The Fortunate Ones by Catherine Hokin
on January 20, 2020
Genres: Fiction, Historical, Romance, War, WW II
Pages: 357
Format: ARC, eBook
Find the Author: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads
Find the Book: Amazon
Rating:
Every day he stood exactly where he was directed. He listened for his number, shouted his answer in the freezing cold. He was ragged and he was starving, but he was alive. He was one of the fortunate ones whom fate had left standing. And he needed to stay that way. For Hannah.
Berlin, 1941. Felix Thalberg, a printer’s apprentice, has the weight of the world on his shoulders. His beloved city is changing under Nazi rule and at home things are no better – Felix’s father hasn’t left the house since he was forced to wear a yellow star, and his mother grows thinner every day.
Then one night, Felix meets a mysterious young woman in a crowded dance hall, and his life is changed forever. Hannah is like a rush of fresh air into his gloomy, stagnant life and Felix finds himself instantly, powerfully infatuated with her. But when he tries to find her again, she’s vanished without a trace.
Was Hannah taken away by the Gestapo and held prisoner… or worse? When Felix himself is imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, his thoughts are only for her safety. And when a life-threatening injury lands him on the ward of Dr Max Eichel – a Nazi medical officer with a sadistic reputation – his love for his lost Hannah sees him through the pain.
Until one day Dr Eichel brings his pretty young wife to tour the camp and Felix’s world is thrown off-kilter. Framed in the hospital window he sees – impossibly – the same girl he met that fateful night… her wrist in the vice-like grip of the deathly calm SS Officer. And it’s clear Hannah recognises him at once – there is no mistaking her expression, she has been dreaming of him too...
A gripping and beautiful wartime love story about two people facing impossible odds – heartbreaking, moving and unforgettable. Perfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, We Were the Lucky Ones and The Alice Network.
This was a difficult read for me. I knew going in that with the subject matter, this wasn’t going to be an easy happy-ever-after read. But, after finishing, I’m still unsure how I feel about the ending.
Let me say that Hokin is an absolutely amazing story teller. There was not one moment of this book that felt contrived, rushed, or fake to me. She told an amazingly beautiful story of two people who met, fell in love, and had the most difficult time getting back to each other.
Felix is a half-Jewish young man who is watching his family and those around him suffer in his home of Berlin, due to the Nazis. Hannah, well, she’s a German. I won’t get into what that means for them too much; but, beware… these two have a rough road.
I’m absolutely in love with how Hokin chose to explore these two very-opposite characters. And she portrayed their individual pain–due to very polarizing circumstances–brilliantly.
The only issue I do take, is the ending. And, I won’t get into why. It was appropriate…Even almost expected. And probably the wiser choice for Ms. Hokin. And, I’ll probably never forget it.
In the genre of WW II novels, this one definitely stood out to me as special and unique.
