I read "The Unwanted" a while ago but had to process my feelings for a period before I wrote a review. I think this book would be a good fit for those who enjoy historical fiction about the Holocaust. It wasn't a good fit for me. But I read the book all the way through because it was a propulsive read. So, that's why I think many people will like it. It started off well, and I thought I would enjoy it, but it disappointed me.
My negatives about the book are many, and I don't want to get into all of them, but I thought the story was unbelievable and most of the characters were undeveloped. I also predicted the outcomes of the plotlines because they were taken from real life. e.g. The Kennedys.
I will end by saying, I knew a man wrote this book even though I read a galley with no author stated because of the gratuitous sex scenes from that in my opinion were from a male point of view.
Despite my review, I think many people will have positive experiences reading this book.

The Unwanted
by Peter Clenott
Pub Date 28 Jun 2022
Level Best Books, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles
General Fiction (Adult) | Historical Fiction | Mystery & Thrillers



I am reviewing a copy of The Unwanted through Level Best Books and Netgalley:


Hana Ziegler is a fourteen-year-old child prodigy who is being taken to the Hollenschloss Institute to be euthanized on September 1, 1939, as Hitler invades Poland and World War II begins.




Silke Hartenstein is a sixteen-year-old beauty who has graced the covers of German magazines as the blonde, blue-eyed female Aryan prototype. Silke is a member of the Bund Deutsch Madel, but she has also laughed in the face of German Propaganda Minister Goebbels.


May of 1947, murder is committed. The victims are an American who is helping former Nazis escape judgment and a fleeing German SS officer. While other Nazi leaders are being prosecuted, the eyes of the American military judicial system fall on Hana.



For THE UNWANTED, Fatherland, Motherland, Holy Land ultimately mean nothing. For ‘Hana the unwanted’ and ‘Silke the noble’, the only true homeland is family.



I give the Unwanted five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily and it reflects my personal opinion.
Reading about the horrors of the concentration camps and treatment of those who did not meet the Aryan ideal is always harrowing but the author of this book has managed to provide a unique plot within a factual base. It is well-written, although I did not like the use of American spellings in the European setting e.g. meters instead of metres. I thought the switching about between dates was distracting but I found the story interesting and liked the final outcome. It's a clever and unusual story.

An utterly enchanting and emotional novel about love and romance.The author manages to infuse a thoroughly evocative atmosphere into a page-turner plot The overall feeling from reading this book is like being enveloped in a warm hug from that special someone in your life.

I was hooked to this story by the first page.

It is a story that needs to be told and give as it gives awareness to what happened to the mentally and physically ill (which I am both) during WWII. It is truly heart wrenching, but there are the brave like Silke who gives hope for humanity.

The T4 program, Lebensborn, Operation Reinhardt, and a murder mystery! Oh and the Kennedy family is there too! An action packed thriller you won’t want to put down.