What would you do? That’s the apex questuin after reading The Orphan’s Mother. Emma, on the run from the Russians in the waning days of WWII, has to make the ultimate decision, does she stay or leave her son Jacob? I almost fell apart at that juncture, especially when Jacob utters such a sorrowful plea.
The choice Emma made causes a rift in the family that never fully heals, even after reunification. Based on a true story, the case of Jacob is not unknown. I did find it fascinating, according to the aithor’s note, the Red Cross was able to reunite many separated children, even after the commencement of the Cold War.
Your heart will be on the floor, in pieces, after this read.

A heart wrenching and heart-warming story about love and family, about a mother who would do anything to keep her childering safe and alive , about a mother who has to make the hardest decison there is .And a woman who adopts an unkown child who needs a home and famly .

The Orphans Mother centres mainly around two women, Emma, and Irena. These women could not be more different. Emma is a German mother of 2 children who is fleeing her hometown to escape the Russian Army, Irena is a polish nurse working in a hospital who is desperate to have children with her husband but is unable to have them. By a twist of fate, the paths of these women cross in a time of confusion and brutality linking them together for ever.
After an arduous journey in harsh conditions Emma is forced to leave her son Jacob in a polish run hospital whilst she takes up residence in a nearby refugee camp. When they are forced to flee she is unable to get back in time for her son and she reluctantly has to abandon him in the hope that somehow he will be safe, and she will eventually be able to go back for him. Irena finds Jacob scared and alone and in a moment’s decision takes him home with her. To keep him safe she adopts him and despite the rocky start due to mistrust and the inability to communicate eventually Jacob comes to accept Irena as his mother.
This is a heart wrenching and heart-warming story in equal measure. Emma has had to make some tough choices in her life in order to stay alive and protect her children. You can’t help but feel for her and understand her actions as they are ones I am grateful I have never had to make. She was forced into a situation that she did her best with, eventually managing to make a new life but she still wanted to fill the hole left by her missing son.
I admired Irena for her compassion in taking in a child of someone who she would see as the enemy, even if there was a partially selfish motive behind it. Her actions could have landed her in trouble as she was essentially harbouring someone who would have been seen as the enemy even though they were only a child. And then there is Jacob. His struggles to understand what was going on and to finally accept and adapt to what had happened to him is heart-breaking and as he is finally settled his world gets torn apart again.
I have quickly become a fan of Marion Kummerow books, and this is just another brilliant addition to her catalogue

What an immersing read! Emma is trying to get her children Sophie and Jacob to safety as the Red army descends on the town so decides to join many others on a trek organised by her friends mother-in-law Agatha. During the trek Jacob succumbs to the cold temperatures and becomes poorly so Emma decides to take him to hospital which lies on the border, she reassures Jacob that she will come back for him. He is placed in nurse Irena’s care.
Being on the German/polish border Emma has to worry about how the German soldiers would treat Sophie so she is really worried when she hears the Red army advancing. Now is time to make a decision, which one!
There is so much more in this book, my words don’t do it justice. Please read it, you won’t be disappointed!

The Orphan's Mother will tug at your heartstrings as Jacob's mother searches desperately for him after World War 2.

Emma his mother was forced to leave Jacob behind when she and her daughter are fleeing from the Russians.

Jacob was sick in hospital and his polish Nurses took him and adopted him.

Irena and Luka become his family , his parents, the only life he really remembers.

The Orphan's Mother was an interesting view point for me because you forget to think of the children that were missing and how reuniting with him Mom after 7 or 8 years will effect everyone involved.

Please take time to read the authors notes as they add so much to the story.

Marion Kummerow is a born story teller and if you haven't read any of her other books you are missing out on some great stories.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for a story that will stay with me for quite some time.

Very emotional story which will eave you wanting to read on.The russians are advancing and most germans are either leaving or thinking of it. As a german young mother of 2 Emma must decide whether to stay or leave, she decides to go with a group of other woman and thier family. When one of her children jacob falls serioulsy ill she must make up her mind to leave him behind or stay with him. When events take this matter out of her hands there is no going back.
I really enjoyed this book it showed the courage and loveof mother and child that will endure anything that is thrown at it.

Impossible to put down once you start! Each heartwarming, sweet, sad story by this author gets better and better.

The Germans took over Lodz in Poland. They treated the Polish as inferior. When the war turns against them, they flee west. The Poles are glad to see them go. This story illustrates how hard it was to explain war and prejudices to children who had never known peace.
Emma and her two children join the exodus, but 4-year-old Jacob becomes ill. Emma takes him to a Polish hospital in Poznan just as chaos breaks out. The Germans must evacuate before the Red Army arrives. Emma is forced to leave Jacob behind.
Irena is a Polish nurse who lost a baby after being beaten by an SS man. She has no love for Germans, but she rescues the abandoned German boy. Unable to find his mother, she and Luka adopt him to keep him safe. Jacob believes his mother abandoned him, and grows to love his new parents.
Emma believed in the inferiority of Poles and believed Hitler when he claimed the Poles started the war. She taught her children to believe so. Her superior attitude made her hard to like. Jacob had been a spoiled little boy with his mother, but bloomed with the Pawlaks.

This was a heartwrenching book that shows the effects of war on families and what happens when those families are ripped apart. A tru;y heartbreaking read that made me cry many times.

“My heart is with the children. They always suffer most in a war, without ever having had a say in it.”

I truly value Marion Kummerow’s passion and dedication to historical fiction. It’s been wonderful to find an author who not only loves writing and researching but also one whose work reflects that passion. She is a natural storyteller whose research always reveals a unique slice of history. One only has to read a few pages to know Kummerow has put her whole heart into the book.

Kummerow takes us on a journey with the Oppermann family as they narrowly escape the rapidly advancing Red Army and flee from their home in German-occupied Lodz, Poland in late 1944. Along the way we read about the horrors that awaited them - horrors they willingly faced, knowing that “nothing would come close to the treatment they would have received in their hometown.” Their journey intersects with Irena, a nurse in a hospital in Posen, as well as the German Red Cross. Kummerow takes this opportunity to inform readers of the many children who were separated from their families during war and highlights the desperation and exhausting attempts toward reunification.

I have no doubt that Kummerow can hear her characters speak to her. When I read about the inspiration for this book, I could imagine the little boy in the photo calling to her. As soon as I started reading, I could tell that Kummerow was familiar with her characters and had some sort of intuitive sense of what they would have done or said. One needs only to read about the children’s conversations on the way to the refugee camp to come to the same conclusion. I don’t have children, but the moment I read, “Wo ist meine Mama?”, my heart broke and I could deeply feel the agony both the children and mothers were experiencing. Grab tissues before you read.

You’ll want to read this wartime fiction not only because the author’s characters are spectacular, but also because Kummerow allows readers to see things from a child’s perspective, she is a visceral writer who’s done enough research to make her setting authentic, and she presents a unique slice of WW2 history.

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

This book is a heartbreaking and emotional book that will tear you up.

It's almost the end of the World War II with the Russians The Red Army entering into Poland. Many of the Germans who used to live in Poland are now fleeing back to their country. One such German family is Emma and her two children, Jacob and Sophie. On their journey, Jacob gets sick and was admitted to the hospital. But soon chaos and turmoil and with the fear of the Russians entering in, Jacob gets separated from his mother and sister and soon he was adopted by a kind Polish nurse named Irina.

Normally, the historical fiction that I read are based on Jews or Gypsies or Poles but this was all different--it is about a German family who is fleeing from Poland as Germans are losing the war and the Russians are edging closer. Having done history, I know that Russians were revengeful and brutal towards Germans and so I can understand the fear that these families are going through. The author must have done research about it that it felt all too realistic to be reading about it. The middle part of the story is what drew me into the story--the heartbreak, the emotions and there were parts that you would cry when Jacob gets separated from his mother and Irina adopts him. The writing was really great and the author manage to draw the reader into the story. All these characters are all memorable to read and likable in my opinion and the story itself is very touching.

If you would like to read historical fiction based on WWII, then try this book out--this book will take you to a journey that will make you emotional and heartbreaking at the same time. Worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

A heart rending story of how the war tears families apart, the lengths a mother will go to to protect her children, this book was beautifully written and descriptive, couldn't put it down
Highly recommend

It’s 1945 Emma has had to leave her home as the Russians are advancing towards the town of Lodz. She has joined a caravan of people heading to a cousin of the organiser Agatha. Her husband is away fighting and the journey with two small children is traumatic and cold and debilitating. Her son Jacob takes ill and on arrival she rushes him to the already overcrowded hospital and isn't allowed to stay. The hospital was one which took the Polish. Now the Germans have cleared it of “subhumans” for their own “upstanding German citizens”. Emma returns the next morning to find the hospital has been evacuated as the Russians are almost upon them- her son Jacob having disappeared. She too has to leave and for the sake of her daughter Sophie must get them both to safety. How is she going to find Jacob and who would have taken him or looked after him?
I quickly got into this and found it interesting as it gives a different perspective on the end of the war era. That even facing defeat, the nazis still reigned with an iron fist and would quickly kill anyone defying their orders or beliefs.
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Firstly I would like to thank netgalley and Bookoutune and the author Marion kummerow for a copy of this book to read.

This book was an enjoyable read,It was predictable I knew what was going to happen.This book starts with two different women stories Emma and her two children are German and deciding to leave her hometown of Lodz as the Russians are coming she decides to leave on a terrible journey,her youngest child gets sick and needs medical care they are still in danger does she get him help and leave him behind or carry on with her journey. The other woman is polish and married shes a nurse she lost a child from getting beaten by a German.this story tells both woman struggles.its quite a emotional historical read...and worth reading.


This book will be reviewed on goodreads and amazon.

A terrible attack separates mother and son, and their lives change forever. As Emma finally reaches the hospital again, she finds it deserted, her son gone. Though her heart tells her she has to stay and find him, she faces an impossible choice—because she would risk her own life for Jacob in a heartbeat, but her daughter Sophie needs her too. And as Sophie’s cold, little hand slips into her own, Emma is forced to make a heartbreaking decision. She’ll get her daughter to safety and come back for Jacob.
But then the borders close behind them, and Emma has no way back. Still, she never gives up hope that her son survived that day. She will do whatever it takes to find him. Because nothing is stronger than a mother’s love… The writing style is great and it's fantastically written. A wonderful story, beautifully told. I absolutely tore through it! A sparkling, joyful read! This authors books always hit the spot!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️