany. She left the country following the end of the war as there was nothing left for her there. The one she had at first loved was gone and all that she could cling to was her young son Sasha. Life in America seems to have been fruitful for Anna. She loved her job as an interior designer and made a good life for herself over all. Yet Anna still holds many secrets to her chest, the discovery of these would open an entire can of worms that once emerged into the light would be very hard to repress. But is now the time when the truth must be told and specifically for Sasha he may well learn a few home truths. The book is divided into three sections, the pre war years, the war and the aftermath. Each section is very distinct and informative and moves the story as a whole along very well. Part one gives us the background to Annaliese, how she was left all alone in the world aged 17 when her father died. She sold the family shop and began a secretarial course and got a job at a bank. She meets Dr. Hans Vogel and she feels a deep connection to him as both felt dominated by their parents and are searching for their specific niche in the world. They quickly marry as he makes her feel safe, secure and protected.

Hans was a character who on the one hand I felt was very led by the powers that be. Yes he had a keen interest in medical science and in particular in certain diseases and was always keen to enhance his career and joining the SS afforded him this opportunity. But at what cost? It was evident when he is sent to work at Dachau that although he prefers to remain in his lab researching, he is not immune to what is going on around him.The inmates are used as his subject matter and the descriptions of what other scientists did to innocent people was just horrific. You wonder did Hans at times forget about basic human rights and that there was a person behind the camp number and the skin and bones? Was he too caught up in progressing his career? He convinces himself that he is not a soldier working for an authoritarian regime but a doctor embarking on important work for the sake of humanity. This is what gets him through his research and what he is forced to witness. He plays the game for he fears what will happen to both himself and Annalise if he doesn’t.

I am still in two minds as to my opinions of Hans as a character. He has an integral role to play and undoubtedly has his good points but in all good faith and believing and doing what was morally right I don’t know did he always play on the right side. Pressure only mounts in his marriage when what is expected does not come to fruition and subsequently he is found to be at fault and so this strand of the story sets in motion a whole chain of events that form the core of the latter half of the book. I found the latter half to be far stronger than the first. I loved the tension, unease and suspicion that arose but also the moments of tenderness and real love that emerged at just the right points. Love bloomed and wilted but still struggled to remain ignited because Annaliese felt that what herself and Hans did was right.

Annaliese, I really connected with more so than Hans. From the time we meet her as a teenager she really does undergo a transformation. She doesn’t always make the right decisions but at least she holds herself accountable when things go wrong. I never felt like she was trapped in her marriage even though it does begin to crumble when she discovers the truth behind what goes on at the camp and how Hans is involved. I thought she was clever and knew that in the midst of a war it wasn’t the time to go running away from security and deep down she did have a love for Hans although a new kind of love came her way. She uses this new love to her advantage at first but then I could see it grew into something real and tangible. But can this last if the circumstances she finds herself in were removed and life was once again normal? I’m being purposefully vague here regarding what actually unfolds because to be too specific would certainly give too much away. Suffice to say Annaliese is a character you root for and you can see the internal struggles she goes through. She lived in extraordinary times where morality, duty and human decency were in short supply and because of this you judge every character on whether they lack these traits or have them in abundance.

The German Wife is another very good read from Debbie Rix and it was interesting to see that the story was based on some true characters. It made me appreciate the themes and the depth of the story even more. There is sadness and heartbreak throughout matched with moments of tenderness, love and beauty. Despite finding the start up to the midpoint quite slow I found things really picked up once I reached the midway point and I was rapidly turning the pages to uncover everything.Historical fiction fans won’t be disappointed in this read where a forbidden love and an impossible choice play such a vital role.

I like reading historical fiction novels specially if they are based on the true stories of the WW2. I feel it very educating to know the brutality that went on in the Nazi era.

The German Wife by Debbie Rix is just another such historical book, that focuses on the brutality of the WW2 amid a love story between a Russian prisoner and the wife of a doctor working at Dachau camp and powers of an influential Nazi family.

The story is told by Anneliese, the wife of Hans a doctor, who is forced to work at Dachau laboratory camp. The book is beautifully written and well researched. The ending of the book was the most touching according to me with a beautiful and happy ending.

On the character front, I felt the character of Annalise was the strongest and one is sure to adored her. Overall, the book was a heart warming story.

A well recommended book if you love reading historical fiction novels.

Thanks to @netgalley @Bookouture and the author Debbie Rix for this ARC.

This book has become one of most favorite books. So heartbreaking and tragic knowing it’s inspired by true events in such a horrible time. I loved and felt for Annaliese. It’s so sad what she goes through.

Tamsin Kennard is the perfect narrator.

Thanks to Debbie Rigs, Bookouture & NetGalley for my copies of both the book and audiobook version.

Germany, 1939 Annaliese is stuck in an unhappy marriage and her husband Hans, is a doctor and his new job is at Dachau. She is very fearful of Hans because she doesn’t like the man he has become. Then Russian prisoner, Alexander is sent from Dachau to work in Hans and Annaliese’s garden. Annaliese finds solace in gardening with Alexander, and as they spend time in the gardens together he begins to tell her what is really going on at Dachau and what Hans is actually doing there. She is horrified by what she is told and vows to do all that she can to save him. Then in America, it’s 1989 and Annaliese is reading a newspaper and is completely surprised when she sees the face of a man she thought she would never see again. Once again Annaliese is consumed with fear of wartime memories from the past and she realizes her past is catching up with her. She must confront her past secrets or risk losing her son. I absolutely loved this time-slip novel, the wonderful blend of the past with the present was written perfectly. I always love when the storyline is inspired by true events, it sends the story to a whole other level. I was totally drawn into this story from the very first page through to the very last. It was amazing I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you Debbie Rix for such a wonderful past meets present novel. I loved this wonderfully well written and well researched story, and I highly recommend it.

Annaliese is married to a doctor and she finally has a chance at having a family after losing both of her parents. Her husband, Hans, isn’t happy just being a doctor, he wants more. To hopefully achieve more, he becomes a Nazi and is assigned to Dachau. It is while here that he will be a part of more things than he could have anticipated. Hans goes along to protect his life and his wife’s, telling his wife anything but the truth when she asks questions.

A Russian prisoner, Alexander, is assigned as a gardener at the resident of Hans and Annaliese. When Annaliese falls in love and becomes pregnant, she is faced with impossible choices. While some of those decisions are made for her, what will she do once the war ends? It appears to be ending soon, and Annaliese has to decide what that means for her and her child.

This book was definitely a different approach to WWII historical fiction. It bugged me how much the main characters were willing to overlook so that they could remain ignorant to what was really going on. It made me wonder how many willingly did that so they could maintain the life they wanted. The author did a great job carrying the storylines all the way through and making sure everything was answered at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture, and Debbie Rix for a copy of this book in exchange for a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Outstanding. A beautiful beautiful book. Touching. Thought provoking. Heart rending. Poignant. Wonderfully researched. Stunning writing. A story that touches your heart. Read this one please. It will move you. Make you think. Question. Change. Just wow!

A brilliant WW2 story, heartbreaking and based on a true story. Annaliese is a great main character and it is good hearing the story from a German woman who has courage and integrity. Guaranteed to be a story that will stay with you long after you have finished reading it

Annaliese is only 17 the first time she sees Hans Vogel at the cemetery during her father's funeral. A couple years later their paths cross again, this time Hans asks her to lunch, their relationship grows and they eventually marry.
Too soon the war is upon them and Hans must make difficult decisions about his career as a medical doctor and his dream of being a medical researcher. Believing it will help increase his chances at research he joins the SS, thus setting himself and Annaliese on a collision course to disaster.
By the time Hans realizes what the true nature of the research going on at Dachau really is it is too late. Fearing for himself and Annaliese Hans continues fulfilling his obligation to the SS and Himmler himself.
This story brings up questions of morality, the hippocratic oath "first do no harm" and how far is to far? And many more. The decisions made from choices that are nothing but bad is no choice.There were no lesser of two evils here, they were all evil.
This is an eye-opener as to what went on in Dachau, the horror experienced by so many unwilling subjects and least of which the decisions made by our (American) government concerning some doctors and their "research", which I personally find questionable at best.
This book is for any historical fiction fan seeking a quick, simply put look behind the scene of some of the most horrific times in history.
Thank you to Bookouture and to Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.

This is an interesting but disturbing German perspective on World War II, both before, during, and after the war. Annaliese goes from a young woman in love with her husband, Hans, to someone married to a monster, a doctor at Dachau concentration camp. When she meets Alexander, a prisoner sent to work in her garden, she learns the horrific truth about Dachau and her husband’s role there.

This is a heartbreaking story of a woman thrust into a situation she never would have chosen and how she responds to it. The character development of Anna and Alex is good, and disconcerting at times, as Anna cannot seem to completely grasp what Alex has been through. There is also a shocking situation between them that Anna doesn’t fully seem to understand. The often cold and calculating, but sometimes conflicted Hans is well written. He is the epitome of someone who gave up humanity for personal gain. Some other German characters in the novel, including Anna at times, seem to want to ignore the past and forget their roles in it. Although this seems cold, it is possibly close to a true portrayal of how Germans were feeling at the time. This is a heartrending novel about an evil regime, the people they used and slaughtered, and the country they tore apart. It is also a look at that time in history through the eyes of a German woman who was left to rebuild her life in the aftermath.
3.5 stars, rounded up to four on sites without a half-star option.

I received a free copy of this book from Bookouture. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

This is the second book I have read by Debbie Rix and I must admit, she is quickly becoming one of my favorite WWII Historical Fiction authors. Rix has a way of telling you a story based on true events that has you hanging on to every written word and holding your breath, This heartbreaking tale of love and loss, and the strength of Annaliese to continue on is a story that needed to be told. It’s a reminder of what some of the German wives went through being married to SS officers and the fact that not all of them drank the koolaid and followed their husbands ideals.

I sincerely hope Debbie Rix continues writing stories like the last two I have read because she is an extremely talented author that vividly paints the portraits you can see you in your mind and you can feel what the women within her stories feel.

Thank you to #netgalley and #bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Absolutely loved The German Wife. It was my first time delving into a book from this author and I am thrilled I did.
She writes beautifully and in The German Wife she created such wonderful characters.
I am a huge fan of books written in this time period.
Debbie told her story so well and gave me such a huge insight into the medical side of Dachau. While I understand this story is fiction, what happened back then isn't.
The character of Annaliese I warmed to and her relationship with her husband Hans gave us a knowledge of the pressure couples were under back then to produce children and the lengths they would have to go to.
The love affair between herself and Alexander was under immense pressure and I couldn't help wondering who would lose out in the end.

(I am on the blog tour for this 14/01/22 so I will be back to post the link to my review)

Debbie Rix’s “The German Wife” (ISBN-13 9781800195486) is an evocatively told tale. I read the entire book in one sitting. Five Stars.

This well-researched story is set in the Second World War and its aftermath. It was a time that forced millions to fight for personal and national survival. The story begins in 1939 in Germany, when the protagonist Annaliese begins to build her adult life. When she and her father visit her mother’s grave, she notices Dr Hans Vogel and his mother at another grave. Following the death of her father, her sole remaining parent, she begins her adult life. Later, Hans and she met coincidentally and from that point, their relationship builds until they are married.

Hans is a physician, and their life together begins well enough. However, to advance his career from general practitioner to medical researcher, he joins the Schutzstaffel (SS), which sponsors medical research using prisoners. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler notes Hans’ research interests and assigns him to the Dachau concentration camp, initially to study malaria prevention but ultimately, he is involved in far more. This growing involvement further alienates him from his family, which activities he hides from Annaliese.

Due to able-bodied German men being in military service, Hans brings a Russian prisoner named Alexander home to serve as a slave labor gardener. Annaliese’s husband’s increasing alienation and her interests in gardening put her in daily contact with the handsome and intelligent Alexander, resulting in a love that ultimately takes all on an international path that extends over generations and creates various dangers, great human emotion, plot twists, and a complex love story. Ultimately, it takes world events, the Cold War, realpolitik, and another generation reaching adulthood to bring the tale to closure.

It is a beautifully crafted story, a historically accurate novel, that takes the reader on a ride with layers of nuance that many may have not considered. In the end, the reader turns the last page, fully satisfied by the brilliantly told tale.

Thanks to the publisher, Storyfire, Ltd., for granting this writer the opportunity to read this deftly crafted work prior to publication, and thanks to NetGalley for helping to make that possible.

Wow… I am sobbing. I loved this book so much. I was attached to the characters and felt for every one of them. I completely devoured this book and it will stay with me a long time. Absolute 5 stars.