Karen leaned back into Markus’s arms and held her daughter tight, knowing that her mother and her sister were there, inside their embrace. Knowing that the past was finally at one with the present, no longer a burden but a part of them all, to be treasured and carried. Into a future founded on hope.
If you were gripped by What Only We Know, why not try The Fortunate Ones? When Inge and Felix lock eyes across a crowded dance hall, it's love at first sight. But the next time they see each other, it will be across the packed courtyard of a Nazi concentration camp...
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The Fortunate Ones
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A story to break your heart – if you read only one book this year, make it The Fortunate Ones.
Germany, 1941. When Inge – all blonde curls and good manners – first locks eyes with Felix, she knows instinctively that he’s off limits. Her staunchly proper parents will never approve of a working-class Jewish boy for their precious only daughter. But that doesn’t make their first, shy kiss less significant, or the moment they’re torn apart less shocking.
The next time they see each other, it will be across the packed courtyard of a Nazi concentration camp – Felix in the prisoners’ ranks and Inge on the arm of her new, Nazi husband.
Inge never knew that her father’s ‘party loyalty’ would extend to marrying her off to a cruel Nazi officer twice her age, who sees his new wife as just another thing to control. She has always been a good girl – a silent wife – but when Inge sees Felix that day – beaten, bloody and brave – she knows she can’t stay silent any longer.
She must save him, whatever the cost, whatever her husband or even her country might do to her later…
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Books by Catherine Hokin
The Fortunate Ones
What Only We Know
A Letter From Catherine
Hello,
Firstly, and most importantly, a huge thanks for reading What Only We Know. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
If you want to keep up to date with my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. I can promise that your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
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I have been fascinated by the Wall for as long as I can remember. I was born the same year it went up. Like Karen, I took German at school for extra university points, visited Germany at seventeen and stood at the Helmstadt crossing point, mesmerised by the guns and the dogs and the way the border had sliced a community in half. And I vividly remember watching the Berlin Wall topple in 1989 and the crowds streaming through, barely able to breathe as I waited for the guards to open fire.
I am lucky enough to be able to spend a lot of time in Berlin and walk its streets, putting my characters into place. If you have an opportunity to go to the city, the open-air Berlin Wall Museum at Bernauer Straβe is somewhere I would urge you to visit — go through the gate into the graveyard the Wall sliced in half and you will really feel how brutal the dissection was. A visit to Ravensbrück will take you a little further from the centre, but it is also one you should make if you can: the juxtaposition of the camp’s site and the beautiful countryside it sits in is a sobering one. And please go to Karl Marx Allee and walk its length – trust me, your jaw will drop the way Karen’s did.
As you have probably guessed, my characters are very real to me, so thank you for spending your time with them – I hope you have found it worthwhile. If you have a moment, and if you enjoyed the book, a review would be much appreciated. I’d dearly love to hear what you thought, and reviews always help us writers to get our stories out to more people.
I hope too that you will let me share my next novel with you when it’s ready – I have a new set of characters waiting to meet you…
It’s always fabulous to hear from my readers – please feel free to get in touch directly on my Facebook page, or through Twitter, Goodreads or my website.
Thank you again for your time,
Catherine Hokin
www.catherinehokin.com
Acknowledgements
As every historical fiction writer does, I immerse myself in the timeframe I am writing about. I watch films, listen to music and read a huge number of books while writing my novels. There are some I could not have written What Only We Know without and I would like to single them out for a mention: If This is a Woman by Sarah Helm, a comprehensive and brilliantly written account of life inside Ravensbrück; The Last Jews in Berlin by Leonard Gross; Berlin at War by Roger Moorhouse; Nazi Chic by Irene Guenther which is the definitive fashion history for this era; The Wall Jumper by Peter Schneider and After the Wall by Jana Hensel for life in the DDR; A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz, one of the best accounts I have ever read about the impact of a mother’s suicide on a child.
I owe thanks to many people. Tina Betts and Kathryn Taussig, my wonderful agent and editor, for their insight, patience and hard work – this book has, again, been a great collaborative experience. To the whole team at Bookouture who got behind it, especially Kim Nash for her energy and passion. To Claire and Daniel my trusted beta readers for their never-failing love and support and excellent way of phrasing a critical kick when it’s needed, and to the wider writing community I’m lucky to be part of who cheer on every success. And, lastly but never least, to my husband Robert who I couldn’t do a step of this without. Much love to you all as always.
Published by Bookouture in 2020
An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www.bookouture.com
Copyright © Catherine Hokin, 2020
Catherine Hokin has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-83888-182-5
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
What Only We Know: A heart-wrenching and unforgettable World War 2 historical novel Page 35
