The German Wife

A Novel

De: Kelly Rimmer

Narrado por: Nancy Peterson, Ann Marie Gideon

“Skillfully researched and powerfully written, The German Wife will capture you from the first page.” —Madeline Martin, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London

For fans of All the Light We Cannot See and The Tattooist of Auschwitz—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Things We Cannot Say and The Warsaw Orphan returns with a gripping novel inspired by the true story of Operation Paperclip: a controversial secret US intelligence program that employed former Nazis after WWII.

Berlin, 1930—When a wave of change sweeps a radical political party to power, Sofie von Meyer Rhodes’s academic husband benefits from the ambitions of its newly elected chancellor. Although Sofie and Jürgen do not share the social views growing popular in Hitler’s Germany, Jürgen’s position with its burgeoning rocket program changes their diminishing fortunes for the better. But as Sofie watches helplessly, her beloved Berlin begins to transform, forcing her to consider what they must sacrifice morally for their young family’s security, and what the price for their neutrality will be.

Twenty years later, Jürgen is one of the many German scientists offered pardons for their part in the war, and taken to America to work for its fledgling space program. For Sofie, this is the chance to exorcise the ghosts that have followed her across the ocean, and make a fresh start in her adopted country. But her neighbors aren’t as welcoming or as understanding as she had hoped. When scandalous rumors about the Rhodes family’s affiliation with Hitler’s regime spreads, idle gossip turns to bitter rage, and the act of violence that results will tear apart Sofie’s community and her family before the truth is finally revealed.

“An unforgettable novel that explores important questions highly relevant to the world today.” —Christine Wells, author of Sisters of the Resistance

Don’t miss Kelly Rimmer’s newest novel, The Paris Agent, where a family’s innocent search for answers brings a long-forgotten, twenty-five-year-old mystery featuring two female SOE operatives comes to light!

For more by Kelly Rimmer, look for:

• Before I Let You Go
• The Things We Cannot Say
• Truths I Never Told You
• The Warsaw Orphan
• The Midnight Estate

Captivating

I couldn’t stop listening to this audio book. I love historical fiction books and I found this one to be an excellent story of two very different views crossing unlikely paths. Not having lived through this time period, stories like these help bring to life the emotions of what people were experiencing.

I found it oddly, creepily, similar to the world in which we currently live post 2020.

fantastic!

Such an interesting story and information about Huntsville, AL. I learned a lot about that era and it prompted me to read more about that time.

Heart braking

It bring make feeling to surface, is hard to not to cry and feel mad often during this story.

Overall, another compelling book

Took me a few chapters to get into this plot line as it was jumping back in forth both in time and between Germany and the USA. Once I started to get where this book was going, it became really interesting. Based on a few historical characters and some fiction added in for a book, this book really makes you think about how life could have been for those men and women living in Germany during the Nazi Regime. The choices the had to make, forced to make in order to survive in their own jobs and to stay alive. Most books are written about Jews surviving or dying during the Holocaust, this book takes a different approach and is about Arian Germans and what choices they had to make about Jewish friends, their jobs, etc.

Do their children attend the Nazi camps for youth? Does the husband accept an SS membership? Do they have to get rid of a best friend just because she is a Jew? What will happen if they decide not to do these things? Bring under surveillance in their own homes constantly, having phones and homes bugged.....

Interesting story but slow

The author weaves together two parallel stories of a family in nazi germany and a family surviving on a Texas farm during the dust bowl Although the two come together in clever and interesting ways at the end, it takes a long time to get there. The German heroine was a bit whiny (maybe it was the narrator) and the American heroine was underdeveloped. A fine but not exceptional story.

Thought provoking and engaging

There are a lot of WWII stories available and I love Historical Fiction but sometimes I wish there were more choices in time periods..... But I really enjoy Kelly Rimmer and she never disappoints. Beautifully written and thought provoking to once again be reminded of the terrible choices people had to make to survive unfathomable circumstances.

Wow! An excellent listen

What a beautifully written book about an exceptionally bad time in world history. The characters are so well developed that you feel what they feel and see the world through their very different eyes. It’s very well performed - I just couldn’t stop listening. Highly recommend.

Remarkably modern

This is a remarkable example of literature based on true events. Unfortunately it is very applicable to current situation unfolding in Ukraine. It is amazing that evil has not change his face or methods since nearly 100 years ago. Putin‘s regime is using the same propaganda machine that was used by Hitler to propagate nearly the same agenda as landgrab and expansionism. luckily they don’t have the talented scientists that Germany had then.

Excellent!

A different perspective from other WWII historical fiction books I have read. Poses a very thorny and difficult philosophical quandary.

The German wife

Oh my gosh was very good, I wanted it to go on like continue with how they make it. But very well written