When We Were Innocent is the first book I read by author Kate Hewitt. I was drawn in by the premise of finding out one's father may have actually be a Nazi war criminal. That is the bombshell dropped on Libby Trent: a Department of Justice official shows up at her door saying her father is living under an assumed name and is responsible for at least one murder, not to mention being complicit in the deaths of many more. Libby can't believe this is possible, considering how close father and daughter have always been and the kind, gentle manner in which he lived his life as she knew it. Of course, there is a lot more to be revealed and the moral dilemma of it all is central to the story.

Libby knew her father emigrated from Germany in 1947, but she thought he worked as an accountant during the war, and her father does not talk about his past. The DOJ official wants Libby to look for evidence of her father's guilt, but she sees it as looking for evidence to clear him. What she finds will change both of their lives irrevocably.

The story was written well, and Libby's emotional turmoil was clear throughout. If I have a complaint, it was that her inner turmoil was explained over and over. I appreciated the dual timeline, with the historical narrative taking place in 1942 when her father was in Germany. We are privy to the circumstances of his life and how it led to his situation. How would any of us have reacted if we were in his shoes? While it's impossible to know, it definitely gives one pause to consider that it is not easy or fair to judge the actions of people who are put in unimaginable circumstances.

I felt connected to the characters, and the story compelled me to continue reading to its gut-wrenching conclusion. This is not an easy book to read, as it contains some graphic violence, but it fits the context.

I will recommend this book to readers who like World War II historical fiction that packs an emotional punch.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

An absolute gut wrenching read, what would you do if you found yourself in that situation, such a hard, life changing decision to make.

The story is told in dual timeline with Libby in the present and her father during the war.

Very well written and researched. With historical fact seamlessly intertwined with fiction. It's highly emotive and an absolute page turner.

An amazing story of secrets, family and war.

Many thanks to Bookouture for my tour spot.

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

When We Were Innocent by Kate Hewitt is a heartbreaking, moving, and powerful story about a daughter’s dilemma and how dark family secrets can upend innocent lives in moments.

Libby idolizes her father. Her mother left her when she was four. Since then, it’s always been she and her father against the world.

One fine day, a man comes knocking on her door and drops a bombshell on her. Her father is not who she thinks he is. He is not Daniel Weiss, but Hans Brenner, a Nazi who fled Germany after the end of WWII.

Libby cannot believe her ears. Her entire world comes crashing down. Her father had always been a kind, compassionate man. He had always been a rock-solid support for her. How can he be the monster that this man claims?

“I don’t know how I feel,” I answer woodenly. “Numb, I guess.” Although underneath that numbness is a wild surge of emotions, of sorrow and grief and fury and fear.

A multitude of questions throngs her, none of whose answers she knows.

When We Were Innocent poignantly depicts the harrowing journey that Libby undergoes in pursuit of the truth. Is her father a Nazi? Has her entire life been a lie? Will she ever be able to forgive him? Can she ever love him again?

“I think,” Simon answers, “that it’s not as much about having loved him before, but how you feel now. How you choose to feel. What you have to decide— and I can tell it’s eating you up— is whether you can still love him now.

It’s a dual timeline story with both timelines well-executed.

The book poses incredibly tough questions. But life is rarely black and white.

This was an emotional and highly gripping book. I finished it in three days straight.

Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction, especially, lovers of WWII stories.

This is a heart-wrenching story about a father and daughter's love for one another, it is also about a Nazi who has hidden for more than 70 years, living an upstanding life but living a lie no less. It is a story about guilt and innocence, about black and white and all the shades of gray in between.
When the Department of Justice knocks at Libby's door her whole world is shattered beyond anything ever imagined. Can she find a way through the rubble to accept her father's guilt yet continue to love him? Libby must face some hard truths and her life will never be the same again.
What an eye opener this one is. It asks very hard questions, ones I am glad I will never be called upon to answer. Reading Libby's struggle with her own conscience and guilt versus innocence is an uncomfortable pill to swallow. The story here is a really good one, emotional and intriguing, the only fault and this is strictly my opinion, I found it really hard to connect with Libby, I just didn't like her, she was very self-centered to me and sniveling, I don't know she just rubbed me the wrong way. But I loved the storyline. I will give 4 stars and recommend for historical fiction lovers.
Thank you to Bookouture and to Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.

I had high hopes because of the plot of the book, but I didn't connect with the characters well and I felt some of the details (for example, the description of the Mission BBQ restaurant) were a bit off. That said, the plot did keep me engaged.

I was provided a copy of the book by NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are mine.

When We Were Innocent by Kate Hewitt is a powerful book about love and forgiveness. Imagine answering your door to a man from the Justice Department saying that your 96 year-old father was a Nazi war criminal who had worked a Sobibor, a death camp, and he was to be arrested and sent to Germany for trial What would you do next? He also told her his proof was flimsy and he wanted her, Libby, to find more. She was paralyzed. She didn’t know what to do. Talk to her father? The story is told in two eras: today and 1942 in Sobibor. I nearly stopped at the camp portion. I have overdosed on concentration camp stories, but I have faith in Kate Hewitt, so I ventured on. Here we found a man that hated where he was and what he was doing. He is the man we all believed existed in Nazi Germany but don’t see many examples of.

Libby was destroyed. Much of the book was about her internal struggle and Hewitt handled it well. It also touched on the crass and unfeeling approach the press often takes to get a story. It portrays the Justice Department official as a human being, not as the man destroying Libby’s life. The description of Libby’s mother’s inability to love based on her experiences, was poignant and not something commonly made reference to. Libby’s husband, Tim, was not a fully developed character, but he was stalwart, always loving Libby and attempting to be the voice of reason. I was an unbelievably moving story, from first to last. I recommend it.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of When We Were Innocent by Bookoutre, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #Bookoutre #KateHewitt #WhenWeWereInnocent

When I was given the opportunity to read this book I knew it was a must.

Libby knows her father is German and is a kind, loving, loyal man, a good father that brought her up single handedly after her mother left the family when she was young. She is horrified when a government official visits her home with allegations that her father is a former Nazi soldier who worked in the Sobibor death camp during the war only to disappear and assume a new identity to escape retribution for horrendous acts committed within the camp.

She can’t believe her wonderful father who has instilled in her a strong sense of right from wrong can be the monster being implied. She is given the double edged sword to search her fathers belongings to provide evidence that he was never at the camp and prove his innocence but equally she could discover evidence that he is very much guilty and commit him to a trial of war crimes in his twilight years.

This book was beautifully written and explored the emotions involved for all in this awful situation. I took from the story the amazing strength people find in forgiveness and things are not always as cut and dried as they seem. My grandfather was Polish and lived through the war in his native country this book touched me deeply.

Libby Trent, her husband Tim and their two children, Em and Lucas lived a relatively peaceful life in Virginia, with Libby's ninety six year old father having resided with them for the past ten years. The day a government official knocked on their door was the day the family's lives changed forever. Libby couldn't believe what that official was saying about her father - a father she'd loved all her life, who'd cared for her when her mother had left, had taught her right from wrong, and how to be the best person she could. Libby knew her dad was born in Germany, knew he'd arrived in the United States as a refugee, but what they were saying went against everything she knew of her father.

It was 1943 when siblings, Hans and Anni Brenner were ordered to a camp some distance from Stuttgart where they'd lived all their lives. Hans was an accountant and had failed the medical for joining the war effort. But telling Hans he was needed as the accountant, and yes, he could take Anni as he was all Anni had, saw a young, naive Hans totally unprepared for what he faced...

When We Were Innocent by Kate Hewitt tells the story of innocence, of cruelty and of being forced, in the face of death, to do what a person had no desire to do. I felt for Libby and her family and what they were facing. I felt for Anni but found myself conflicted over Hans. It was a hard book to read, and is a difficult book to review. Fans of the genre are the ones I recommend this book to.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great book club book. A lot of chances to talk about what you would and wouldn’t do and what you thought as you read. While my Dad wasn’t born until after the war, he was in the Army and other than knowing he was stationed in West Berlin at Checkpoint Charlie right after the Cuban Missile Crisis, I know nothing of his military time and he is unwilling to speak of it other than our running joke that he had to run five miles before breakfast and me saying I’d skip breakfast.

This book sparked such powerful questions for me. Starting with is Libby’s father Hans Brenner? Should there be a statute of limitations on these war crimes? Would your answer be any different if the person led an exemplary life after that? With Libby’s father being 96, this would have been 70 years ago. Does his guilt rely on how complicit he was? And she was asked to find evidence to help prove he was at the camp. Could you do that to someone you loved? Would your faith in the law outweigh your love? Is there anything a loved one could do to break that bond? I think I could keep going and going.

The book unfolds with Libby in the present learning of her father’s potential war crimes and in the past with Hans Brenner at the extermination camp. It is a powerful read. Here in the US we tend to shy away from teaching of the concentration camps and some schools and governments have even banned Anne Frank, so this is also such an important conversation to have.

This book will stay with me for a long time. And if you read it be sure and let me know if you agree with Libby’s actions and choices. I think I would handle at least part of it differently.

This is a difficult book to review and whilst I can't say I 'enjoyed' it because you can't say that reading about this subject matter is 'enjoyable', I was absolutely captivated and totally invested in the story of Libby and her father.

I am not going to provide a synopsis of this book as the description does this already but what I will say is that this is a totally engrossing story told from dual timelines - the present and the past during World War II.

It is clear that the author has done her research carefully; she weaves historical fact amongst this fictional story very successfully. It is heart-breaking and, at times, a very difficult read but not because of the way it was written more it was what was happening in the story and the dilemmas that Libby and her father faced.

If you enjoy historical fiction from this era, I would certainly recommend this but be prepared to shed a few tears!

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of When We Were Innocent.

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. The story is a different perspective than most WWII books that I've read. I found it hard to put down. It was one of those novels that switches between pov which usually would annoy me, but it was very clear who was talking when so it was ok. I would have liked to see a bit more character development but overall, a really great read.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

Oh my.... What a tearjerking, powerful book When We Were Innocent is! You will need tissues especially near the ending, which wasn't what I had worked out in my head!

Libby Trent loves her family and is happy with how things are going. She has a loving husband and children and an amazing father who lives with her and her family. But LIbby is contacted by Simon Baum, who is with the Department of Justice’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section. Libby is told that her loving and gentle father, whom she adores, is actually Hans Brenner. Hans Brenner is a war criminal. He escaped from Germany after World War II and went into hiding. Libby rejects the idea, and is in denial that a horrible man that did such despicable acts, could possibly be her loving father. But when she finds an old box hidden in her father’s bedroom she doesn’t want to open it because she doesn’t want to know if it holds the truth. Libby is sure, that depending on what is inside the box will definitely change the course of her life, but will it change for the good or for the bad?

I almost don’t know where to begin about how phenomenal this story was. The mystery intertwined in the story was simply amazing. I was so intrigued by the twist and turns of this book that I couldn’t put it down. Wow, what an amazing and talented author to incorporate historical fiction with mystery in such a manner that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat from beginning to end. The emotions and anticipation of what will happen next will have you gasping for your next breath. This heartbreaking and gripping story had me in tears so many times, and I felt such compassion for Libby. This novel left such an impact on me that I will definitely re-read this one. I devoured this book but the next time I read it, I will savor it. This is definitely a favorite of mine.

Thank you Kate Hewitt for such a wonderful, emotional and completely gripping story. I enjoyed it very much and I absolutely recommend it.

When We Were Innocent by Kate Hewitt packs a powerful punch as it looks at a family impacted by Nazis activities years after they had happened. Once I started reading I found this story to be unput-downable. There was not one character that I didn’t feel for in this story. Well maybe one reporter who took advantage of a tragic situation, but she just an extremely minor one that her name wasn’t even given. However, my heart went out to Libby, her family, even her father, as well as Leo and his family.

Told in two time periods from two viewpoints, this did not hinder this novel from being easy to follow. In fact the present was enhance by scenes from the past. An emotional intense story that is impressive, thought provoking and heart wrenching. A glimmer of uplifting light at the end as what happens privately is as important as what happened publicly.

A different perspective on the WWII then I have ever read. This is not an excuse of what horrendous things took place but shows how easy it was for good people not to try to stop them. A lesson to be learned so that the past is not repeated. Highly recommend.

An ARC of the book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley which I voluntarily chose to read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Wow, what a powerful story
It's not often we read stories of the other side of the holocaust. In fact, I would probably avoid them, but I'm so pleased I didn't avoid this book. Another 5 star book from Kate Hewitt.

Simon Baum from the Department of Justice's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (I do think it was necessary to give all of this information) is certain that Elizabeth Trent's father, Daniel Weiss, is actually Hans Brenner, a Nazi soldier during World War II. Firstly, Elizabeth (Libby) has heard of the Department of Justice, but the Special Department? And they have evidence that her father was a brutal Nazi soldier who worked at the death camp of Sobibor, Poland?

Daniel Weiss is a retired accountant. A gentle man that lives with Libby and her husband and child. Libby could not imagine how he could he possibly be connected to the brutality associated with the second World War, and the death camp housed there in Poland. Not only was Libby sickened and filled with terror at the thought that her father could possibly be the man Simon says that he was, it won't take long for the reader to be filled with similar emotions. In fact, the recounting of that long ago brutality filled me with pain and I had tears of sadness rolling down my face while reading this book.

During much of this book I felt like I was crying with Libby as she desperately tried to prove that her father could not be the man that Simon was looking for. But one thing was made clear - if her father was actually Hans, she felt he should be fully prosecuted for his crimes. Libby was truly an honorable woman, of course she wants all Nazis to pay for their crimes. Therefore, she found herself in an ethical dilemma. Would she help Simon identify her father as Hans Brenner? And would she do what she had to do to have her 96-year-old father prosecuted and imprisoned for his heinous crimes?

The fact that evidence starts to point to the fact that her father hid his crimes for decades, this moral dilemma really plagues Libby. As it stands, she had been living with deep emotional pain for years, as her mother left her in her father when she was a young child. Now with the possibility of losing her father by him going to prison for the rest of his life, it’s almost too much for her to bear. If indeed he is arrested, she knows she will never see him again.

There is another story to be told. The story of Hans Brenner, a young man who wanted to make a name for himself during the War. When Hans got the assignment he was hoping for, he was able to take his younger sister Anni with him as he was her guardian. Anni could tell something was off about the camp where Hans was now assigned. In fact, Sobibor was an extermination camp built and operated by Nazi Germany as part of Operation Reinhard. It was located in the forest near the village of Sobibor in the General Government region of German-occupied Poland.

Would Hans realize the extent of his new duties and would there be anything he could do to not play a role in what would cost thousands their lives? As a reader, I did not want to have sympathy for Hans, not when he was at Sobibor, and not as an old man who was sure to be identified. Libby no doubt realized the revelations that were going to unravel would change her life and the life of her family indefinitely.

Thank you Kate Hewitt for writing such an incredibly impactful novel. This book was highly emotive, devastating all while keeping a tight hold on the smallest thread of hope. As a reader, I felt that I was walking a tight rope of compassion and horror. This is a book that I would highly recommend as I am sure it will make for a lot of deep discussions. In fact, this book is one of my favorite books of 2022 thus far.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Such a heartfelt book. Brings you to what the Jews and what happened at the camps firsthand to life. Very sad but well written story that tugs at your heart. I feel heavy hearted as I write this. This is a story that will stick with me for awhile.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book.

Libby is going about her day when she receives a call that law enforcement is at their home asking questions about her father. They believe he was an Officer in a death camp during the Holocaust and they want her to try and find evidence. The book is gripping from the beginning. Clearly Libby has this internal struggle of now seeing her father as two people- 1. the father she has known and loved her entire life, and 2. a war criminal that worked in a death camp. The book goes between two timelines, present day from Libby's perspective, and 1942/1943 from her father's perspective. Its incredibly well written, I really FELT the story, which was hard, especially in the 1942/1943 timeline. The author writes such a vivid picture of events, I audibly gasped at times. I've already mentioned this book to several people and will be suggesting it as next months book for my book club.
Thank you so much to NetGalley, Bookouture and Kate Hewitt for access to this ARC.

Elizabeth (Libby) Trent is a successful mother, wife, daughter, and worker. She leads a busy life taking care of her family, including her elderly father, Daniel. One day while at work, she receives a frantic telephone call from her daughter, telling her that a policeman is at the house. Libby rushes home and receives the news that it is alleged that her father, Daniel (previously known as Hans), was involved in Nazi war atrocities. Libby is stunned, as she knows nothing of these events, and her world is turned upside down as she is asked to find evidence to corroborate these claims. Hans has turned silent and will not communicate about these allegations. This story was heartbreaking, poignant, and leads you to question yourself as to what you would do if faced with this situation. The research that went into this story as the crimes in the Nazi war camps were depicted was hard to read, but yet so realistic. The story was told through the points of view of both Libby and eventually, Daniel (Hans) and you see what truly happened all of those years ago. I urge you to read this book if you enjoy historical fiction. Thank you to NetGalley the publisher for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

I’d like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘When We Were Innocent’ by Kate Hewitt in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Libby gets a visit from government official Simon Baum that Daniel Weiss, her sweet, loving and gentle father and the man who brought her up single-handedly, is a war criminal whose real name is Hans Brenner. Simon tells her they have irrefutable proof and a warrant for her father’s arrest will be available shortly. Libby doesn’t believe him, she doesn’t want to think that her father was involved in war crimes during the Second World War and starts looking amongst his possessions for something to prove his innocence. But Libby has been brought up to be honest and truthful and she has no choice but to show Simon what’s she’s found.

Once again Kate Hewitt has produced an incredibly moving novel that pulls at your heart-strings and makes the tears flow as we follow young Hans Brenner who in 1942 is inducted into the SS and sent to Sobibor Camp as their accountant, counting the money taken from their prisoners. The story moves between 1942 to the present time when Libby realises her father who’s now 96 has had another identity and has been keeping secrets from her. This is an emotional novel that’s had me so involved that I’ve spent the whole of today just reading, unable to turn the pages fast enough. This story is so much more than just fiction, it gives the reader some idea of what happened at concentration camps and should be on the school curriculum for the youngsters of today to learn from and hopefully help them to become better citizens. Thank you, Kate, for writing this amazing novel that I can’t stop thinking about and that will stay in my thoughts for a long time to come.