The child without a home is a wonderful historial fiction book. From the very first page I was completely captivated by Agnes story. The story is told in dual timeline, 1940’s East Prussia and present day Cambridge. I have to admit to enjoying the past story slightly more . I was completely enthralled by Agnes life and all she went through. This story was so well written I could honestly picture in my mind all she went through so clearly. There were times this book brought me to tears and I had to pause my reading for a while before continuing. This really shows what a well written and emotional read this was. I absolutely loved it.

A very good book it was amazing the first book i have read that is point of view of Germans the World war 2 historical fiction genre is full of England or if we read of Germany it's usually from the point of view of Jews or the Resistance.
This book not only provides an adventure from the point of view of young Agnes but also what it means to be a family

Agnes's Story

Agnes's story of survival in East Prussia and her escape to England is a sad, heartbreaking story but an amazing story of survival and the love of a sister for her younger brother.

As East Prussia is being evacuated by the German's before the advance of the Red Army of Russia, many families left to go to Germany or Denmark to escape the Russian Army. Agnes, her mother, her small brother Dieter and her aunt joined the refugee's. Agnes's father had already been taken and forced to fight for the German Army. Along the way Agnes and Dieter are left alone with no one to help them. It is up to Agnes to keep Dieter safe.

This story is a story of great determination and fortitude of a young girl only twelve years old. The situations they encounter, the horrible things they see, the hunger, the cold of the winter and their will to survive is a page turning story.

The Second story of Freya in later times in Cambridge was not as interesting. I would have liked to read a whole book on Agnes's story that of her father, her aunt, her best friend and even her friends in Lithuania . It was not a bad story, I just really liked Agnes's story so much more.

The story of Agnes and Dieter and Freya and her Grandfather is a story of facing the past and finding a way to forge forward and leave it behind, not to be forgotten, but to be left in the past.

The WWII part of the story was so much worth reading the book. Every time I read something on this war I learn something new and interesting. I had no knowledge before of the evacuation of East Prussia before the Red Army and the trials that those refugees faced.

I did enjoy the book and I enjoyed the ending it was a good ending for the book. I would recommend this book.

Thanks to Ann Bennett for writing a great story, to Bookouture for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me.

As much as I loved the part of this book that is set in the past, the horrific story about Agnes and her family during the end of WW2, I unfortunately struggled with the part set in Cambridge in the present. Not because it is less interesting or anything, it is actually nice to reconnect with Agnes and find out what happened to her, but I couldn't connect with Freya at all, I don't know exactly why. Maybe it was the contrast between the terrible conditions in which Agnes was compelled to live that made, in comparison, Freya's problems seem shallow.
What I reaaly loved, though, is the writing style: beautiful, emotional and deeply moving.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my goodness I loved this book! It left me emotionally spent, and made me think about so many different aspects of world war 2. A must read.
Thank you so much for this arc

In The Child Without A Home by AnnBennett, the reader hears the story of Agnes & Dieter as they try to survive in East Prussia near & at the end of WWII. It is. a story that could be told by hundreds of the feral orphans of this era & place. It is an almost forgotten tale of a country that was divided between Poland and Russia, and of people who tried to forget the horrors they endured and families they lost.

A secondary story is one of Freya who is studying at Cambridge, grieving over the loss of her Polish grandfather, and getting over a breakup with a longtime boyfriend. Freya and Flinn are Agnes’s neighbors and they show her kindness. As she shares her history with them, they grow closer and help one another heal.

I enjoyed this emotional historical story. This is a newer author for me which I enjoyed her writing style as well as her attention to details that gave her story a realistic feel. I found this book to be well written and fast paced. I enjoyed being pulled into the story by the characters who made the story easy to read. They are connectable and made the story pop. This is an enaging story that is hard to put down. A story that takes place during WW2 and is inspirational and full of courage. I really enjoyed the growth of the plot which kept me turning pages fast. This is worth the pick up. I highly recommend this book.

Once I started reading this book, I couldn’t put it down until I’d finished it. And when I finished it, I wanted so much to read more. This is a chapter of Second World War history which is not often written about and is a sorry tale, but one which should be wider known.
The story is split between East Prussia/ neighbouring Lithuania in 1944-45 and Cambridge in the present day. It is forgotten history. The story of orphans struggling to survive; a story of war and terror; a story of sacrifice and survival. There are some strong real heroes in this book as well as some victims. As you read this story grips you, don’t forget your tissues. It is a heartbreaker.

If you are reading this Ann – I’d love to know what happened to Dieter (Dimitri) Dobis and about his life in Lithuania. Thank you for giving your readers a glimpse into the hardships experienced in East Prussia during the Second World War.

The story is well told, and I give it 5 stars.

Thank you for allowing me to read it. I look forward to reading more of your books.

3 + Stars
Historical fiction about the forgotten orphans of WWII
Story follows a dual timeline.
Cambridge Present Day: Freya Carey who is tracing her family’s history after her grandfather dies.
East Prussia 1944/45: As the war is coming to an end Twelve year old Agnes Peters and her eight year old brother Dieter are alone.

Story opens when Freya is moving into her new apartment in Cambridge. After unpacking, she has some homework to do. However, she cannot consecrate as the neighbor’s TV is so loud.
She tries to continue; finally decides to go ask the neighbor if they would please turn down the TV.
The neighbor is elderly and hard of hearing. She grumbles but does turn down the TV. As Freya is leaving she notices a picture on the wall similar to one her grandfather had. Additionally he hears a dialect similar to her grandfather’s. Yes this elderly woman is Agnes ~ thus the story begins.

There is no doubt this is an emotional story. I have read many WWII stories and usually find them depressing.
This is a very interesting story.

Want to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 28, 2022

ALL. THE. STARS.

Ann Bennett’s absorbing, five-star historical fiction brings to light the forgotten orphans of WW2. You’ll be emotionally wrung out, yet absolutely spellbound, reading about the Peters siblings, twelve-year-old Agnes and her eight-year-old brother, Dieter, who became ‘Vokietukai’ or ‘Wolfskinder’ – wolf children.

Bennett exposes the great expulsion and flight of the East Prussians in January 1945, where tens of thousands of Germans moved west from Konigsberg fleeing from the advancing Soviet Army. This German territory bordered the Baltic Sea and is known today as parts of Russia, Poland and Lithuania.

Having faced unimaginable loss, these two children hopped freight trains, walked for miles in harsh winter conditions, stole food, slept in ditches and barns, and ended up feral, roaming the woods because they simply had nowhere else to go. When the East Prussian villages they’d lived in became targets of the ‘scorched earth’ policy, and people were nervous helping them due to repercussions, the only alternative for the ‘Little Germans’ was to go to Lithuania to find food. You’ll read of their survival, and while it was horrifying, it was a better option than the fate awaiting them if they made it to the Baltic.

I love to learn as I read and appreciate an author who can write about a forgotten event in history and bring it to life without whitewashing the horror. Be prepared for a heartwarming story that’ll have you reaching for your tissues as much as searching Google to find out if Agnes and Dieter’s experience was possible. Bennett has a gift for bringing the readers into her story and helping them understand the extent of desperation and hunger. As you turn the last page, you’ll know more about the fall of East Prussia and the impact it had on the civilian population: it altered the Peters family, stole Agnes and Dieter’s childhood, and robbed them of their innocence. Told in dual timeline, Bennett seamlessly ties together a present-day narrative set in Cambridge with Freya Carey who is trying to piece together her family’s history after her grandfather dies.

This breathtaking and absolutely engaging story about the need for courage and loss of identity as the price of wartime survival needs to be on every historical fiction lover’s TBR list come January 28, 2022.

I was gifted this advance copy by Ann Bennett, Bookouture and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

The best book of the year so far!
You will forget that you need to do any work, household chores or just have a cup of tea. Let the whole World wait while you enjoy reading this wonderful book that will not let you go for a minute!
The unforgettable Agnes's story shows the life of orphans during the war, what difficulties the children faced, how they survived.
I loved this book and am sure that many readers who are interested in the History of the World War 2 will read it with pleasure. I will recommend the book to all people who prefer reading historical fiction.
Thank to Ann Bennett, Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

This books bills itself as ‘gripping and heart-warming’ and on the heart-warming part it delivers. For me, it didn’t deliver so much on the gripping part, and on the heart-warming part it was interrupted by the changes in time from Agnes’s engrossing story to the story of a modern girl who can’t decide whether to move in with her boyfriend and explores Agnes’s story in yet another ‘modern girl discovers the past and finds her path’ story. I’m not really a fan of the modern parts, I think it’s better for the reader to learn about the past as it’s happening to someone rather than have to read about a modern person discovering the past and spouting information like a Greek chorus.

The Child Without a Home by the amazing author Ann Bennett tells of two young children and the hell they go through trying to escape the German army.
Written with all the horrors of war and the terrifying times, where children without adults to protect them, often became slaves to others.
This book had me in tears a couple of times, with my heart in my throat as well. But the end of it made all my tears worthwhile.

I found this to be a superb read, which kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. Very good novelist. Exciting, engrossing, page turner. Keeps you involved even if you know it's fiction. This book was definitely a winner for me, thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend to all who enjoy historical fiction. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for providing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. I’ll be on the lookout for future releases by this author.

What a terrific story! Freya, Agnes, Finn, Deiter, and all the other characters leap off the page. This novel is based on a little discussed time during WWII; what happened to East Prussians, especially the children during the waning days of the war. I was completely entranced with the story. I have read memoirs Of this genre and the novel fits right in with the historical facts. It’s a great addition to the Paucity Of information about the area and it’s people.

“The Child Without a Home” by Ann Bennett is a dual-timeline book. In the first timeline, the reader follows 12-year-old Agnes in East Prussia during 1944 and 1945. As the story unfolds, the reader learns about children surviving on their own between two armies (the Nazis and the Red Army). The the second timeline, we follow Freya who moves to a new residence with Agnes as her next door neighbor. Freya has issues of her own that have made her closed off to people. The first meeting between Freya and Agnes isn’t the greatest, but as Freya learns Agnes’s story (with help from another neighbor Finn), a friendship begins - along with healing for both women.

I absolutely enjoyed reading about Agnes’s 1940s story. I’ve read many WWII stories and the ones that transport me back to those times are the ones I like best. Ms. Bennett did that with her telling of Agnes’s tale. Agnes’s story is heartbreaking - but in order to survive, sometimes one does things (such as joining a gang of kids hiding in the woods). I liked how Ms. Bennett told the “wolf children” story but did it in a way that was both heartbreaking but also captured the “gang” situation that it probably was during that time. Anytime I read a “new to me” story about WWII is a joy because there are so many “hidden” stories of that time period.

While Agnes’s story transported me to the past, I cannot say that I really enjoyed the modern storyline with Freya. I found Freya to be a bit prickly, which was intentional, but I found the storyline about her former boyfriend unnecessary; did he need to appear in the book (might she have moved to get away from him instead?). I do believe that there needed to be something to tie Freya and Agnes together - but the “family is all you have” message I found a bit forced. But, I am probably in the minority about that since a number of people, I’m sure, will like that.

If you like “untold” or “mostly unknown” WWII stories, I’d recommend reading this book. It was not only very engaging, but it was interesting (I wish there had been more explanation in the Author’s Note about how Ms. Bennett got the idea or historical sources). This was also a very fast read, which is a plus in my book. A very strong four star review from me.