When We Were Innocent

By: Kate Hewitt

Narrated by: Amelia Sciandra

"Dad, you have to tell me the truth. Are you who they say you are? Because I know you can’t be. I know you can’t possibly have done what they’re saying....”

Libby Trent has worked hard to make a good life for herself. She has a happy, messy home in Virginia, full of family and laughter. And a job she’s enormously proud of at a charity helping the disadvantaged, that suits her strong sense of what’s right and wrong.

But everything changes the day she’s contacted by a government official asking questions about a man named Hans Brenner, a Nazi who escaped Germany after the Second World War. A war criminal guilty of the most heinous deeds.

And the man they suspect is Libby’s own father.

She has always known that her father was born in Germany, but what they’re saying is simply impossible. Her frail elderly father is the sweetest man she knows. With his kind eyes, his tender care, his passion for social justice, he is the person who taught her every value she has.... He can’t possibly be the evil man they are saying he was.

But the official is insistent. He says he knows Libby’s father is Hans Brenner, but he tells her they need more evidence for the trial to go ahead—even if it is just a photograph, a letter, or something her father might have kept from those days. And Libby is the one who could find it for them.

Libby knows terrible acts should never go unpunished. But she refuses to believe her father could be guilty, and so she decides to search for something that can prove his innocence. She knows she simply has to find it, because if she can’t...

Then everything she thought she knew about her father, about herself, and even about history may be changed forever.

A totally heartbreaking and powerful story about a daughter’s impossible dilemma and the darkest of family secrets, perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Amanda Prowse, and Diane Chamberlain.

©2022 Kate Hewitt (P)2022 Bookouture, an imprint of Storyfire Ltd.

The ending was great!!

What I disliked was the repetitiveness. The story was too slow in some areas. And the person telling the story had a monotone voice which didn’t help. I loved the story though even if it was about a terrible time in history.

Narrators first book??

I enjoyed the book ok although I wish it focused more on the father's story and way less on the daughter and her "feelings". The narration was difficult to listen to as it was like someone was just reading the book to me. I couldn't wait to be done with it.

Excellent Book

Libby and her 96-year-old had lived a long life. Her father raised her after her mother left when Libby was 4.

On a hot summer day, Libby gets a phone call from her daughter while she is at work. The call tells her that police officers are there who want to talk with her about Granddad, Libby’s father. Libby is about to be told something that will change her life, and she has to question everything she believes to be true about her life.

The book is excellent, but I wish the author had spent more time going into the father’s life.

Beautiful story

A beautiful story yet the author focused too much on the narrator’s feelings and I found this tiresome. The reader did not enhance the story . She was quite flat and boring to listen to.

Loved it

I loved this story from the start had a hard time turning it off and I got emotional at the end! Always love this author!

Heartbreaking story..HORRID NARRATOR

I can't believe I made it to the end of this book! I can't believe they chose such a MONOTONE, UNFEELING narrator.

Could have been so much better

The author drove me crazy, along with the terrible narrator, spending so much time sharing Libby’s feelings ad naseum. I cringed every time I got to a chapter entitled Libby knowing I’d be listening to the whining, self-absorbed, and self-righteous, anxiety-ridden Libby. Granted, her perfect family was turned upside down but I felt no connection to her at all. And so many repetitive descriptions of “my dad,” and the meaningless descriptions of food, preparation, household tasks, her daughter’s anxiety, her son’s teenage attitude that I almost gave up!! The only redemption was the author’s chapters about Hans and the experiences at Sobibor. Almost wish I had read the book instead of listening because the narrator is a one-star at best and I could’ve skimmed the chapters about Libby until the very end.