The German House
Books | Fiction / Historical / 20th Century / World War II
3.6
Annette Hess
The novel behind the Disney-produced Hulu Original Series The Interpreter of SilenceAs seen in the New York Times Book Review. A December 2019 Indie Next Pick! Set against the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials of 1963, Annette Hess’s international bestseller is a harrowing yet ultimately uplifting coming-of-age story about a young female translator—caught between societal and familial expectations and her unique ability to speak truth to power—as she fights to expose the dark truths of her nation’s past.If everything your family told you was a lie, how far would you go to uncover the truth? For twenty-four-year-old Eva Bruhns, World War II is a foggy childhood memory. At the war’s end, Frankfurt was a smoldering ruin, severely damaged by the Allied bombings. But that was two decades ago. Now it is 1963, and the city’s streets, once cratered are smooth and paved. Shiny new stores replace scorched rubble. Eager for her wealthy suitor, Jürgen Schoormann, to propose, Eva dreams of starting a new life away from her parents and sister. But Eva’s plans are turned upside down when a fiery investigator, David Miller, hires her as a translator for a war crimes trial.As she becomes more deeply involved in the Frankfurt Trials, Eva begins to question her family’s silence on the war and her future. Why do her parents refuse to talk about what happened? What are they hiding? Does she really love Jürgen and will she be happy as a housewife? Though it means going against the wishes of her family and her lover, Eva, propelled by her own conscience , joins a team of fiery prosecutors determined to bring the Nazis to justice—a decision that will help change the present and the past of her nation.Translated from the German by Elisabeth Lauffer
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Author
Annette Hess
Pages
336
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published Date
2019-12-03
ISBN
0062910310 9780062910318
Community ReviewsSee all
"The German House is a fascinating look at the 1963 Frankfurt Auschwitz trials, a period in history that I was not aware of and is brought to life in this new novel. While most today people are aware of the history of Auschwitz and have most likely heard of the Nuremburg trials that took place immediately following WWII, these trials in Germany revealing the true nature of the crimes committed in the concentration camp were actually quite shocking to the public at the time. The trials focused on 22 defendants who were SS personal serving at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and our story places us right in the middle with our main protagonist, Eva, who is a Polish translator tapped to help communicate the witness statements.<br/><br/>The story alternates between both Eva’s role in the trials and the ongoing family drama happening outside her work. She is recently engaged to a man she’s not sure she loves, and in the process of researching and translating in the trial, she uncovers some dark family secrets. The story is a slow build as Eva puts the pieces of her own history together, culminating in a big reveal regarding both the trial and her own place in life.<br/><br/>What shocked me the most about this book is the emphasis on how little people knew of what happened during the war, and the depths to which they would go to bury those secrets. I have read a lot of WWII fiction over the past couple of years, but none quite like this. This was disturbing, if only for its descriptions of how well people can forget the past. I see why the author, who is German herself, felt strongly about telling this story, because it is so easy to forget and pretend these terrible things never happened. It’s much harder to come to terms with the atrocities committed by people you live next to. <br/><br/>While I really loved the historical look at this subject, I did struggle a bit with the story telling aspect. It jumped around a lot, though knowing the author’s background as a screenwriter, I can forgive that. My biggest complaint is that I didn’t find Eva particularly likable, but I also am not sure if she’s supposed to be. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to WWII historical fiction fans, because I believe it is a new perspective that needs to be shared, and I am grateful to the author for writing this!"
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Allie Peduto
