Since I had read and reviewed this author’s book, What Only We Know, I was eager to read The Lost Mother.
The Lost Mother
She looked at the empty cradle where her baby had been. Her heart felt tattered and empty, like the hollow streets of Berlin after its people began to live in fear.
Berlin, 1934. Homes once filled with laughter stand empty as the Nazi party’s grip on the city tightens. When AnnaTiegel’s beautiful best friend catches Reich Minister Goebbels’ special attention, an impulsive act to save her brings Anna under his unforgiving scrutiny. First, she loses her job, then slowly, mercilessly, she finds her life stripped away. After her father is killed by the Nazis, Anna’s final hope is to escape to America with her boyfriend Eddy, but when she reaches his apartment on the agreed date, she finds it deserted. Alone and pregnant, the future feels terrifying, but she must try to protect the life inside her.
Rhode Island, 1957. Peggy Bailey stares in shock at the faded photograph of two laughing women which her beloved adoptive mother struggled to pass on to her before she died, whispering ‘It was inside your baby blanket when we brought you home’. As Peggy continues to stare, she realises that she has seen one of the girls before, in the most unlikely of places… Bursting at the realisation, she embarks on a mission which takes her across America to find the truth behind her heritage. Nothing, however, could prepare her for the tragic story her actions uncover…
A poignant and beautiful World War Two story about survival and a mother’s enduring search for her child against all the odds. A heart-breaking read for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, We Were the Lucky Ones and The Alice Network.
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My review
It’s hard to even start imagining the kind of trauma, fear and absolute torture people went through during the WW2 in Germany and subsequently other countries.
This story alternated between pre-war / WW2 days of the 1930s and the post war, 1950s. It’s the story of two young women – one from each of these times – bound together.
Peggy, in the 1950s, has recently lost her adoptive mother. The only mother Peggy knew, on her dying bed, pressed a photograph of two young women into Peggy’s hand and whispered that this was found tucked into the blanket she was wrapped in as a baby.
Anna, having faced terrible times, heartache and loss of her father in Nazi Germany, is forced to give up her baby and when she finally lands in the US is constantly looking out for her daughter.
Now Peggy, a journalist by profession, feels compelled to find out which of the young women in the photograph is her mother. And so begins the search for her mother.
How love and the desire to belong to each other wins over fear and betrayal is the essence of this lovely story.
Another winner from this author!
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.
Connect with Catherine
Read what other reviewers are saying about The Lost Mother:
I’m grateful to Bookouture, NetGalley and the author for early access to this book.