The Hidden Storyteller is set in Hamburg, a year after the Second World War ended. Georgie Young, a news reporter travels to Germany without her photographer husband who has broken his leg. Within minutes of arriving in the country she has been ambushed by one of the many people living on the street and trying to eek out a life by stealing, bartering and haggling. The girl, Meta, is desperate to have Georgie's suitcase, not for the contents, but as something she can carry her life around in.
As Georgie begins to investigate the lives of ordinary Germans in the city she finds herself straying from the path the British Army would like her to follow, and chasing down stories they don't want her to tell. One of these includes a serial killer who is attacking women in the city.
It is a token of Mandy Robotham's storytelling that the book doesn't become too saccharine, as things appear to fall into place quite easily for Georgie. The descriptions of the city with the devastation from bombings and fire campaigns, the displaced people returning from the front, the camps, and from other places searching for family and friends make an intriguing background and really bring the place to life. I loved the descriptions of the pop-up dances that appear around the city - under bridges and in burnt out buildings, giving a little hope and joy to people whose lives are otherwise a continuous struggle.
All in all this book seems to present a fair view of the lives of the victors and the vanquished in post-war Germany and I very much enjoyed it.
With thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins Publishers for an early copy in return for an honest review.

I have read several of Mandy Robotham’s novels set around WWII and have become a fan. Her newest novel, The Hidden Storyteller, takes place post WWII and is set in Hamburg. Returning is Georgie Young, a news reporter, who debuted in the author’s “The Berlin Girl”, which I enjoyed reading a few years ago. Georgie sets out to write a story about postwar Germany and what it’s like to be there now that the British soldiers are trying to bring about change for the better, not an easy task to say the least. Georgie is also escaping a personal tragedy from back home in England. Through her eyes we see the destruction and hunger and loss of so many things in Germany. Alongside this, there is also a serial killer on the loose. Georgie finds out about this and is determined to help find him while doing research for her articles that she is looking to write. Along the way we are introduced to several Germans, each dealing with their own loss. We hear their stories and root for them to find peace in their lives. As in other novels written by this author, the characters are well developed. I read many WWII historical fiction novels and in between usually pick up a murder mystery for a change of pace. Ironically, this book includes both. I really enjoyed it and appreciate the great storytelling of Mandy Robotham. It’s something a bit different from other WWII novels I’ve read, including what happened in Germany after the war and the role the British soldiers had there. We get to hear a bit of how the Germans felt about this and vice versa. I loved reading another book with Georgie in it and would welcome another one with her, her husband Max, and Georgie’s new German friend Harri.
Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Another great book from this author.
Georgie is a war reporter in Post war Hamburg 1946.
Her path crosses with Meta a 16 ye old street urchin, and Harri a detective inspector. Hamburg is in a very sorry state, so when a serial killer starts a killing spree the three finish up joining forces to capture him.
Georgie is torn between staying to help and going back to London to her husband.
This author really knows how to capture her audience.

Another day excellent novel by Mandy Robotham! I didn’t really know what I was getting into with this one as I saw she was the author and just assumed it would be good, I was right. This story however I found to be more thriller with a dash of historical fiction. It was very well written and she had me on the edge of my seat the whole way through.

Germany, 1938. The press duo of Georgie Young and her husband, Max Spender, "worked the war principally as a words-and-pictures partnership...In love, but never reliant, dependence [was] not in Georgie Young's nature."

The British Zone in Hamburg, NW Germany, 1946. Now a seasoned journalist, Georgie returned to Hamburg. A military chaperone was provided with the intention of "favorably promoting their corner in the new dawn of occupied Germany." Max was forced to stay home in London, nursing a broken leg.

Her prized possession was a notebook filled with the events she viewed on the European battlefields. The notebook was encased in her battered old suitcase when the suitcase was wrenched from her hand by a "trummerkinder", a waif named Meta. Catching up to the thief, it was obvious that "stealing is like breathing these days...the contents of this suitcase she can barter for cigarettes...a good sturdy suitcase has value...tenacious and yet so needy, [is Meta] as if her life depended on the bloody suitcase...Years of war have taught Miss Georgie Young that you take your chances when present...Chance has offered up Meta...".

With her accredited journalist documentation in hand, Georgie visited Hamburg's old zoo which had been repurposed as a settlement camp. "Georgie's German is struggling to keep up with the stories pouring forth from parents as they pitch for food coupons, clothing and a place to stay...the stories all too common, though still shocking in intensity". Chance now offered up Zofia Dreyfus as an impromptu interpreter who is searching for her sister. "Georgie has always strived to help where she can-spare rations, cigarettes, or a little money has often made a difference to someone in dire need."

"It's been Georgie's task to report with both accuracy and empathy...it might prove her toughest assignment yet...How does she ask the average housewife to see her German counterpart as a victim of the tyranny, too?" Ask widower, Inspektor Harri Schroder. He lies in bed inert. "His bleary vision clears, his vivid dreams recede...the same vision having invaded his sleep countless times. His [current] challenge...look presentable at the police station when every item of clothing is "torn, threadbare or patched...five long years of war...now a country being occupied."

On a hopeful note, the joy of Swing Music is felt by both Brits and Germans. They listen in clubs as well as on gramophones playing on the streets. Against the backdrop of swing, a mystery unfolds that creates victims of war even after the last shots have been fired.

"The Hidden Storyteller" by Mandy Robotham addresses the cost of war for the victors and the vanquished in this informative, compassionate read of historical fiction. Highly recommended.

Thank you Avon Books UK and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Robotham’s historical fictions are usually hit or miss for me, but I’m happy to say this one was a hit! Setting the story in post-war Germany and focuses on what and who has been lift behind after such a brutal war was a fascinating choice. The main characters were all likeable, albeit a little over dramatic at times. I really enjoyed the plot of them hunting a serial killer, I felt that really added an edge to this book. While some parts were a bit of a drag to read, overall I did really enjoy this book, it was an interesting change of pace compared to other historical fictions set in this time period, and the writing was easy to fall into.