The Girl From Berlin series
The Girl From Berlin is a 3 book series by Ellie Midwood; Standartenfuher's Wife, Gruppenfuhrer's Mistress, and War Criminal's Widow. It follows Annalise Friedmann, a young Jewish woman living in Germany as the second world war begins. Her family has well hidden their Jewish heritage, and Annalise marries a family friend who just so happens to be an SS Officer. However, it's soon revealed that he's more friend than foe, as Annalise's husband Heinrich is actually a counterintelligence agent for the American Secret Service. Annalise soon begins helping with her husband's work, and to condense the synopsis, ends up having an affair with the very powerful, very intense head of the RHSA, Ernst Kaltenbrunner. Yes, that's right - the actual Kaltenbrunner, whose 6'7 frame and scarred face certainly contributed to his intimidating appearance.
I'll start off by saying that this series is a total guilty pleasure for me. I believe it's a self-published series, and it definitely would have really benefitted from some heavy proof-reading. I noticed a lot of spelling and grammar errors that could have been fixed with some proper editing, and maybe it's my inner English major coming out, but the errors detracted from the story for me. I want to be able to completely focus on the story itself, not be distracted by misspelled words or run-on sentences. That being said, something about this whole series just piqued my interest. Obviously I'm a huge fan of the genre, but I found the general plot of this series to be very interesting and wanted to see how everything would work out. So, what the author lacks in editing, she certainly makes up for in storytelling ability.
As a history nut, I also really liked that actual events and Nazi figures were included in the series, including Kristallnacht, Reinhard Heydrich, and even Goering and Goebbels. Most notably included is the aforementioned Kaltenbrunner, whose depiction in this work was fascinating. I think the author really did her research on the guy because a lot of his attributes - from physical characteristics to personality - were spot on. I've read some reviews where people were offended by the author's use of an actual Nazi as the man Annalise ultimately falls for, but honestly I enjoyed it and didn't find it offensive. It's a fictional depiction, and I liked that it included the perspective of a man who's supposed to be the enemy.
Kaltenbrunner was tried and sentenced to hanging as part of the Nuremburg Trials in real life, so I wasn't sure what to expect as to how everything would work out. I was bracing for a sad ending to the series, but ended up really enjoying it. I'll admit that parts of the ending seemed a little far-fetched, but then again a lot of the whole story did, so I think it fit well.
If you can get past the grammar issues, this is a hidden gem of a series worth reading. There are also two spin-off works that follow Kaltenbrunner. I'm reading the first one now, but have to say that I found this series to be more interesting. Check it out!
I'll start off by saying that this series is a total guilty pleasure for me. I believe it's a self-published series, and it definitely would have really benefitted from some heavy proof-reading. I noticed a lot of spelling and grammar errors that could have been fixed with some proper editing, and maybe it's my inner English major coming out, but the errors detracted from the story for me. I want to be able to completely focus on the story itself, not be distracted by misspelled words or run-on sentences. That being said, something about this whole series just piqued my interest. Obviously I'm a huge fan of the genre, but I found the general plot of this series to be very interesting and wanted to see how everything would work out. So, what the author lacks in editing, she certainly makes up for in storytelling ability.
As a history nut, I also really liked that actual events and Nazi figures were included in the series, including Kristallnacht, Reinhard Heydrich, and even Goering and Goebbels. Most notably included is the aforementioned Kaltenbrunner, whose depiction in this work was fascinating. I think the author really did her research on the guy because a lot of his attributes - from physical characteristics to personality - were spot on. I've read some reviews where people were offended by the author's use of an actual Nazi as the man Annalise ultimately falls for, but honestly I enjoyed it and didn't find it offensive. It's a fictional depiction, and I liked that it included the perspective of a man who's supposed to be the enemy.
Kaltenbrunner was tried and sentenced to hanging as part of the Nuremburg Trials in real life, so I wasn't sure what to expect as to how everything would work out. I was bracing for a sad ending to the series, but ended up really enjoying it. I'll admit that parts of the ending seemed a little far-fetched, but then again a lot of the whole story did, so I think it fit well.
If you can get past the grammar issues, this is a hidden gem of a series worth reading. There are also two spin-off works that follow Kaltenbrunner. I'm reading the first one now, but have to say that I found this series to be more interesting. Check it out!
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