A fitting end to the series
Having read the previous 3 books in the series I couldn’t wait to start this one. Again, Marion Kummerow kept us glued to the pages to see how this drama was going to end. Feeling the pain when Margarete is betrayed by a Jewish friend. Having survived so far is she going to die in a concentration camp as the war is coming to an end? What about all the people whose survival is depending on her? I’m sure your heart will skip a couple of beats as the story keeps unravel itself.

What a page turner! I finished my Netgalley copy in only four evenings. Marian Kummerow has crafted an unusual story of Nazi resistance set in northern Germany in the small town of Plau am See.

Wealthy Nazi land and factory owner Annegret Huber is actually Margarete Rosenbaum, a Jew from Berlin. Margarete stole Huber’s identity when the Huber Berlin mansion was bombed and collapsed.
With her horse training operation and her factory making bombs and incendiary devices, she is able to hire and somewhat protect Jewish prisoners under the nose of the local Nazi officials. She only reveals her secret to her farm manager and a young fisherman she is attracted to.

Unfortunately, her cover is exposed and she is blackmailed by the local Gestapo who demands huge payments to not report her.

The story is riveting and the main characters Margarete and Stefan, her boyfriend are beautifully developed. Their strengths, happiness, fear, and sadnesses are palpable.

In addition to the many suspenseful twists and turns of the story, the themes of courage, love and betrayal make this wonderful book a definite keeper!

Absolutely fascinating storyline and amazing characters, loved how we follow the story of a Jew Margarete and how she pretends to be a lady of the manor to help other Jew's have a better life than they would if they were sent to the camps an experience she later has herself, a book full of emotion, heart break and horror that you really can't put it down
As usual this author does not disappoint
Highly recommend this book

Margarete Rosenbaum who is disguised as Annegret Huber left the mansion in Berlin where she lived and asked her handyman Nils to take her with him into the the nearby town of Plau am See. She has been living for more than two years under this false identity in order to survive and to have fellow Jewish workers under her protection. Margaret, aka fräulein Annegret has fallen in love with a lowly fisherman, while the political elite would be even more scandalised to find out that staunch Nazi Annegret was attracted to a man accused of sabotage and deemed politically unreliable.

The story is gripping me from the beginning til the end. Although I haven’t read the previous series, the author has done her best to catch up with the situation so I, and fellow Netgalley reviewers who haven’t read the previous series could follow the story just fine. I have watched a documentation about a Jewish woman who posed as a German and married a SS officer. I can’t imagine how hard it should be if I had to wear a mask and lie all the time; The same feeling happened when I was reading this novel. She must do almost everything in secret: including her love affair. The plots are easy to follow, it “summoned” me into the situation, but I would suggest to smoothen a few sentences like what is written on page 105 Chapter 19: “as long as that maniac Hitler was…” and page 122 chapter 22 “Since Oliver couldn’t tell the truth that Hitler was desperate enough to send anyone in possession of a penis into his lost war...” because sentences like these summoned me back into reality as I thought it to be of sentences that people in modern era tempt to use. But again, it’s only my suggestions. Furthermore I really like the story as whole. I’m looking forward to read her other works! Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for the e-ARC!

DAUGHTER OF THE DAWN is the fourth and final novel in the Margarete’s Journey series by Marion Kummerow. It is a well written and thrilling read as we follow Margarete, who is posing as heiress Annegret Huber, and other characters that we have come to know in the first three books, who live in and around the beautiful manor house Gut Plaun in Plau am See. What courage and selflessness is shown by those who risk everything to save people who are being treated worse than animals by the Nazi regime! We see the sacrificial love shown by men and women who treat the Jews and other “undesirables” like human beings and do all they can to undermine Hitler’s war machine. At the other end of the scale we see the betrayal and blackmail used by unscrupulous people in order to profit from others’ horrific circumstances.
One of my favourite characters is fisherman Stefan Stober, who is actually a German chemical engineer who uses his skills to make the ammunition in Annegret’s factory ineffective, and who stands by the woman he loves, even running her estate when she is captured.
We are given insight into what actually happened in Germany during the final years of WW11, the fate of those who were sent to Auschwitz and the Russian liberation of the camp.
I found this series most inspiring and eye opening and highly recommend that you read the books in sequence, although they can easily stand alone. I am looking forward to the next series by this author, who has obviously done a great deal of research, and who bases some of her characters on real people who lived during this horrific time in history.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Bookouture. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

An absolutely triumphant finale! I’m sorry Margarete suffered, but at least she triumphed over Hubers in the end!

Margarete, who has now been Annegret for several years, is trying to help the war effort- by sabotaging her factory's manufacture of arms. She is secretly a resistance fighter desperate to try and end the war and look after the jewish workers she has taken on and hiding. She has fallen in love but even this has to be hidden as how could someone so grand fall for a fisherman? When she has to take a trip to Berlin to raise money to pay someone who is keeping a secret for her, things take a different turn from her life in the country. Can Margaret, a jew, escape and make it through the war?
This is the last in the series and needs to be read in order as it follows the story throughout the war era. I really enjoy these books. There is something more than endearing about Margarete and her tenacity and determination. She is selfless and focussed to protect those around her and more besides. Some parts are based on reality and it's very easy to imagine people like Margerete and those around her in that era, whose lives have been completely upended through no fault of their own. A wonderful, well researched read- a perfect end to a very enjoyable, informative series.

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“Daughter of the Dawn” is the final book in the historical fiction series “Margarete’s Journey” by Marion Kummerow. This book can be read as a stand-alone, as Ms. Kummerow does a good job catching the reader up on what happened previously, but I appreciated having read the previous books for a more robust background. A lot happens in this book, but the unfolding stories are easy to follow. I did find one scene a lot difficult to believe, though as Ms. Kummerow explained in the Author’s Note, it was necessary (though I was disappointed in Margarete’s cluelessness, even with another character warning her). I do recommend reading Ms. Kummerow’s Author’s Note for more information about the characters and situations. Ms. Kummerow also gives hints toward future directions she’d like to take these characters - not as another series, but to have them appear in future books. As always, Ms. Kummerow’s writing is clear and easy to follow and the story is engaging and interesting. If you’ve read the previous books in this series, this final book wraps everything up.