ONCE WE WERE FAMILY
(In Nazi Germany)
NOVEL
D. Knittle 4.8 stars
Once We Were Family describes a German girl's struggle to survive the horrors of life in Nazi Germany and her post-war adult soul-searching: why she did nothing to stop the nightmare. Graham's clear writing, well drawn characters and unique insight make her novel both heart-warming and bone-chilling. This book puts the reader in the hearts and minds of Germans who compromised with Hitler's regime and lived to regret it.
4.0 out of 5 stars The other side
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 March 2023
A very good historical fiction book, showing the other side of WW II, i.e., the not-Nazi Germans, without undermining the holocaust. A good read overall.
CM Message: Fruitvale
Berlin, 1935.
Thirteen-year-old Annalise belongs to a middle-class family of six children. Unaware of the evils of Nazism until it is too late, her parents struggle to keep the family together while facing daily threats of betrayal.
The atmosphere is thick with mistrust. Annalise loses her best friend and childhood crush to the encroaching specter of bigotry and Nazism. Her brother Hans is forced to join the Nazi youth and prepare for war. The two youngest children, twins, are indoctrinated by the Nazis and become a threat as informers. Her oldest sister flirts with young Gestapo agents, exposing the family to further scrutiny.
Annalise grows into womanhood during Hitler's reign. She will leave her childhood home. Will she find love? Will she find resolution from the sins of her past and start a new life?
This is a story of hope in the face of evil, that asks the question of how people can function in a society that turns so barbaric. How does a society embrace a monster and then, cannot, or is unwilling to, fight for decency? For Annalise, is there redemption after all?