The Commandant's Daughter by Catherine Hokin
Genre: Historical fiction, Post WW2
Read: 19th January 2022
Published: 26th January 2022
★★★ 3.5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
A heartbreaking novel about the incredible courage of ordinary people during the Second World War. Fans of The Alice Network, The Nightingale and The Tattooist of Auschwitz will never forget this powerful story of hope found in the darkest days.
1933, Berlin. Ten-year-old Hanni Foss stands by her father watching the celebrations marking Adolf Hitler as Germany’s new leader. As the torchlights fade, her safe and happy childhood changes forever as Reiner, the father she adores, is corrupted by his new position as commandant of an infamous concentration camp…
Twelve years later. As the Nazi regime crumbles, Hanni hides from her father on the outskirts of Berlin. In stolen moments, she develops the photographs she took to record the horrors of the camp – the empty food bowls and desperate faces – and vows to get justice for the innocent people she couldn’t help as a child.
But her carefully constructed new life is threatened when Hanni discovers a body hidden in a bombed-out building, and meets Freddy, the tortured young detective in charge of the case. Could the fierce emotion in his brown eyes distract Hanni from her quest for atonement?
Or will Reiner stop her himself? Because on the day she plans to deliver her damning photographs to the Allies, Hanni comes face to face with her father again. Reiner Foss has a powerful new identity and he makes it clear just how dangerous it will be to expose him. Now she faces a devastating choice, between the past which haunts her, and the chance of a future with Freddy…
MY REVIEW:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Catherine Hokin's historical tale with a difference THE COMMANDANT'S DAUGHTER.
I have read and enjoyed Catherine Hokin's previous books although they are generally slowish to start in their build up. However, THE COMMANDANT'S DAUGHTER differs to her previous novels in the sense that it draws you in from the start, offers you a different tale and it is the first in a four book series featuring Hanni and Freddy. Hokin says herself she has not embarked on a series before so is finding it a refreshing challenge and for her readers it is something different...whilst still against the backdrop of the horrors of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust.
I liked the premise and was drawn to the fact that the main character being a photographer (as my dad was a photographer himself) who captured moments in time through her viewfinder and therefore documenting the atrocities of war. The fact that her father was one of those who issued such punishments in the camps made the story all the more compelling, wondering how such barbarity would pan out. And I was intrigued to find out...
1933: Ten year old Hannelore Foss is intrigued by the pomp and circumstance taking place on the streets below as Hitler rose to power as the new German chancellor, and yet she is baffled why no one else at this party is interested in watching the display as she stands alone on the balcony of the Aldon Hotel. Alone but for one person who sits in the shadows and opens up a whole new world to Hannelore that she never knew existed. The world as seen and captured through the eye of the camera's viewfinder. When Ezra Stein invited Hannelore to view the world through the camera, she never expected to see what she did. And from that moment on, she was intrigued by the world of photography.
1945: Twelve years later, Hanni Winter has shed her past as Reiner Foss' daughter Hannelore and has a job at Ezra Stein's studio with his nephew Natan. The war was not kind to people like Ezra, who was Jewish, and as his studio was destroyed he was taken in the night to a camp where he met his fate as did many other like him. Hanni never saw him again.
But the war was not kind to Hanni either as she moved from place to place and camp to camp with her father, a Nazi officer with the SS, and as she crept into places she was not meant to be she captured the sheer horror of the atrocities that were inflicted on these poor innocent people...simply for being Jewish. Hanni hated her father and all he stood for and by the war's end she had lost her mother, her sister and the father that she had once admired and loved...before he became one of Hitler's henchmen. Now she is Hanni Winter, photographer. Hannelore Foss is dead.
Then one day, whilst exploring the remains of the Aldon Hotel with her camera, she stumbles upon a man laid out as if he were on display and very obviously dead. Without disturbing the scene, she begins to capture everything about him in death, relaying her thoughts and observations to the police when they arrive. Almost at once she notices that the dead man is a former SS officer, his SS tattoo displayed for all to see and a sign strung around his neck accusing him of his crimes.
Inspector Freddy Schlussel is immediately taken with the photographer as she relays her observations of the scene. Her exceptional eye for detail and ability to read the scene only enamours him more. Then when another body is found, he calls on Hanni to accompany him to the scene where they discover that he too was a former SS officer. Hanni and Freddy work together to uncover the culprit and the purpose behind his crimes.
But herein lies the conundrum. Freddy is Jewish and this villain is killing off former SS officers who oversaw such atrocities against his people during the war. Does Freddy really want such a person caught? Or does he want to let him keep killing them off, one by one? Surely he is doing the good people of Germany a favour by eliminating them?
And Hanni...she has since discovered her father is not only alive but has reinvented himself and is threatening her future. While she cannot reveal her past Freddy as he will surely never understand that she played no part in the atrocities but stood by while her father inflicted them on his people, Hanni secretly hopes that this killer has her father on his list. Reiner is definitely a threat to her life now as she knows it should she try to denounce him publicly. But Freddy will never understand that or her hatred for the man. And so her past as the daughter of an SS officer must remain a secret.
THE COMMANDANT'S DAUGHTER is a very different read to those we are used to of this era. It combines the atrocities of the Holocaust with the murders of former SS officers as well as the secrets that both Hanni and Freddy keep. Whilst Freddy does eventually bare his soul to Hanni, she cannot in all honesty reciprocate...because as soon as he hears the truth of her past, he will hate her, of that she is sure. And yet Hanni was a victim as well. She was a girl when her father became a Nazi and was still living under his hand throughout much of the war. As a woman, she had no say and no power to speak out against such a man held in high regard. Hanni wanted nothing more than to escape him and when she did, she began a new life away from his rule. She hated everything the Nazis stood for...but would Freddy, as a Jew, understand that?
Much of the story is shrouded in her fear of her past being discovered and thus the sting of Freddy's rejection. I willed her to be upfront with him; the sooner the better, otherwise Freddy will accuse of her keeping it from him...which she is. But will he understand why? Given his own personal connection to the Holocaust and Nazis, probably not which is why Hanni has chosen to keep it secret. Will she reveal her past in the next book? Or will it be saved till the very last? Personally, I think the longer she leaves it the worse it will be. This, in turn, frustrated me.
Along with Hanni's conundrum about her past, THE COMMANDANT'S DAUGHTER is also a murder mystery which is something different. Although it is no mystery to the reader though it is to Hanni and Freddy who are hot on his trail to uncover him. But throughout the story we see the development of the killer and how his story plays out also, which is an interesting concept. At first, the reader sympathises with him for what is clearly an indifference to him throughout his entire life. We see how he selects his targets and I admit to hoping Reiner Foss is on the list too. The tale, as it is told, is a very different one to that which is described in the book's premise. Having said that, it is a pleasant surprise to have something different on offer.
I must say, I absolutely loathed Reiner and I can only hope he gets his comeuppance soon enough. But he won't be easy prey for anyone who seeks to denounce him. He is a bully who is nothing if not cruel and selfish, thinking of no one but himself. He doesn't even care one iota for his daughter but then she also hates him, or rather the man he became as a Nazi. But he is powerful with his little spies everywhere throughout the city.
The first in a series, THE COMMANDANT'S DAUGHTER is a powerful tale that is heartwrenching in part capturing a plethora of emotions throughout. It will be interesting to see how the relationship between Hanni and Freddy develops. And if she will ever reveal her past.
A very different WW2 story, I wouldn't say the plot is not fast moving but is steady throughout. However, it is very wordy in places with a lot of description that does tend to slow the pace a little.
Recommended for fans of historical fiction offering something a little different.
I would like to thank #CatherineHokin, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheCommandantsDaughter in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Catherine Hokin is the author of two World War Two inspired novels set in Berlin, her favourite city. Following a History degree at Manchester University she worked in teaching, marketing and politics, while waiting for a chance to do what she really wanted which was to write full time. Her short stories have been published by iScot, Writers Forum and Myslexia magazines and she was the winner of the 2019 Fiction 500 Short Story Competition. She is a lover of strong female leads and a quest.
Catherine now lives in Glasgow with her American husband. She has two grown-up children – one of whom lives, very conveniently, in Berlin – and a life long addiction to very loud music.
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