The German Midwife

Mandy Robotham delivers an historical fiction novel that is hard to put down. She opens a window into a world few of us can even imagine. She poses questions of morality, humanity, and what you would do to survive in a world turned upside down by war. I loved her use of narrative and flashbacks. The writing is natural, intelligent, and well researched. I highly recommend this book.

Alternate history: using real events and people and adding a smattering of ‘what if’ to explore other options – much like the ‘what if I went left on that day rather than right – what would happen? And here, adding to that concept with multiple flashback memories to the 1920’s, the story during World War II, and ending with the fall of the Berlin Wall, we get Anke’s story. A midwife in Berlin, determined to serve both the mother and baby, no matter their ‘station’ with the Reich, Anke was simply doing what she felt was right. And that put her straight into the hands of the SS, internment in a ‘work camp’ as a ‘political dissident’ – no yellow but a red star for her and her fellow outspoken women – ‘pests’. Through gripping and often harrowing tales of camp life and survival, Anke has come into the notice of the hierarchies in the Reich, and has been chosen to serve as midwife to Eva Braun. Though still a prisoner, Anke is offered a small house, food and clothes, some freedom of movement and the friendship of an SS officer tasked with the ‘management’ of the Berghof, and most importantly, her camaraderie with Braun. Determined to do (as always) the best for mother and child, despite some serious moral questions she constantly finds demanding her attention and thought, Anke is single-minded in helping Eva through the birth – despite the obvious pitfalls and landmines. While I’ve read other titles that manage to occupy the moral contradictions of those brought into service of a Reich that has taken much from them, and few who are wholly complicit or committed to the ‘ultimate plan’ of the Nazis and Hitler, few have managed to dive into the complexity of emotions and self-doubts that arise – pitting one’s will to survive against the repeated and often senseless atrocities that are occurring all around. From Anke’s early introduction and our recognition that she sees only mother and child in the labour room, her own questions about her own soul, her questions about choices and the ‘need’ for them, and her worries (not unfounded) that her life is more in danger with her improved circumstances than before, the entirety of the choices and the fact that the line between good and evil – and acts committed as those of a ‘lesser evil’ and the worry that regaining pieces of the humanity that is so degraded by what are, at the moment, simple choices for survival become a visceral punch to the gut for readers. Unless you are in the moment, you really haven’t any idea what you’d do – and that realization that facing horrible and often inhumane circumstances, where freedom of choice is a hope on the horizon so far away – Anke manages to maintain the best of intentions, even when actions are questionable. A stunning debut that is both gripping, prosaic and wholly engaging, more so for the frank honesty of the narrative voice in Anke, and the potential of this fictional story as plausible, if not entirely possible. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

History blended with drama in beautiful fashion.