Such a great read. I could not put this one down. Cannot wait to read more by the Author in the future. Definitely recommend to my friends.

1945: Miriam is released from a concentration camp. All of her family are dead except for her daughter Rosa who travelled to England before the war. Can the mother and daughter be reunited?
Searching For My Daughter is an historical novel set in the 1930s and 40s.
The book begins in 1945 when Miriam has travelled for weeks to reach the British for help in relocating. She is desperate to find her daughter Rosa, her only remaining family member after the Nazi genocide. She meets officer Jack Preston who knows Rosa and supports Miriam in her search.
We then travel back to 1938 to see Rosa's experience before the war and during her relocation to England. It makes for emotional reading as she is abused sexually and physically by her employer and then her husband. She finds a glimmer of hope and love with Jack before being forcibly parted.
This book is not for the faint hearted. The sexual and physical abuse in tandem with the concentration camp descriptions make this an emotional read. The book is written in the third person with different perspectives taking centre stage. I found myself swept up in the plot and the lives of the characters, and the story develops at a reasonably swift pace. The style of writing is engaging and easy to read, making it easy to identify with the characters and their emotions.
Searching For My Daughter is a gripping and emotive historical novel.

This author's book always make me feel like I was there walking in the shoes of her stories heroine. For a time I was Miriam and I now can imagine what it would have felt like to live in Nazi occupied France in 1945. Pick this up and experience all the high and lows, fears, worries and triumphs.

Oh my! This tugs at the heart strings. I love all of Liz Trenow's books and this did not disappoint. As the title suggests the story is based around a mother searching for her daughter after World War 2. A really enjoyable (slightly predictable) read.

Took me a little while to get into this audio book but I began to get engrossed in the story. I do enjoy books set during this piece of history. Quite sad in places but made me think about what folk went through during the war. Great narration to bring the story alive.

another brilliant book by Liz Trenow. Very haunting story full of near misses. I found myself willing the characters to meet and be reunited. Lovely twist of plot. A good read.

Well written,emotional and dramatic story set towards the end of World War Two. Miriam is searching for her daughter who moved to England during the war. There are lots of how and downs and plenty of emotional moments.

Searching for My Daughter by Liz Trenow was a truly a beautifully written story and you will need some tissues handy! lots in my case!!!! Searching for my daughter is a very emotional story about a family that is separated in WW2 by the horrors of the holocaust. A mother called Miriam faces mayhem and heart ache when she is trying to find her only daughter Rosa at the end of WW2.

This book had it all, it was full of bravery, mothers love for her child, romance, lots of sadness which showed how brave and strength they all were, Hence why I said you may need tissues. All the characters were excellent and played a great part within this book.

WoW.......I need a strong cup of tea now.........to digest this book which I highly recommend.

Thank you to netgalley and bookouture for allowing me to read the eARC of this book.

An emotional read with both heartbreaking and heartwarming moments. A mother’s love is like no other!

The author has created a well-researched story with strong, interesting characters. If you’re looking for love, hope & bravery set against the backdrop of World War II (and its aftermath), please consider this beautiful book. Historical fiction at its finest! Highly recommend.

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

This is a story of love, hope and undeniable strength and will. Miriam suffered through the concentration camp in the work groups. The story begins with Miriam trying to get to England to find her daughter who has moved to England. Miriam’s daughter Rosa moved to England with her husband before the war when things were starting to get bad in Germany. Rosa moved there with a man she does not love but needed.. Miriam arrives at the checkpoint to get to England but finds that she must wait longer because the English officers aren’t there to allow her passing. Miriam just happens to meet an English soldier named Jack. Through this chance encounter, Jack finds out that Miriam is searching for the woman that broke his heart.

Liz Trenow has written a beautiful story that will have you cheering for Miriam and striving to follow her on her journey.

Thank you to #netgalley and #bookouture for allowing me to read the eARC of this book. All opinions expressed above are my own.

The word that most came to mind while reading this is hope. Hope gives us reason to fight.
It is a powerful story of Miriam who has been in the concentration camps and is fortunate in meeting young officer, Jack at the border patrol.
Miriam is stunned that Jack knows her daughter Rosa who is all the family she has left. Rosa’s husband Daniel worked in Jack’s family business before moving on.
Now Miriam is going to London to see if she can find Rosa, this may not be that simple as unknown to her they have changed their surname in order that it doesn’t sound Jewish. Rosa had been treated badly by her previous employer herr Steiner partly because she was a Jew.

This is a gripping emotional read

Standing on a train station platform in Hamburg, Miriam Kauffman watched as her daughter, Rosa and her new husband left for safety in England. It was 1939 and things were starting to get bad for the Jewish community of Germany. Though she, her husband and son were ultimately betrayed and sent to Auschwitz, Miriam managed to survive. Once she regained her health, she wouldn’t stop until she found her daughter in England. Getting there wasn’t easy but by some miracle, the English officer who interviewed her was the eldest son of the family who sponsored Rosa and her husband. A series of small events would lead to their eventual reunion nearly a year later but Miriam wouldn’t stop until she could hold her daughter in her arms once more.

I loved that this story showed the contrast between countries during the war and their treatment of the jewish community. I always appreciate the history lessons that I learn when I’m reading historical fiction and this story touches on the fact that many Nazis escaped to South America to flee prosecution of their crimes. I highly recommend this story! It is a great weekend read!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Bookouture and Liz Trenow for access to this captivating novel about a mothers love.

This is a highly emotional tale of a family separated by the horrors of the holocaust. A mother faces havoc and an abundance of roadblocks in her efforts to reunite with her daughter at the end of WWII. The characters are well-drawn and a believable reflection of the terror of those heartbreaking times. Trenow's writing delivers high emotional impact and this one will tear at your heartstrings.

A book taking place after #WorldWar2, with the strong bond of a mother and daughter. A wonderful character in Miriam, shows strength as she searches with all hope to find her beloved daughter.
A wonderfully written #historicalfiction!
Thank you, Liz Trenow, Bookouture & NetGalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.

I read a lot of WWII Historical Fiction, but I wanted something besides the fighting and the concentration camps and that is what I got in Searching for My Daughter. It is 1945, and the camps have been liberated. Germany is controlled by Russia, Britain and the US. Refugees have flooded the streets and many are looking for visas to leave the country. Miriam is the sole survivor of her family who were sent to the camps, but her daughter, Rosa, married Daniel and escaped to England before the war began. She shows up at the Embassy and coincidentally runs into an English officer named Jack, who it turns out used to know and love Rosa. Jack provides her with a visa, tickets to get to England and his address to keep him in the know. Will Miriam find Rosa?

Although the majority of this story is told in 1945, there are some flashbacks that set up the reason Rosa married and fled with Daniel. There is also some information about the action and fate of her parents and brother, but it is minimal. There are parts of this story that are heartbreaking and some made me very angry. Miriam was a character with nothing to lose, she had one thing keeping her going and that was finding her daughter. A German in London didn't have an easy time, but she had Jack on her side. Meanwhile, Rosa is also looking for her family and coming up against dead ends. The story is told from the POV of Miriam and Rosa, with the end being a third person narrative, and it works well. Liz Trenow has written a story that is both heartbreaking and hopeful. There were other themes including sexual abuse, domestic abuse, women's roles, cheating, war criminals and prejudice all enmeshed in this story.

Searching For My Daughter is set straight after World War II. Miriam has been through hell at Auschwitz and must find her daughter Rosa who she sent to England years ago for a safer life. After losing her husband and son, all Miriam has left is his daughter.

While she is waiting to get her Visa to travel to England, Miriam meets Jack. Who used to know Rosa. At this point I was begging Jack to tell Miriam everything he knew about Rosa, the poor woman has been through so much. But there wouldn’t be much of a story if it was all given away so soon. Therefore you follow Miriam on her lonely journey, overcoming hurdles along the way to find her dear daughter. You will also discover Rosa on her own journey to find her family. At times you will be shouting out stop you are so close to finding one another. And then they are far apart. It is heartbreaking!


It was really well written the characters are great. I could totally relate to them. It was sad at times, so be ready! I adore reading stories of bravery, survival and it seems so real. If you love these types of books like me you will certainly find this one a fantastic read.

A powerful and emotional story showing the strength of the love between a mother and her daughter and the lengths people go to to find the ones they love.
Miriam was such a wonderful woman - strong and brave she must have suffered such extremes of war. Her friendships with Jack and then Sam and Sarah were a great relief from the horrors of the Nazis terror and I loved reading about the support they gave to her in her search for Rosa.

Searching For My Daughter is an emotional story of hope, love, survival and the strength of a mother’s love.

I really loved this book - the characters are wonderfully depicted, the pace is good and the story flows really well. Liz Trenow’s descriptive writing and storytelling is superb. With such a captivating plot this was definitely a book I didn’t want to put down!

I am grateful to the publisher, Bookouture, via NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Searching for my Daughter by Liz Trenow is predominantly set in the aftermath of World War Two and is the story of one survivor's search for her daughter who is the only remaining member of her family. It’s a story of hope, mixed with heartbreak and despair and overall it was a quick, easy, good read yet perhaps not the most gripping that I have read so far this year in the historical fiction genre. The story is split into three parts and firstly we are introduced to Miriam Kauffman. It’s July 1945 and she has walked for days and days to reach the Russian/British border within Germany. Miriam is one of the lucky ones despite the terrible trauma that she has experienced. She has done the impossible and survived Auschwitz but her husband and son have not been so lucky and they are lost to her forever.

Miriam is suffering from exhaustion and fear and all around her people are starving and without money or the relevant papers needed to leave the country. But she has one shining light guiding her on which has kept her going through the loss of her loved ones and the brutality she was forced to endure within the camp. The fact that she knows her daughter Rosa was able to flee Germany to England with her husband Daniel before war broke out. Miriam clings to this beacon of light and is strong willed and determined to be reunited with the last remaining person she has that she loves so dearly. But what happened to Rosa during the war years? Are Rosa and her husband still alive after all this time? If they are, did they give up hope that any family members survived in Germany? Miriam wants to discover a new life or return to a semblance of the one she previously enjoyed if that is at all possible. But how can that be, given the world and her family situation are completely altered after so many years of death and destruction.

When she is finally admitted to the British base where people are recorded and can apply for a visa, she is tired and weary but remains fierce and defiant at the same time. These are the traits that will stand to her throughout the book. I think Miriam was the best written character in the book and judging the story based on its title you would think she plays the dominant part throughout. Instead, I found the story moved back and forth an awful lot which disrupted the flow of the overall search. We went back and forth an awful lot from Miriam in the present, the pre wars, the war years themselves and then in the months following the conclusion of the war and this was all done from several viewpoints. I thought the plot was struggling to establish itself and was at times a bit all over the place. It was the last quarter or so where I felt things really started to come together and then I found myself becoming more invested in the outcome but it was just a little bit too late.

Jack is an intelligence officer in the British army and since the end of war has been doing his best to avoid returning to England and once again having to work in his fathers factory. His war years did not end well when he was in a prisoner of war camp but he counts himself lucky that he made it out alive. But guilt does eat away at him that his comrades didn’t survive. He knows now he has a duty to repay those who were lost by living his life in the best way he can. As he interviews those seeking visas at the base in Germany, there is something about one woman’s story that rings bells with him and the details seem familiar. To be honest this just seemed too much of a coincidence that a connection could be made between Miriam, Rosa and Jack but without it there wouldn’t have been much of a story to tell. Jack knows Rosa, in fact he knows her very well. It was his family that Rosa stayed with upon arrival in England but something happened just prior to the outbreak of war which meant both she and Daniel had to leave Jack’s family. As to her whereabouts now Jack is clueless but meeting Miriam you can sense that spurt within him to help her find the daughter she has been separated from for seven long years.

Cleary, there is a much deeper meaning behind Jack just wanting to reunite mother and daughter and it’s in the sections where we go back and Jack recounts his family life and the time he got to know Rosa that we learn an awful lot more which gives us a much bigger picture and a deeper and greater understanding. I understood what motivated Jack and how he feels guilty for what happened just as war was about to be declared. It was a Summer that changed him but one that has stayed with him through the dark times. What was done may have had deep lasting affects but when your heart speaks loudly is it just too strong to ignore? I expected things to turn out a certain way and there were glimpses of this but to me the ending seemed a bit open ended and maybe I wanted a stronger more solid conclusion.

Rosa herself has a strong voice throughout the book and her actions in the last quarter were entirely justified for me given the insight we get into her life in Germany and what occurs when she is employed by a family. At first things seem normal but then things quickly turn dark and Rosa will carry this darkness and anger with her as she marries Daniel and flees to England. This aspect of the plot was detailed when we read of Rosa’s perspective but then was not mentioned until the later few chapters. At first when it cropped up again I thought it was quite out of place but then as it was developed I found it helped move the plot forward when it was in danger of perhaps coming to a standstill. Revenge is on her mind but in doing so will more trauma befall her?

But it worked well as it helped the many varied strands of the story to finally become woven together. Although separated from her family for so many years and existing in a marriage to Daniel that was not all she had hoped for, Rosa similar to Miriam never lost hope that they could one day be reunited if they both survived the war. The author did a very good job of showing how so many people were displaced and that once war was over things did not immediately return to normal. That the consequences were far reaching and long lasting. The different organisations established to help people locate missing family members were interesting to read about but the story showed their work was not easy and the results so desperately wanted did not always turn out in a positive manner.

Searching for my Daughter is a good book but as I have mentioned not one that will have a long lasting impact on me. It was refreshing to read a story set mostly after the war but at times I think it was too reliant of coincidences and sheer luck making some elements slightly implausible. It’s a light read that is about love, endurance and hope.

Oh my goodness, what a tearjerker this was! I don't believe I've read many, if any, novels that are the immediate aftermath of WWII within a concentration camp. Liz Trenow has really taken me along with her. I was enthralled from the beginning to the end. Highly recommended read - you will need tissues.