The subject was quite interesting, a part of the WW2 years that has really been written about. I really wanted to like this, however, I didn’t. I thought it moved much too slowly with too much unnecessary and excessive descriptions that are repeated. You didn’t care, for better or worse, for any of the characters. Just very slow moving. It did make me look into the subject more so there is that!

WOW. That's all I can say after reading this book. It's a truly chilling but riveting book that kept me reading long into the night.


This book follows three women during Hitler's rule. They come from different backgrounds but are thrust together thanks to the Lebensborn Program. The goal of the program is to breed Hitler's master race.

Gundi is pregnant and in college, Hilde is also pregnant but only 18 carrying a Nazi officers baby. They are both sent to a maternity home that is part of Hitler's breeding program. While there they meet 44 year old Irma who is a nurse.

The story alternates between the three women's perspectives. Each woman has a different view of the antisemitic laws and attitudes that predominate in the Reich. They each have secrets that could cost them their lives.

This book was truly amazing. It was so interesting seeing the Nazi reign and such a dark part of history through the eyes of the 3 different women.

I read this book while on a cruise ship sailing around Ireland. We had just had a tour of Belfast and learned about the troubles there that lasted for many years. It was hard to imagine how neighbors could treat neighbors as they did in Belfast but while reading Cradles of the Reich, it clarified that people have been doing these kinds of things throughout history. Just the setting and the language is different. I don't like war stories but I do like stories of people and how they survived through the wars - the personal stories. This book gives you a real look into the thinking of Hitler and his followers about the German race and what lengths they went to in order to preserve the purity and increase the numbers of the pure German race. Quite an interesting read.

In general, this was an engaging look at a part of Nazi Germany I knew nothing about.: the Lebensborn Society, a network of homes for unwed women of "pure" Aryan lineage who helped build Germany's "Master Race" by giving up their babies for adoption to well-off, influential German families. While this is a work of fiction, the author's strong research is obvious in the details.

We meet three different women who live in the same maternity house, Heim Hochland, for about six months. The women are studies in contrast. Beautiful Gundi, who looks like she has it all, is secretly in the Resistance and is carrying a Jewish child. Hilde, a conformist who soaks up Nazi propaganda and wants to be important, is a schemer who will do anything to look good and come out on top. Irma, a middle-aged nurse who has known tragedy, comes to the home to work and mend her broken heart. We see life through three set of eyes until some of the characters are forced to make hard, life-changing decisions.

While I found this book exciting, I had trouble believing some pieces of the plot.. (Spoiler alert): Gundi drives a truck from Germany to Switzerland after limited practice in her Resistance training. Irma decides to do "the right thing" rather quickly and abruptly when she is forced to make choices. Also, after feeling some early sympathy for Hilde, I quickly grew tired of her bragging and whining,

Even with some imperfections, this was a dynamic book that was hard to put down. For those who like reading well-researched historical fiction and seeing different points of view, this title will be highly satisfying.

this one was a very pleasant surprise! it’s well-researched and the author really knows what she’s talking about — which is always appreciated in a histfic novel, because it helps a lot while creating the story’s atmosphere & making it feel more realistic. i liked the way eugenics was discussed here, and the way the author didn’t shy away from facing the reader with its most horrific consequences. “baby laundries” were a common practice all through europe, but the nazis used them to profit off outright breeding women like they were horses to create “racially fit” babies — which is horrifying, but also a fact that most people aren’t fully aware of.

the story itself is very well-paced, with engaging characters & storylines that make you root for the three protagonist women and ultimately makes the book very hard to put down. the three main storylines were terrific, but i particularly loved gundi’s (her relationship with leo made me honest to god swoon — it’s been a while since a romantic storyline made me feel this invested!), because i’ve always had a soft spot for stories about german resistance against the nazis and hers definitely delivered in that sense. and the way the edelweiss pirates were brought into the story! amazing, just amazing. please do check this one out if you’re into ww2 histfic!

i received a free arc of this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

'Cradles of the Reich' is an eye-opening, if not somewhat disturbing story, which reveals just how depraved the Nazi regime was - even before the actual onset of WWII. The factual basis of the storyline is brought to life through the voice of three women. Their narratives are so plausibly written it's difficult to not to believe in their truth.

Gundi, Hilde, and Irma become involved in the Lebensborn Society of maternity homes; a programme designed in 1935 to breed a pure Aryan race. Each of the women is there for different purposes but the longer they stay, the more they realise just what a perverse programme it is. But under the Nazi regime, it's made clear, that what you want doesn't really matter.

For me, the book began slowly and it took me a moment to understand the jumping back and forward in time- with no chapter breaks to signal it. Quickly though, I became astounded at what you would think could only happen in a dystopian novel and engrossed as to how it could end. That ending could have come with an epilogue or even another book. My small reservations though, do not detract overall from this enlightening yet unnerving novel.

I never knew this actually happened during the war. I am very glad that this book was written. Even tho the characters are not real, what happened actually did take place. It is really well written and it was very interesting.

One of my favorite books of the year, despite the tough topic. Beautifully written and evocative, the book really does transport the reader to 1939. I also appreciated the nuance Coburn used to depict the three protagonists — none perfect or totally flawed — in a genre where it’s easy to create caricatures.

I found this book interesting even though it’s not the usual genre I go for. The mix of factual history and fiction attracted me to it initially. I liked the different POVs portrayed, some that you could really root for and some
not but definitely kept my interest and moved the story along.

Gripping story of a little-known Nazi program. The Lebensborn was intended to increase the supply of Aryan babies by any means necessary. Unwed mothers of impeccable lineage were encouraged to give their newborns up for adoption to highly placed couples with too few (less than four) children. And teenage girls and young women were encouraged to sleep with SS officers and Nazi officials to produce yet more children for adoption.

The novel follows two pregnant young women and a nurse who find themselves in a Lebensborn maternity home. Their understanding shifts as they become aware of the true horrors of the program.

Content warning: one of the other young women is a Nazi true believer, as are a number of other characters.

Cradles of the Reich by Jennifer Coburn was an interesting new take on WWII. I loved reading the multiple perspectives of the women. After reading the book you can really understand the different perspectives of the people involved. A must read if you are in to WWII novels.

𝘍𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨!

I love Historical Fiction but learning about dark parts of history is always a bittersweet experience. In this well researched and beautifully written novel we follow the lives of three strong women and the shocking events that happen in the maternity homes during WWII. I highly recommend this book for fans of Historical Fiction.

Thank you Suzy Approved Book Tours and Sourcebooks Landmark for this tour invite and gifted copy.

𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗶𝗰𝗵 by Jennifer Coburn Books releases October 11, 2022.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

Three women, a nation seduced by a madman, and the Nazi breeding program to create a so called master race
At Heim Hochland, a Nazi breeding home in Bavaria, three women's fates are irrevocably intertwined. Gundi is a pregnant university student from Berlin. An Aryan beauty, she's secretly a member of a resistance group. Hilde, only eighteen, is a true believer in the cause and is thrilled to carry a Nazi official's child. And Irma, a 44-year-old nurse, is desperate to build a new life for herself after personal devastation. All three have everything to lose.
Based on untold historical events, this novel brings us intimately inside the Lebensborn Society maternity homes that actually existed in several countries during World War II, where thousands of "racially fit" babies were bred and taken from their mothers to be raised as part of the new Germany. But it proves that in a dark period of history, the connections women forge can carry us through, even driving us to heroism we didn't know we had within us.
Wow read in one sitting really enjoyable read totally recommend
Thank You NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark
I just reviewed Cradles of the Reich by Jennifer Coburn. #NetGalley

Cradles of the Reich was a fascinating book! I’m the Author’s Note, Coburn says that she was inspired to research and write this book by the show Man in the High Castle. It was so interesting to learn that, because I was intrigued by this book because I had heard of Lebensborns from the same show! Just a fun little connection.

Anyway, I really enjoyed Cradles of the Reich. Historical fiction is my favorite genre and I’m very hard to please for WWII historical fiction specifically, but this fit the bill! I really enjoyed how Irma, Hilde, and Gundi’s stories all wove together, and each of the three characters was wonderfully developed. Even though Irma is older, we see her grow as a person and end up doing what she was meant to do (medicine for the resistance). Hilde wasn’t my favorite character due to her intense yearning for approval, but I understand that she was written that way because so many young German women were forced to behave that exact same way in order to stay alive. Gundi was my favorite. She was so headstrong in her morals and her purpose, despite it not being the convenient way to think in Germany at the time. I liked the conclusion of her story.

Ultimately, my one critique is just that I wanted more from the ending of the story. What happened once Gundi made it to Switzerland? What does Hilde end up doing? What becomes of Marianne? How does Irma do in her new position? I would’ve loved an epilogue or something because I was left with so many curiosities!

I enjoyed this book because it focused on a different aspect than the typical WWII books - the Nazi breeding homes. This was a topic that I didn't know a lot about so it was fascinating to learn more about the practices that occurred in these breeding homes. I did find the ending slightly unsatisfying, as it left the fate of the 3 main characters very open-ended. I found Hilde's ending to be the most unsatisfactory as I wanted to know what happened in her life. Otherwise it was a very enlightening read perfect for historical fiction lovers.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this well written historical fiction book, Cradles pf the Reich, by Jennifer Coburn. This is a powerful story of three very different women whose roles connect at Heim Hochland, a home in the Lebensborn Society, a select breeding program in Germany during World War II,
The story is told from 3 perspectives, each with unique political views about the German Army and Hitler, the persecution of the Jews and the war itself.
I did not know much about the Lebensborn Society and found it fascinating and disturbing at the same time. There were many connections I could to make events in The Handmaid's Tale. I was shocked by the many acceptable decisions the German government made during this time and how many of its citizens followed and agrees with these ideas, possibly our of fear and desperation.
I would have rated this a five star book but I gave it four because I found parts of the story to be abrupt and I really needed to focus during the beginning of each characters' story. I needed more background knowledge about the many different situations that occurred at this location. Perspectives changed too quickly and I needed more character development at the start.

Wow, just wow. It is so hard to read a book like this that feels like it couldn't possibly happen and then to get on google and read the authors notes at the end to see how much of it was based on facts. A beautifully written story of 3 women dealing with love and loss in completely different ways. The only negative for me was the ending, I just wanted more!

Loved the book, couldn’t put it down and read it in a few hours.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing g an advanced copy

I've always been interested in reading WWII historical fiction and haven't picked up that many recently so I thought I would give this book a try. This follows a few different women/girls who are all connected to a breeding home in Germany. Initially I can't say that I was a big fan of Hilde but as the book went on I really became interested in her storyline. I wondered if maybe she would change or be different. I did enjoy reading about Irma but would have liked to have read more from her point of view. Gundi's story was interesting and you really had to feel for her. I feel like this concentrated more on Gundi, especially towards the end, and I just wish the other characters stories felt as resolved as hers.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the galley.

Amazing beyond words. It is a must read to people of all religions, age. I told my friends about this wonderful book about history we did not know about.