The Fortunate Ones by Catherine Hokin
Genre: Historical fiction, WW2
Read: 22nd March 2020
Purchase: Amazon
(publication date: 20th January 2020)
★★★★ 4 stars
I have read many books set during World War 2, both in Britain and in Europe, and it continues to be one of my favourite genres. While there is an element of sameness throughout, each book is very different with a unique story that unfolds through the eyes of some very different people. I love to hear how the war touches each of these characters and the parts they played.
In THE FORTUNATE ONES, the story begins in Berlin during the war years and continues beyond. It is a very different tale in which we follow two main characters Felix Thalberg, a German of mixed blood with a Jewish father, and Inge Ackermann, a young idealistic German woman married to a a high ranking SS officer who is brute of a man. Two very different people whose paths were destined never to cross...
It's 1941 in Berlin and 18 year old Inge Ackermann's family have arranged her marriage to a much older high ranking SS officer and prominent Nazi doctor, Max Eichel. The union is to combine the fortunes of the two families although Inge never sees a penny of it. One night before she is to be wed, Inge's friend Leisl arranges for them to slip away to a dance hall during a party she is to make an appearance. It is there, Inge meets handsome young Felix Thalberg. Wanting to be someone else somewhere else in that moment, she gives her name as Hannah Huber. And together they dance, lost in the moment, and they kiss. But when the sirens ring out, Inge and Leisl must hurry and return to the hotel's own shelter before their absence is noticed...but not before Felix asks her to meet him again. When she does, she is jumpy and jittery, and seeing shadows where there are none. After just a few short minutes, she leaves again, knowing she will never see Felix again.
Felix Thalberg is an apprentice printer when he meets beautiful young Hannah Huber in the dance hall. Her blonde curls striking against the Prussian blue of her dress. They dance, they kiss, and they fall in love. But all too soon, she is gone again. But Felix never stops hoping that he would find her again. From the outset, Felix has conjured up a story and an image of Hannah, convinced that she must be a Jewish girl from the nearby area. Over the years she becomes a sort of talisman for him that keeps him alive.
Felix is what is known as a "mischling", a person of mixed blood - half German and half Jewish, which in the Nazi's opinion makes him Jewish. His father is turned out of his lecturing position and forced to wear a yellow star to identify him as Jewish. His mother, an aryan, refuses to leave her husband and is therefore shunned by the community. Felix himself is unsure where he fits in Germany's new regime, being neither German or Jewish. But one day, the choice is made for him when he is arrested and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, with his father on one truck and him on another...and his mother left behind.
Upon arrival at Sachsenhausen, Felix is in the yard when he sees a face at the window watching him. It is Hannah. She is here too! Felix calls to her, feeling sure she is in danger, especially when he sees "the Needle" Dr Max Eichel standing right behind her. He believes that she is a prisoner...and in a way she is...but not in the way he thinks.
Inge has been forced to marry Max Eichel. She is expected to be the "perfect" Nazi wife, an ornament on his arm at functions, never asking questions and to simply obey her husband's every command. Except that she can't. She knows something isn't right and that her husband is up to something. But what? She knows at home he is brutal, callous and abusive...but what she doesn't know is that at the camp he is a monster who performs horrific experiments on prisoners. Oblivious to what he does, but at home his abuse speaks volumes, and Inge sees no way out.
When Inge saw Felix through the window, she knew he was destined for a fate worse than death. She didn't know what really went on at the camp but she was sure it wasn't good, particularly with Max as the camp's doctor. In the lining of her bag she kept a secret, and she used it now to secure a promise of something better for Felix, without Max learning of it or that would surely guarantee Felix's death.
Felix is assigned to a place in the camp where they make counterfeit money, where he is given a slightly better existence than others in the camp. He is fed, he is clothed and his bed is not shared with others. For that he is grateful...but what he doesn't know is that, until Hannah saw him from the window that day, he was destined for a fate worse than death. He is still a prisoner and it's the thought and memory of Hannah that gives him hope and strength to survive.
Max doesn't know what Inge is hiding, but he knows it's something to do with that Jew in the camp's courtyard. He saw the way she looked at him and he her. They knew each other, of that he is sure. So Max vows to do everything he can to find the Jew and take pleasure in punishing Inge for it.
Despite the arrangement of her marriage to Eichel, Inge did enjoy the early days but she soon discovered it turned nasty if she questioned Max or dared to offer an opinion. Soon after seeing Felix and Sachsenhausen, the tides turned and Max became even more abusive as if he were punishing her. He taunted her, ridiculed her, gaslighted her that in the end had her questioning her own sanity. As tensions become rife as the war nears its end, Max plans his escape before the regime falls and they are captured. He was all set to leave Inge behind...until he discovered she was pregnant. She was so close to being free of him at last...and now she knows she can never leave.
Inge always knew Max was monster towards her but when she discovers by chance just how sadistic he really is, she secretly begins to collect evidence, listening to conversations, noting names, and hopes one day she can make him pay for his evil intentions.
The story unfolds through the eyes of both Felix and Inge, in alternating chapters, and their narratives are both heartwarming and heartbreaking. I loved both of them and reading their stories. There was no way either character would come through this unscathed...but can their love sustain them and help them persevere?
Admittedly, I did fine THE FORTUNATE ONES slow to start but that could have been reflected in how tired I was when started it. I did find a lot of description and not a lot of dialogue to begin with, of which I am not a fan, but as the story developed I discovered this style worked as it was primarily reflective. I soon found myself immersed within the lives of both Inge and Felix and hoping they would find each other again.
There was so much to love about THE FORTUNATE ONES, as well as a lot of hate, but it is a beautiful story that is also heartbreaking. The fact that it was from a German perspective in highlighting that not all Germans were Nazis or agreed with the regime is refreshing. So often Germans were all seen as the bad guys when really they were just following orders like everyone else. Not everyone was a Nazi and not everyone agreed with Hilter's regime. And the fact that it wasn't solely about Jews in a concentration camp was also gratifying.
Felix is an especially interesting character. He is mixed blood, Jewish and German, he is talented, he is relentless in his search for justice, he is complex yet relatable and he is flawed. Inge was also interesting in the way she is naive to begin with but quickly learns the harsh realities from which she had always been protected. As a German she is of safe people and yet she still had no way of escape.
From Berlin to Argentina, THE FORTUNATE ONES is a captivating and engaging read from beginning to end set during one of the bleakest times of human history. It is well researched but doesn't feel like a textbook, which is a good thing, and the story unique.
Although it didn't end the way I had hoped in a couple of ways, it was still probably the best outcome... Still I would have liked to see a couple of loose ends tied up but that's just personal preference. It is still a wonderful story that deserves recognition and recommendation.
I am looking forward to Catherine Hokin's next novel and eagerly await it!
I would like to thank #CatherineHokin, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheFortunateOnes in exchange for an honest review.
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