In the Nazi rule of 1930s Vienna, Gustav Kleinmann and his family were impacted like many Jewish families. Trapped in a nightmare that they didn’t know was only just beginning. Soon after Gustav and his teenage son Fritz are rounded up and sent to a Concentration Camp, where Fritz will do the unthinkable. 

Well, this was an emotional read. Reading a book about the Holocaust is tough, but needed. Last year I picked up The Tattooist of Auschwitz and this year I once again found a read that I almost couldn’t believe. It is a story of the bonds of family and the strength of the humans in the worst circumstances. 

This was an interesting mix of storytelling and a journalistic viewpoint. Dromfield has tried to include the climate of the world as well as in Germany. When reading I felt sick that so much of the world, the UK included, shut their doors to refugees. It’s something we’ve seen since. I truly think that is one of the reasons these books are so important – so we can recognise history repeating itself. 

What I also found incredibly interesting within the book is Fritz’s feelings of wanting change, even if it means risking his life. These are two men that tried their hardest not to give up, although in different ways. While they were father and son, seeing their different approaches to survival gave more of an insight into who they were and why they needed each other. 

This was a 4 star read for me. I feel like saying I enjoyed this was wrong. You can’t enjoy a book about the Holocaust but there was a heart to it. The fact that you could feel the family bond and fight for survival the whole way through. You are rooting for this father and son, for the entire family. I can see this becoming a very well known and read book. 

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.