Set in 1944, A Child For The Reich has been both an enlightening and compelling story. While this is fiction, it depicts the story of thousands of children stolen from their families as babies and toddlers by the Nazis to be adopted and raised by German families under the Lebensborn program. This story is gut wrenching, yet the courage of heroine Anna is truly inspiring. I couldn’t put this book down.

Historical Fiction fan?
Women's Fiction fan?
Either way you slice it, today's book is for you!

I've read quite a few books set in and around WWII, but this is the first time I'm reading one from the Czech perspective, and encountering a new branch of the evil that existed... the Brown Sisters. Don't be filled by the term "Sisters" because they are neither religious nor related. No, these women were some of the most feared by mother's left behind with young children...or rather blue eyed, blond haired children. That's right. They weren't content with destroying the world at large. They had to take the most precious thing anyone can ever be granted... children. They justified it because those they took looked like they belonged with those in the Reich's favor, and how could they leave them with those they viewed as unworthy?

The lengths to which a people will go to take what they feel is theirs. The inner strength some will find when all has been spent in order to save those they love. Both are on display between the epages, riddled with moments of heartbreak, despair, and the most tender of emotions...HOPE. You can't help but get caught up in all the feels on display as you fear for your life after a dark secret is inadvertently created by a sibling. You can't help but feel the weight of the world on your shoulders when those you know and love keep disappearing. You don't know the incredible strength you'll find when all seems lost, yet you're their last hope. This moving story brings to life a chapter from our shared history, paints it in truth, and leaves it out to dry like nobody's business. It'll keep you turning pages as everything seems utterly lost, only to gain potential ground as you hold your breath, and await for final sentence.

A Child for the Reich is the first Andie Newton book I've come across, but I hope it won’t be the last.

A harrowing account of a Mother’s fight for to keep her child safe during the atrocities of WW2.

As a Czech living in occupied territory, Anna is always on her guard, particularly as her husband is part of the resistance.

There are rumours that the infamous brown shirts are taking the local children for the Reich, and Anna is determined not to let her child or her sisters be captured.

Until one day the unthinkable happens and Ema is snatched from almost right under her nose

Her search leads her to a nursery in Dresden, which as well as holding children that have been taken from their homeland, is also hiding another secret. It is 'looking after' beautiful young women who have agreed to be part of the liebensborn programme.

Despite the many (many) historical fiction books I’ve read, I think this is the first that explores this programme, and the stealing of children for the Reich in any depth, and whilst horrifying, it’s important that we never forget this amongst the many other atrocities committed.

A Child for the Reich is a beautifully written novel of great importance. A must read.

It's probably a lesser-known fact or atrocity committed by the Nazi regime, the kidnapping of children, and it is one that has been used by other regimes to reinvent, brainwash and shape into people more amicable to their own agendas. During the Nazi regime over 200,000 Polish children and an unknown number of children from of other ethnicities were stolen and reprogrammed to forget their own cultural background and identity, to then be inserted into German families.

I remember watching a programme about survivors who remember being taken, and those who lost children. Not all of them survived the programmes - the special nurseries for instance - reluctant children for instance found themselves with a one-way ticket to death. Imagine how many cuckoo children never found out that they are victims of the natural selection, the most important criteria being the right physical appearance - the physical attributes of an Aryan child. It's so cold and calculated.

It's the heart of this premise. A small Czech family, who have the misfortune in this case to be the mothers of Aryan looking children who are on the hit list. They will do anything to keep them safe or in this case get them back from their kidnappers. Easier said than done in an environment where you can trust no person and betrayal has become the daily occurrence.

It's a story that will refresh memories of forgotten victims of that period in time. IT's also a story that speaks volumes about family relationships, loyalty and survival. It does have the dramatic voice of screenplay or screen version, with scenes drawn out for the emotional pauses and perfect shot. It's a question of how each reader falls in tune with that particular feeling or voice.

It's war, it's about family, and it gives a voice to the invisible victims.

During WWII, blond, Aryan-looking Czech children were taken to be raised as pure Germans. Mother Anna Dankova will never stop looking for her daughter and somehow travels to an orphanage in hopes of rescuing her daughter. Well written historical fiction.

The story tells the remarkable story of how Anna chose to fight back and the lengths a mother will go and the risks she will take to save her child and make sure her child is safe. I love the how the author tells the story and how each character is introduced so intricately and the development is phenomenal. Kudos to Andie Newton for touching on a subject that is so unknown to so many and bringing awareness to the kidnappings that occurred during WWII across Europe in the name of "Nazism". Job well done! And if I could give this book more than 5 stars I would. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This powerful story set in ww11 will blow you away as it is such an emotional thought provoking read.
Well researched it takes us to a time when the nazis were hell bent on creating a master race.
They would scour the villages of the countries they had taken over looking for blue eyed blonde haired children.
The plan was as to bring them up in a German family & by so doing create a perfect aryan race.
This was a little known part of the war that most of us know nothing about.
The Brown’s sisters as they were called were nurses dedicated to the cause of Hitler.
They would literally rip the children from their mothers arms & take them away leaving their families distraught.
Anna Dankova a Czech citizen was trying her best to keep her family safe.
Her husband is away fighting for the resistance & she is doing all she can to keep her children close & safe.
Unfortunately one day while shopping in the local market place, she is spotted with her blonde haired blue eyed daughter & the unthinkable happens.
Anna’s bravery shines through as she has to give the performance of her life to get her daughter back.
This was a page turner that gripped me throughout.
A brilliant read with emotional shocking twists & equally some emotional moments too.
This a really touching thought provoking read.

As a devoted follower of everything Anne Frank I was drawn to this book. Reich followers, the Brown Sisters, went around stealing Aryan looking children. Anna has to put on the performance of a lifetime to get her beloved daughter back when she is ripped from her arms. A poignant read that will leave a lasting memory with you for a very long time.

Andie Newton's A Child for the Reich is a readable, fast-paced book about the Lebensborn--the Nazi's selective breeding program, intended to produce a master race of Aryan children. It begins addressing the issue of the stolen children--of which there were thousands, most raised German and never reunited with family. It's a lesser-known act of Nazi genocide, but all the more important to study as a result (we are watching similar actions in Russia as they kidnap children from Ukraine). As she drags her protagonist through the devastating loss of a child to the program, Newton also addresses the breeding and adoption homes that facilitated the system of child placement in Germany. All of it is horrible, but Newton turns it into a suspenseful page-turner, very much in line with Pam Jenoff and similar writers. It could have gone deeper and been less paint-by-numbers, but it's a four-star Holocaust thriller all the same.

This was so disturbing and a part of WW2 I was unaware of. A really strong, emotional read. A Czech family who'd lived a well off city life before the war and escaped to the country when the Germans took over Prague. Living on a farm, Anna, her sister Dasa and mother Matka are left with the children when their husbands join the resistance. A visit from a "Brown Sister" looking to take Dasa's Aryan looking children has far reaching consequences. When Anna's daughter, Ema, is then taken she sets out to find her. Not knowing who to trust, Anna has to go undercover and put herself in real danger. The way the children are denied their heritage and turned into German children and adopted by Nazi families was so disturbing. An excellent read that I had to finish to find out what would happen. #netgalley #AChildForTheReich

The book begins with the prologue set in Nazi Germany, October 1944, where we meet Greta Strohm. We then go back to June 1944 to the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, where we begin the main story.
The book is written in the first person from the viewpoint of former actress Anna Dankova, who has a daughter called Ema, who is five years old. Her husband Josef and her sister Dasa’s husband both joined the Czech resistance and are missing. Dasa has three daughters and a baby son. All the children are blonde with blue eyes.
There are rumours that the infamous Brown Sisters steal babies and young children for the Nazis to adopt, specifically blonde, blue eyed children that fit the Aryan ideal and one day, they turn up in the neighbourhood…
It’s not too much of a spoiler to tell you Ema gets taken (as it’s in the blurb), but what follows is Anna’s quest to find her daughter again… and she’s going to need all of her acting talent to attempt it.
You’re thrown right into the story straight away. Anna, Dasa and their mother (who they call Matka) are three strong Czech women, fighting to protect their family and to stay alive under German Occupation. Matka comes out with some hilarious comments, she is very quick-witted. What was a friendly neighbourhood now consists of Germans and Czechs, living together but being treated very differently. The family don’t know who they can trust anymore.
You get to see some of Anna’s previous life through flashbacks, before her life changed due to the Nazi invasion. The contrast between these two parts of her life are easy to see and you feel very sorry for her, losing her happy life through no fault of her own.
Terrifyingly, this book is based on a true story. It certainly feels very authentic and well-researched. It makes you wonder what you would do, if you were ever in such a horrifying situation like that and your children were threatened. I found it very interesting to see how Czechs coped with the German Occupation, as it’s not something I’ve read about before and I hadn’t heard about the babies being snatched either.
The novel is very well-paced, it builds up gradually, but carries you on to the next page, the next chapter, as you want to know what happens. You root for Anna 100% and feel as if you’re walking alongside her, hoping she will get her daughter back.
I hadn’t heard of this author before, but I would definitely read more of her work.

An emotional read that really tugged at my heart. I had heart palpitations and I could literally feel Anna's pain, desperation, fear and anxiety. How heartbreaking to have your child ripped from your arms and have no idea what has happened to them. A mother's love knows no bounds when it comes to her children and Anna is a brave heroine who would move the earth to save her child and others with no thought for her own safety. I loved reading about this story even though it broke my heart it also opened my eyes to things I didn't know about. It's fiction but based on true events. This book will stay with me forever.

A Child for the Reich is based on the Lebensborn Program during WWII.
The Brown Sisters are know to steal blonde hair/blue eyed children. Why? The Germans want to have the perfect race. They will do anything to achieve this….even stealing babies.
The pain and anguish the mothers went through is unfathomable..
Truly a heartbreaking story.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Oh wow, what an amazing, gripping and emotional story! It’s 1944 and Anna and her Czech family are living in a small village of Tabor in the countryside. While Anna spends her days with her daughter sowing seeds and growing vegetables and herbs to sell at the local market, her husband is away working in the Czech resistance. With the Germans occupying the country, the Czechs face more and more restrictions, and one day Anna encounters a brown sister, a Nazi woman who takes away her blonde daughter from her arms. Anna is determined to do whatever it takes to find Ema, but with Germans and informers everywhere she isn’t sure who she can trust.

This is such an amazing story and I couldn’t stop reading it from the first pages! Anna and her family are Czech, and throughout the war have been experiencing more and more hardships and restrictions by the occupying Germans as the war has gone on. From the dirty and tattered clothes they wear to the lack of proper soap or coal for having baths, the Germans have taken more and more from the Czech people. When Anna’s sister Dasa finds a brown sister in the area asking about her blond children, the family end up panicking and think of ways they can hide their kids from the Germans. I like what happens in this story and how this book shows us what happened from the point of view of Czech people while the Germans occupied the country. There is constant tension from local German neighbours and potential informers and I like how we are left guessing as to who is trustworthy and who isn’t.

Anna’s and her family are characters I loved straight away. Anna’s bond with her daughter is so special and can be seem from the first chapter, and I love Dasa’s very different personality and especially their Matka, or mother, who is such a brilliant, interesting and strong character too. As the story moves on and Anna takes her daughter Ema to the market with her one day, we see more of the German presence and how it affects all the Czech people and soon there is a brown sister in the area trying to take away children from their parents. I don’t want to give away too much of what happens but this story is truly heart-breaking and gut-wrenching in places as you see the horrible truth of how the Nazis snatched away so many children from their parents, and when Anna later decides to find her daughter, you see more about just how sinister the Nazis were with what they were doing to the children and babies they took away. I have always been interested in stories set in WWII especially anything related to these stolen children as this almost happened to someone in my family, and this book does a good job of showing the true ad horrible events at the time while wrapping this up in a beautiful story about a determined mother searching for her daughter.

This book is such a page-turner, I was gripped throughout and couldn’t stop reading. There are lots of amazing surprises and twists in this story, especially later in the story when Anna visits a place called Edelhaus and we find out more about the sinister goings on in there. There were some brilliant and shocking twists, especially towards the end and even right at the end when the story is wrapping up, there are more interesting and wonderful twists to this story. There is an amazing build up to the ending with the final chapters being really good. This book has such a beautiful and emotional ending, I was tearing up even before I finished reading it, and then those last few lines, what finally happens, just made it such an amazing and emotional read that I was crying after finishing this!

There are some author’s notes which are worth reading as it explains more about what parts of the book are true. There are a few uses of the b word to describe certain female characters but no other swearing and while I wouldn’t say that this story is too upsetting, what happens and is mentioned is a little unsettling. What the Nazis did during the war is unsettling to read and the way they treated some children and babies can be considered quite upsetting for some readers, especially as there is a little violence in the story. However this book is meant to be an emotional read and although it is heart-wrenching in places, it is ultimately a very satisfying read that will make you cry and feel quite happy at the end. Overall a brilliant read which I can really recommend!

Dark, sad & tense. I wouldn't recommend this one if you're looking for an easy WW2 story. It's a compelling and very emotional story.

Save My Daughter

Captivating story of a courageous woman fighting to regain her daughter. This was a story that I couldn’t put down. A part of the history of WWII that I had never heard of before. Every time I read about a cruel act by the Nazis it is even more cruel than the last one I read about.

The acts perpetrated against the Czech people by the Nazis was cruel on so many levels. First they took their homes, split up families and stole their food and belongings. They then started stealing their children to be raised by German families and indoctrinated in the Nazi beliefs.

Anna had her child stolen from her arms at the market by a lady brown shirt. She was determined to find and get her daughter back. With the help of a reluctant friend and some resistance workers she made a plan. The plan was dangerous and life threatening.

Her plan had a slim chance of working, but she had to give it a try. You will be cheering Anna on throughout the book.

It was a good story about events that actually happened although not to the imaginary characters in the story. The characters were very realistic and fit their parts well. I enjoyed reading it and I would recommend it,

Thanks to Andi Newton for writing a great story, to Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter for publishing it and to NetGalley for providing me with a copy to read and review.

Any story about the children affected by World War II as a heart wrenching story. This story is no different. The idea that children were stolen from their parents to be mainstreamed into elite German society. I struggled with the beginning of the story, I felt like there was just too much talk dialogue, that really didn’t go anywhere. I skimmed the first half and really didn’t feel like I missed anything. Finally about halfway through, I thought the story picked up pace and became more interesting. I appreciate the author’s research into the Lebensborn program and writing a mother’s journey to find her child. I also appreciate that the story was free from any sexual content, other then some slight details of indecent advances. Not excessive, but fowl language was occasionally used. If those things don’t bother you and you enjoy historical fiction, you may enjoy this read.

An emotional story full of courageous women and mothers.
I really enjoyed Anna’s story - so brave in such a frightening time. The lengths these women had to go to survive were amazing and horrifying. As I read more books like A Child for the Reich, I learn more and more about the atrocities carried out by the Nazis and in this The Third Reich.
I loved Anna’s relationship with Dasa and Matka - Matka was a great character, feisty and unrelenting in her loyalty. This is a wonderful, beautiful written story and one which needs to be shared.

Anna's husband is away fighting with the Czech resistance and Anna is left at home with her daughter, sister and mother next door.
When Anna's daughter is taken from her in her stall at the market by the Brown Sisters, who take young blond hair, blue eyed aryan children and spirit them away to special "homes" where they mold them into perfect German citizens, Anna is determined to do everything in her power to get her child back. Even if it means sacrificing herself in order to do so. Anna goes undercover posing as a cleaning woman, gaining employment in the house where her daughter is being held. She plans to snatch her child back right from under the Nazis' noses.
This story is based loosely on true events that occured during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia during WWII.
This was a compelling, heart-rending story about the lengths a mother will go to protect her child, and the depth and endurance of a mother's love. It is a well written, dramatic tale about a little known part of WWII history. I was captured from the beginning and turned the pages well into the night trying to discover if Anna would be successful. I will let you readers out there find out for yourselves.
I recommend this for fans of WWII historical fiction and give it 4 stars. It isn't the best I have read, but it is well above the worse.
Thank you to Harper Collins UK and to Net Gallely for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.

My Review: This is a very hard hitting and raw story, set during the War, Nazi Germany was terrorising the world, including the Czechs. There was a demand for their children due to their blonde hair and blue eyes. Greta Strohm had just received her adopted son. So many raw emotions, there is no end to a mothers love and no length she wont go to to save her children. So much, fear, trauma and loss is spread across these pages. Who can you trust? A gripping page turner.