The Sunflower House by Adriana Allegri is a gripping tale set during WWII in Germany.
This book was wonderfully researched and very well written.
WWII like you've never thought of it before.
Vivid… mesmerizing… gripping
This story brought out so many emotions.
An amazing debut!

“They glorify violence and call it strength…”

Decades of secrets finally come to light in this emotional historical fiction tale. It’s 1939, and in a quiet German village, Allina Strauss is enjoying her life working at her uncle’s bookshop and spending weekends with her fiancé, Albert. But Hitler has come to be the German chancellor and life as she knows it is about to change…for everyone. After a brutal attack leaves everyone she loves dead, Allina finds herself forced to work at a state-run baby factory called Hochland House. Here, women of “pure” bloodlines exist solely to continue the Aryan bloodline, birthing babies that are adopted out to “good” German couples.

Generally, the World War II era is my favorite to read about for historical fiction novels. I have read quite a few, but this was the first that focused so intensely on Heinrich Himmler’s eugenics program and it was horrifying. Women encouraged to produce babies just to further the “perfect” kind of person made my stomach turn. So many of them were brainwashed into thinking they were doing their part to support their country. The one bright spot was the program Allina worked on, to help babies that failed to thrive. Her relationship with Karl, an SS officer, was both beautiful and heartbreaking and even though I had a feeling of how it would end, it still gutted me. The author’s note at the end was very eye opening on the truth behind the novel. I flew through the audio for this - it was so compelling and I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next.

It’s so frightening to think easily people just accepted the information they heard, without questioning how it sounded or how it affected others. Even those who lived truly lost their humanity if they were able to think less of people that were different from them.

All that is needed for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing…

“The Sunflower House” is out NOW! This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

3.5 Stars rounded to 4. This is a well-researched historical story based on facts. It is disturbing and chronicles one of the many atrocities of the Nazi regime. This is based on Himmler's eugenics program of Lebensborn to increase and perpetuate the number of 'pure blood' Aryan children. Several homes were set up for unmarried mothers, where they would be well-fed and cared for under medical supervision. Once their babies were born, they would be adopted into good, suitable Nazi families. Soon, young single women entered these homes, having been told it was their patriotic duty to have many children. They received financial assistance and awards for giving birth. The homes provided entertainment, parties and dances for SS soldiers, where they met eager women who were encouraged by Nazi propaganda to become pregnant.

In 1939, sixteen-year-old Alina lived with her aunt and uncle in a small German town after her parents died. People were aware that dangerous events were happening in the large cities but felt quite safe in Badensbgerg, as the German army would have little interest there. Aina has two Jewish friends but has not seen them around lately. Her uncle is terminally ill with a disease. He dies shortly after admonishing Alina for expressing her distaste for the Nazi programs and is not afraid to argue with those who uphold their policies. She does not attempt to conceal her attitude with gestures or facial expressions. Soon after her uncle's death, German soldiers enter the town looking for a traitor. Homes are set afire, people are massacred, and bodies pile up in the street. Alina is in shock and has minor injuries. Her aunt is dead, and it seems that friends have also been killed. She is engaged to a man who is away and part of a resistance network and has been informed of his tragic death.

An older commanding officer who conducted the massacre puts Alina in his car and brutally rapes her. She subsequently suffers from panic attacks and a dread of men. He drops her off at Hachlandor House and one of the homes for producing babies. It has been elaborately furnished with expensive items the officer has taken from Jewish homes. He demands that Alina work there and that he be considered her patron and protector. He is to be kept informed about her time there. Alina is put to work looking after the six-month-old babies. She is distraught when she sees a room occupied by slightly older children. They are lethargic and have not developed speech or reached physical and mental milestones. They are kept inactive, only being touched during nursing, cleaned, or when diapers are changed, and are delayed in physical and social development. They have not learned to play, and many cannot walk and have become unable to be adopted. The ones who have not reached ideal standards are eliminated or sent away to become victims of experiments.

After immersing herself in work, Alina is ordered to participate in one of the social gatherings that she has been avoiding. She meets a charming SS lieutenant, Karl. Over time, she begins to trust him. They share their secrets and discover that both are part Jewish and have forged identity papers. Karl is forced to participate in the Nazi army, but at night, he enables Jewish children to be transported safely to other countries while Jewish citizens are rounded up to be eliminated by the Nazis.

I thought the book started strongly, and I wanted to learn more about these 'baby factories,' but much of the story became sidetracked to one of a rushed romantic drama between Alina and Karl. They meet at his relative's cottage, named the Sunflower House, and make plans to marry and leave the country together. But first, they set up physical exercise, activities, and learning programs for those children who have become developmentally delayed. They hope that with intensive training, those children can be adopted.

Recommended to readers who like informative historical novels, especially ones set in Nazi Germany during wartime. This is an emotional, intense read. Others may enjoy the love story.

The Sunflower House is a historical fiction novel set mostly in flashbacks to Nazi Germany, with a few moments in the present day. Allina is an engaged young women, living in a small town in Germany. Just before her adopted father/uncle dies, he tells her the truth, that she is part Jewish, just as Hilter has taken power and all the Jews are disappearing. After the Nazis attack the town, killing her family and raping her, she is brought to a Lebensborn House, where women bear pregnancies for Nazi officers. This program reads like the Handsmaids Tale. I don't want to give the story away, but Allina becomes part of the resistance in a small but meaningful way. In the present, her grown daughter finally learns the truth about her parents. .

This is a well written book about Germany in the years leading up to World War II. On a topic that I had barely heard about, the program to increase the birth rate of Aryan children. Allina had lived a quiet life with her aunt and uncle in a tiny town in Western Germany until her world turned upside down and she ended up at a Lebensborn home. While this is fiction, the general history is true, and should be more widely known about.

📖📖QOTD what new book coming out this week is on your radar?📖📖

I just finished The Sunflower House by Adriana Allegri and here are my thoughts.

Allinas life has been turned upside down. Her whole family was killed and the SS takes her. Allina has a secret, she’s part Jew. Something she has to be quiet about and now she is being forced into service as a nurse at a state run baby factory.. what she sees there makes her skin crawl. The eugenics program is in full swing but something is wrong but lucky for her there's someone on the inside who wants to help.

This book broke my soul.

The lebensborn program was something I didn’t know much about and the book seems to have stayed pretty true to reality and I went down the rabbit hole. It was even worse than I imagined. This book brought it home, the horrors. It really hit me hard.

Allina has to be careful but working in the home has opened her eyes to something much worse than she realized and hiding isn’t an option. Her life isn’t more important than those kids. I loved it. I loved her for the danger she put herself in and Karl… ugh my heart bloody broke.

The writing was amazing. I was drawn right in and out through the emotional washing machine but it was an excellent book and I cannot recommend it more!

5 stars.

This book captured something I don’t have the words for but I felt it deep inside. Out today!

#thesunflowerhouse #adrianaallegri #historicalfiction #ww2 #bookreview #ebook #kindle #netgalley #bookishreview #bookblogger #readerblog #booktalk #readersofig #readertok #readergram #bookishcontent #booktube #bookalorian #thewrightkindofbooktalk

Enter this gripping tale set during WWII as a Nazi officer joins with a massacre survivor to rescue Jews in hiding. As distrust turns to trust, Allina and Karl develop a risky plan that spells life or death, nothing in between. Join their journey to see that nothing is ever as it seems.

I received an ARC from Net Galley but my review is my own opinion and done of my own volition.

Allina lives in a small town in Germany. In 1939, the signs of what is to come permeate society. Courtesy of the violence that is emblematic of 1939 Germany, Allina's "protector" takes her to Hochland Home where she works as a nurse. Hochland Home is one of the homes of the Lebensborn Program. The sole purpose of the Lebensborn Program was to produce babies to strengthen and enlarge the pure Aryan race. Here Ms. Allegri's research shine through as she describes the day to day at the home. However, Allina meets and partners with a SS official to help as many children as they can. Ms. Allegri has done an excellent job weaving the story between the sheer hideous reality of the baby homes of Nazi Germany and the reality of Allina trying to live and fight for what is right. If you like historical fiction, this book may be fiction but it's based on true horrible events.

THÉ SUNFLOWER HOUSE by Adriana Allegri

Family Secrets come to light as a young woman fights to save herself, and others, in a Nazi run baby factory – a real life handmaid‘s tale- during World War II.

This is a meticulously research historical novel that uncovers an notorious Lebensborn program of Nazi Germany .

Women of PURE blood stated these homes for the sole purpose of perpetuating the area population giving birth to thousands of babies who were adopted out to good Nazi families.

I really enjoyed this and the story of Allinàs journey

The Sunflower House is available today, November 12, 2024.

Thank you to @stmartinspress, @netgalley and @adrianaallegri for the gifted ebook

Wow, what a powerful, amazing debut novel. The Sunflower House alternates between present day when Katrine finds a locked wooden box with a swastika carved in the lid in her elderly mother's closet and her mother, Allina's story in 1939 Germany.

After losing her family during an attack on their village Allina ends up at Hochland House, a house that is part of the Lebensborn program. This program had healthy, "pure" German women having babies for the Reich, for good German families to adopt and to bolster the Aryan race.

While here Allina meets Karl, a high-ranking SS officer who turns out to be part of the resistance against Hitler and who is helping to smuggle Jewish children out of Germany.

The Sunflower House is Allina's story of bravery, strength, and love. It was incredibly researched and very well written.

Highly recommend for history and historical fiction fans. I will be looking for other books from this author in the future!

The Sunflower House is a historical fiction novel set during World War II. While I’ve read many novels about this period, The Sunflower House explores a subject I hadn’t encountered before. The story follows Allina, who is forced to serve at Hochland Home—a grim facility designed to produce babies indoctrinated to be loyal to Hitler. As horrifying as this concept is, Allina discovers even darker secrets within the home. The novel chronicles her courageous efforts to rescue as many children as possible from Hochland Home.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers, and Sara Eslami for allowing me to read this beautiful book. Everytime I think I have read all there is about the horrors of WWII another book comes out like this one that opens my eyes to yet another part. This wonderful story focuses on the eugenics program, a program where the Nazis’s tried to breed a perfect race and what happened to those children that wasn’t deemed perfect. The story is wonderfully written and will stick with me for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martins Press & and the author for this arc!

A spectacular debut that will rip your heart out & lovingly stitch it back together!

I read a lot of historical fiction but this was my first story about the Lebensborn Program of Nazi Germany. I learned so much from the amazing research done by the author. And although the subject matter was heavy & heartbreaking … the writing is done with such care & grace that it weaves the real life horrors of this story into a beautiful saga of love, sacrifice & hope.

So many emotions while reading these pages … I will be feeling this one for a long time!

Whenever I stumble upon historical fiction centered around events I've never heard of, I'm always immediately drawn to them. The Sunflower House was one of those books. It's always hard to read historical fiction set during WWII as I'm often left with anger and sadness, but I'm so glad that I discovered this read, and was blown away at the fact that this is a debut. It did not at all read like one.

The Sunflower House follows the Nazi regime's Lebensborn Program. I'm saddened that my first time hearing about this is at 35 years old. These types of stories should be widely known not only to honor the victims, but also to ensure these things never happen again. This book is a must read for everyone but it was definitely hard to get through, I appreciated that it was evident that the author took her time to research and craft this story. Do not skip the author's notes on this one!

I highly recommend everyone picking this up, but also I would recommend checking content warnings first.

Wow. It is hard to believe this is a debut novel- it is so beautifully written, as it tells the harrowing and haunting story of Allina, during the Nazi regime and programming. The story is a past reflection and recount of Allina's experience working in baby factories- her complicitness, bravery, and resistance are all captured in this story. This novel was clearly well researched, as it depicted the historical truth of the heinous and heartbreaking programs that occurred in our recent history. The lengths that were went to in order to create an 'Aryan' population, while eradicating and euthanizing anyone who didn't fit the description is absolutely appalling. A tool of genecide is shocking to read in detail, especially knowing it is not that far removed from our current history. This was definitely a heavy, but necessary read. And despite its depth and topic, it still depicted a story of love and the lengths we will go to stand for what is right and necessary. I definitely recommend this book to others. Thank you #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for this ARC. This one will stick with me for years to come.

The Sunflower House by Adriana Allegri is a Holocaust novel, although from a different perspective than most. Much of it takes place in a Lebensborn House, which was the Nazi place of birth for high ranking Nazi women but also a brothel for Nazi officers to make children of pure blood with women provided for that purpose. Allina was stolen from her home after most of her village had been slaughtered. Her aunt and uncle, the only parents she’d ever known were both dead. The Gruppenfuher who took her said she reminded him of his granddaughter. Then he raped her. He took her to Hochland Home and made it clear she was under his protection. Then he left and didn’t come back. She was spoiled for a while and then began to work in the nurseries. There were strict rules to follow and she did, no matter she didn’t agree. May of these women were in love, or believed themselves to be. Others were just in it for the rewards they reaped with each birth. Things moved forward and Allina fell in love, too. But he was not like the others, as she soon learned.

Katrine was Allina’s daughter and knew nothing of her mother’s past or who her father was, until one day she came a box with memorabilia and was appalled. She had no idea. This was New Jersey. Despite the fact her mother was in her mid-eighties and ill, she told her story. Aghast, Katrine began to see her mother’s point of view and why she’d never spoken of it. This was a moving story of people who were caught in the middle. They were not Nazis but they had to survive. They had to help where they could and rejoice in those they did save, not perseverate on those they could not. Everyone agrees it was a horrible time and people say and do horrible things. This is one of those stories, and of two people who loved one another despite what was happening around them. I try to avoid Holocaust stories because I have kind of overdosed on them, but this one was worth the read. A new perspective.

I was invited to read The Sunflower House by St Martin’s Press. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #StMartinsPress #ArianaAllegri #TheSunflowerHouse

This book explored a side of Nazi Germany that I was not familiar with. The eugenics programs and houses that produced many of their “pure Aryan babies”. Always love to read about the resistance movement and the people who silently fought against the Nazi’s and the atrocities. The characters were well developed and worthy of respect. I enjoyed this thought provoking story of a time in history that should never be repeated.

This is an incredible tale about the Lebensborn Progam created by Nazi authorities in 1935. The goal was to increase the population and create an elite race from German women deemed. “racially valuable “. After Allina Gottlieb loses all of her loved ones, she is taken to a state run baby factory called the Hochland House by Gruppenfuhrer Gud. He is hoping she is carrying his child. It is here she will hide in plain sight after discovering her birth mother is Jewish. It turns out she is not pregnant and ends up under the care of Karl, a high-ranking SS Officer with secrets of his own. Together they will join forces to save as many children as possible. .

The Sunflower House is a debut novel by Adriana Allegri. This book will tug at your heartstrings from the very beginning to the last chapter of the book. Allina is a young woman, living in a small farming town in Germany before the start of WW2. Allina has lived with her aunt and uncle since the death of her parents at the age of 3 months old. Some family secrets are left hidden until her uncle falls ill and is on his death bed. Allina is stubborn like her father and wears her emotions on her face. Now Allina finds herself at the Hochland Home, a baby factory where German women of the right bloodline are encouraged to have as many babies as possible that they could to help replenish the population. Allina is shocked by how these babies are being "trained" from birth. They don't pick up the babies when they are crying, the babies are on a strict schedule for feeding, changing, and outside time. Allina meets Karl, a high-ranking SS officer with his own. As the two form a friendship they end up sharing their secrets about their past to each other. Now more than ever Karl must do what he can in order to keep Allina safe, no matter the costs. This book was beautifully written, and I want to explore more about the Lebensborn Program and what happened to all the children after the war. This is a must read for anyone who loves a good historical fiction book on WW2. The Sunflower House gives an inside view of what life looked like during WW2 in Germany. I would like to thank both NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for letting me read an advanced copy of this book.

Incredibly beautiful debut and one that is harrowing for the present times but so necessary to read in order to figure what we as a society may want as a whole. I couldn't help but feel horrified about the baby factories and I wanted so badly for Allina and her love interest to have a better ending than what they were giving. The pure grit and act of sacrifice, and the way Allina was properly saved away from the horrors that occurred will perhaps haunt me for days to come, but the prose of it all, the helplessness and small glimmers of hope gave me all of the feels.