THE GERMAN CHILD

​Set in WW2 Berlin and 1970s America, this is the story of the Lebensborn programme & the long shadows it cast.

Out on 24th Jan 2024 & available to pre-order here

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STATUE OF MOTHER & BABY AT LEBENSBORN HOME

‘No! Not my child!’ she screams, her voice breaking as she pounds the window uselessly. But no one looks up as the man in uniform cradles her precious baby and strides away…

Berlin, 1944. Nineteen-year-old Annaliese arrives at the imposing stone building, clutching her small suitcase. She has nowhere else to go after her father threw her out, ashamed of his pregnant, unmarried daughter. But Bruno promised they would live together as a family once the baby was born – and until then she’d be taken care of at this home for expectant mothers.

But Bruno never comes, and Annaliese starts to feel unsettled by the silent, stone-faced nurses and the heavy doors that are always locked behind them. Nursing her perfect, pink-cheeked baby, her heart swells – she never imagined she could feel such overwhelming love. But a cold fear has caught hold of her. Has coming here been a terrible mistake?

Berlin, 1979. Lawyer Evie has come to the city to investigate the horrifying stories of infants torn from their mothers during the war. One of the cases is Sebastian, whose yellowing birth certificate tells a heartbreaking tale. Evie is drawn to this lost man, and vows to do all that she can to help him.

But poring through old records, it is Evie who recognises the faded photo in a newspaper article. Her heart stops as she realises her whole life has been a devastating lie – and that her and Sebastian’s pasts are impossibly, unimaginably connected…

​CATHERINE HOKIN - HISTORICAL FICTION INSPIRED BY WORLD WAR II 

THE KURMARK LEBENSBORN HOME