The Girl from Berlin by Kate Hewitt

The story covering the traumatic period of 1936 to post liberation of Berlin encompasses the most evil period of the Nazi regime and their determination to get rid of what they called aliens from society. They did this not just in Germany but in every country they took over. So much has been written from every perspective possible, but each new story we find comes up with another angle and this one is just it. Liesel Scholz lived a protected, very comfortable life in the German hierarchy. Her father was a chemist who had made important discoveries. He was not blind to the faults of the Nazi regime, but was comfortable to turn a blind eye as long as his own family were not affected by any of what was happening around. The detention of his son was a turning point in his life and one which was a pivot for him as he became more and more ensnared by the system. Friedrik had a deformed foot and the family thought the protection of their father was enough to prevent his detention and his death. Fast forward to 1946 and Liesel now changed her name to Anna seeks employment with the Americans. One of a few with good English and with a calm demeanour she gets the job of assisting Sam Houghton with finding out Nazis living in plain sight and then more importantly chemists. Unknown to Sam, Anna's entire focus was to get justice for her family by finding her father and showing his betrayal and then his punishment by the Americans for his role in the destruction of German society. Very emotional, fairly descriptive in the workings of the Nazis, not a soothing read but nevertheless something we should not forget that happened in our lifetime and something that is most probably happening in many parts of the world right now, as we speak. Sent by Bookouture for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.