Alles, was wir nicht wussten

by Catherine Hokin, Angelika Lauriel (translator)

Als Karen Cartwright in ihr Elternhaus zurückkehrt, um ihren kranken Vater zu pflegen, geht sie mit schwerem Herzen. Das Haus trägt die schmerzhafte Erinnerung an den tragischen Tod ihrer Mutter Elizabeth und die von ihrem Vater streng gehüteten Geheimnisse darüber, wie sie zu Tode kam.

Beim Aufräumen entdeckt Karen ein altes Foto und den zerfledderten Liebesbrief eines Fremden an ihre Mutter, der nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg in Deutschland abgestempelt wurde.

Karen hatte ihr Leben lang Mühe, ihre schüchterne, ängstliche Mutter zu verstehen, aber jetzt wird ihr klar, dass in Elizabeth viel mehr steckte, als sie ahnte. Denn ihr Name war ursprünglich nicht Elizabeth, und ihre erschütternde Geschichte beginnt lange vor Karens Geburt.

Es ist das Jahr 1941 im von den Nazis besetzten Berlin, und eine junge Jüdin namens Liese wird gezwungen, einen gelben Stern zu tragen ...

Genres: Historical Fiction, World War II, Historical, Holocaust, Fiction, War, Family

432 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 21, 2020

About the author

Welcome to my author page and my novels, including the Hanni Winter series which is the newest of the pack. I write books set primarily in Berlin, covering the period from 1933 up to the fall of the Berlin Wall and dealing with the long shadows left by war. I am a story lover as well as a story writer and this period really fascinates me. Writing about it also means that I get to spend a lot of time in Berlin, which is my second favourite city - my favourite is Buenos Aires.
I am from the North of England but now live very happily in Glasgow with my American husband. If I'm not at my desk you'll most probably find me in the cinema, or just follow the sound of very loud music.
I'd love to hear from you and there are lots of ways you can find me, so jump in via my website https://www.catherinehokin.com/ or on my Cat Hokin FB page or on twitter @cathokin

Reviews

[Karren Sandercock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magarethe and Paul Elfmann owned one of Berlins most successful fashion houses; they ignored the unpleasantness of Hitler rising to popularity and the Nazi parties anti Jewish ideas. They dressed the highest ranking officer’s wives in their beautiful gowns; they held fashion parades and toasted their success with champagne. Their daughter Liese, was always in the background and her parents were too caught up fashion and designing beautiful dresses to be bothered raising a child and she’s now a teenager. They ignored what was going on around them and of course they lost their house, their money was seized and business closed. Liese had to take care of her parents who had no idea how to survive living in a grungy ghetto apartment and they finally discovered how much they needed her.

Forty years later, Karen Cartwright is called home to nurse her ailing father Andrew, she and her father have never been close. Karen’s mother Elizabeth passed away years ago, after the loss of her mother Karen found her father to be distant and cold. Once it’s decided that Andrew can’t live alone at home anymore and he must sell his house to pay for the nursing home. Karen has the task of emptying her father’s house, while going through his things she remembers her mother’s jewelry box and starts looking for it. Once she finds it she discovers an old photograph and a stranger’s tattered love letter to her mother and it was posted from post war Germany. As a young girl Karen struggled to understand why her mother spent a lot of time in bed, she had no friends, no relatives and she always seemed scared. Karen assumed the person her mother was scared of was her father Andrew and when her mother hurt herself Karen blamed her father for her mother’s death.

Karen had no idea when you dig up the past, do it gently with a care for the living and that’s exactly what happened. What Only We Know has a dual timeline that goes between Berlin during WW II, England and Berlin in the 1990’s. As Karen delves into her mother’s past, she discovers many secrets, including her mothers real name and her father Andrew was not at all the villain that she has always thought he was and was in fact her mother’s savior.
Thanks to NetGalley, Catherine Hokin for my digital copy of her new book, all opinions expressed in this review are my own and I gave the book four stars. I have shared my review on Goodreads, NetGalley, Australian Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Twitter and my blog. https://karrenreadsbooks.blogspot.com/

[Louise Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Berlin 1936: Margarethe, Paul and their daughter Liese run a top fashion house making clothing for wealthy women. They are Jewish. When circumstances start to change around them, the family chose to ignore them. They end up loosing everything. They have to live in a ghetto. But one night Liese's parents are taken away.

Aldershot, England 1971: kaden is just eleven years old when her mother drowned. Now Karen is sixteen. She decides to take a look in her mothers jewelry box. She is shocked to find her mothers passport with a different name on it along with some kind of document. Karen's relationship with her father is not a good one but she decides to confront him with what shes just found. But her father refuses to answer her questions.

This sstory flips back and forth throughh the two timelines. Karen delves into her mother's past. She uncovers secrets and learns her father isn't the man she thought he was either. I did find this book hard to get into but please stick with it as you won't be disappointed. This is an emotional read. The characters are believable and true to the era. I really enjoyed this novel.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Catherine Hokin for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Maja - BibliophiliaDK ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

HOLOCAUST FICTION THAT'S ABOUT SO MUCH MORE

There are about a myriad (give or take) books out there that chronicle the horrors of the Holocaust. What I truly liked about this book was that it didn't do that - it told the story of the tolls of the Holocaust- of not believing it would ever get to that, of living with the aftermath in the Cold War years. This is as much about mental health as it is about history.

"Our glorious new leaders don't care much for Jews and they're getting very skilled at spotting us."
- Michael

👍 WHAT I LIKED 👍

Effects: Books like The Tattooist of Auschwitz, We Were the Lucky Ones and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas show the horrors that people lived through during the Holocaust, the torture, the fear and the inhumanity. What I really liked about this book is that the Holocaust is more of an unseen, visceral horror that isn't made explicit in so many words. This book is more about the effects of the Holocaust on the psyche and mental health for those that lived through it. It was a very interesting take.

"It was as if no one wanted her [her mother] remembered except Karen, who was terrified to forget."

Parallel timelines: This book has dual timelines of the 1930's and 1940's on the one hand and the 1970's and 1980's on the other. In each timeline we follow a woman, who has been impacted by the Holocaust - and we learn about their relationship with one another. I am not usually one for parallel timelimes (unless it's written by the queen of parallel timelines, Gill Paul) but here I really enjoyed seeing the timelines slowly come together and the stories intertwine. It was very well done.

Liese: Liese is our main character from the 30's and 40's and I was very impressed by her character and her arc throughout the book. She felt like a very realistic character who went through a great deal - from spoiled daughter, to strong mother and finally broken woman. She was character I could easily like because I felt like she was real.

Mental health: The Holocaust is about so much more than just the human horrors - it's about living with those horrors afterwards. The characters in this book each have their own way of dealing with what they went through during those years, and I found that very interesting to read about.

👎 WHAT I DISLIKED 👎

Karen: Our main character from the 70's and 80's did not impress me. As much as I liked Liese's arc I disliked Karen's. I didn't feel like she made any progress throughout the book, she had a way of dealing with things that I just couldn't connect with and I found her very unlikable.

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

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[DJ Sakata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite Quotes:

Michael had a girlfriend, a cigarette-smoking redhead he slobbered over like she was carved out of candy.

I have one more piece of advice, if you can bear to hear it. When you dig up the past, do it gently. With a care for the living.

There wasn’t a sound from the adjoining room, or from the bed where Lottie lay spread-eagled like a starfish. There wasn’t a sound from the streets outside. The world was as silent as if it had stopped turning.

‘Everyone in the camp is dying. If you’re lucky, you get to do it under your own steam.’ The owner of the voice was too thin to claim a discernible age or a gender; only the filthy dress marked her out as a woman. ‘Come in – don’t be shy. Press yourself close and choose your poison: TB, cholera, dysentery – we’ve got the whole set.’

It was as if she had wandered into Hell while its demons were sated and napping after an orgy of violence. She felt the stillness like a pause: it was filled with tension, time suspended while the next madness took shape.

We were brought together by a place. Now we need different places. To find our stories in. To be remembered in.


My Review:

This was my first experience in reading this author and I was quickly absorbed and duly impressed with this epic saga. Catherine Hokin unwinds quite a shrewdly paced and riveting tale of a curiously enticing mystery bound in tragedy that spanned several timelines and countries with a host of maddeningly annoying yet compelling characters and several intriguing yet devastating storylines that squeezed my cold heart and maintained my rapt attention. Her thoughtful writing was breathtakingly descriptive and conjured sharp visuals and keenly observant insights that hit all the feels with her deeply perceptive and sneakily emotive arrangements of words.

I was turned inside out yet completely invested and unwilling to put my Kindle down while compelled to read late into the night until my eyes went on strike and closed on their own. All the dispirited threads were expertly and cunningly woven together in a manner I never saw coming and ended with a highly satisfying conclusion that left me feeling surprisingly buoyant despite all the prior turmoil. Ms. Hokin has a new fangirl.

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

**Thank you to Netgalley for honoring my request for this book, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.**

If I could give this book more than a five-star rating, I surely would! It is absolutely the best WW2 historical fiction I’ve read in a long time! That’s saying something, because the WW2 era is my favorite period to read about,so I devour a lot of books in that time setting. I started What Only We Know as soon as it downloaded on my Kindle, and finished it one day because I couldn’t bear to put it down. Throughout the day I kept reading excerpts aloud to my husband and got him interested, also.
I had a serious case of “book hangover” upon finishing (my term for being too overwhelmed with feeling to begin another book right away).
Sometimes when a book moves me this much, it’s actually difficult to write a review that I feel does it justice. It was a very heart-wrenching story, as any book about the Holocaust tends to be. Since it begins in Germany in the early days of Hitler’s regime, the reader can feel the tension build as the rules intended to “dehumanize” the Jews become increasingly more stringent. In retrospect, I wanted to shake Liese’s parents and yell, “Please, wake up and leave before it’s too late!”
The period of the Cold War and the Berlin Wall was also a large part of this book. The author does a wonderful job of moving smoothly between the two different time settings. Her rich details had me wanting to see the places for myself, especially after reading her historical notes at the end.
From page one, this book kept me absolutely riveted. I already have it in my Amazon cart, ready to purchase in print on the release date of May 27th. My husband wants to read it, and I’ll be recommending it to friends who are history buffs like me.
Thank you, Catherine, for writing this wonderful book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC. I have a new favorite author now!

[Yvonne G · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Hold On To Hope“

I don’t know about “Hold On To Hope”, but this was definitely a case of “Hold On To Your Hankie”!

Now I am not generally given to showing much emotion and I certainly don’t become overcome by books I read, especially not fiction. However, this one tugged at my heartstrings from the very first page – the very first sentence even – and it didn’t let me go until the final finger swipe of my kindle on the last page!

If this had been a film, which is not at all implausible, it would have been one I would have watched alone, as it is not my husband’s cup of tea at all, and I would have been blubbing like a baby for most of the way through – not a dry eye in the house!

There were oh! so many great quotes I could have shared from the book’s pages, however, any more than I have featured would begin amounting to some serious spoilers, so you’ll just have to discover them for yourself.

This book had just about everything I look for in a good read. A beginning which drew me in and intrigued me; an ending which although maybe a little typecast, was the only suitable conclusion from my point of view; and a storyline which was absorbing and held me in thrall throughout. Some great plot building and character development, just about rounded off the package.

Having recently recognised the 75th Anniversary of VE Day, this well researched and constructed storyline was particularly poignant in its intensity and profoundly touching. The trauma of being born famously Jewish in a Germany where war is only a hairsbreadth away, is just the beginning of this stunning wartime novel, which offers up snapshots taken through the intervening years, as it heads towards its tumultuous modern day conclusion. Told predominantly in two separate timelines, which intersect from time to time, I enjoyed this engaging style of writing, which was well laid out and straightforward to follow, although I did need to make date notes as I went along, just to make sure I was on top of the intertwining switches.

I could sense the urgency in the storyline, however Catherine took her time over setting the scene, then describing it in rich detail, making it an inclusive and very visual journey for the reader. Rare moments of spontaneous joy shine through in what is an otherwise uncomfortable, heart-breaking piece of social history, told and heard so many times over I’m sure, but for me, never so personally as through the eyes of this small group of individuals, who some 70 odd years on, are still reliving events, trying to make sense of, and coming to terms with, their personal traumas and memories. All still searching for a sense of belonging and most of all, closure and forgiveness for events which were always so much beyond their control.

The two main female protagonists, Liese and Karen, are each from either side of time divide, which gave me a hint as to where the storyline might be heading, but not what either they, nor I, might have to confront and endure along the way. Both women are strong and head-strong, yet weak, in almost equal measure. Both willing to confront their fears, but both unwilling and unable to reach out for the help which may mean that their struggles are not so lonely and for one of them, so final.

Karen in particular, feels that she has nothing left to lose by digging into an unspoken past which has silently dominated her life for so long. Unfortunately, she has long gone past the time of treading carefully and taking other people’s feelings into account, a hard lesson, which once learned, will soften the edges of her thinking and open her eyes to what was probably in front of her the whole time.

Liese’s story is the most difficult to even imagine, let alone put into words. Catherine’s skill in committing to words, a visual picture of her total and utter devastation and desolation, whilst still maintaining that basic need we all have for survival is emotionally draining to read. Sometimes though, I just wanted to shake her out of her stupor and remind her of the good things she still had to focus on in her life, which ultimately were not enough to assuage her guilt and the depths of despair to which her life had sunk, totally out of her control.

The two male protagonists, Michael and Andrew are both from the same side of the timeline, extremely complex characters, with totally opposing beliefs, both politically and personally. Each is as strong-willed and stubborn as the other, although Michael wears his heart on his sleeve and is very vocal and proactive when he believes in something with enough conviction. Whilst Andrew is equally recalcitrant, but brooding and silent for the most part.

Oh my goodness! Thanks to Catherine’s skilled narrative and dialogue, I found myself actually imagining this cast of characters as real people!

You really do just need to go and read the story for yourself!

[Fiction Addition Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story told between two time lines - WW2 in Berlin and present time in the UK.
Karen Cartwright is struggling to come to terms in nursing her fathers failing health. They have never been close and the small relationship they had grew further apart when her mother Elizabeth passed away previous years ago.
As Karen empties the house she stumbles across a jewellery box and finds hidden a photograph alongside a love letter addressed from Germany.
Karen never had a normal childhood growing up she would often see her mother spending days at a time in bed and very sad. Why was this? was it because of her strict father?
Quite quickly she discovers that Elizabeth is not her mother real name and that her mothers death was not as it appeared to be. She sets upon a journey to Berlin and discovers that Elizabeth was part of the Elfmann fashion empire that her Grand parents had ran. They had dressed the highest ranking Nazi officers and their wives but were foolish as the war drew closer around them them in 1938. When the war broke, they lost their house, their money was seized and the business closed. Elizabeth and her family had to survive living in the ghetto apartment and we see how her world crashes when her daughter is born and they are forced to wear 'that yellow star'.
The beginning was slow and felt a little disjointed but the pace picked up and turned into a real page turner.
I enjoyed the character development especially during the war era and understood how the mental health issue would have been so dominant when the secret was released. I literally cried out loud.
Without spoiling giving it away - it was simply unthinkable how the main characters coped. But we know they did and life went on for some.
I did enjoy overall, but lower star ratings here because I think Catherine Hokin lost her way at the beginning with the story telling.

Thank you for the Advanced copy.

[StinaStaffymum · Rating 4 out of 5]

★★★★ 4.5 stars

"I have one more piece of advice, if you can bear to hear it. When you dig up the past, do it gently. With a care for the living."

This story certainly isn't at all what I expected. It was so much more! Having read Catherine Hokin's historical debut with "The Fortunate Ones" which was incredibly beautiful as well as heartbreaking, I was eager to delve into WHAT ONLY WE KNOW. And believe me, it was just as beautiful and just as heartbreaking. A dual timeline novel the story, told two separate voices throughout, will consume you as if you had lived through it.

Hove, England, 1971: She steps into the water, the shingles crunching under her feet, until the ground becomes softer into sand and the ripples lap around her ankles. The sun would soon be up, floating on the horizon - it will be a beautiful day. But today, this is it. Her day has come. As she steps knee-deep...chest-deep...feet on tiptoes as the waves hug her shoulders pulling her deeper and deeper. Her eyelids drop. The seagulls fall silent. And there is nothing in her ears but the gurgle of Lottie's giggle. She has found her at last. Her parting thoughts are that he will read what she has written and will do what she asked. It was time.

Berlin 1936: Sixteen year old Leise Elfmann is the only child of Paul and Margarethe and heir to the Hause Elfmann fashion salon where the family design and make clothing for the wealthy women of Berlin and beyond. Their designs are highly sought after and their status is firmly entrenched within distinguished German social circles. But that all changes with the rising of the new National Socialist Party and their dogmatic leader, Hitler. For the Elfmanns are Jewish...albeit non-practising, but Jewish all the same.

Little by little, Jews were stripped of their status right down to the last piece of their dignity. They were unable to attend school, go to work, run a business, own a property...to being restricted to curfews, wearing yellow stars emblazoned on their clothing, living in the squalor of the ghetto before being "deported" which was just another word for sending them to death camps. Some survived, most did not. But those that did, were irrevocably changed by their hellish experiences.

Leise's parents refused to listen to her pleas and those of their closest friend Otto or his son Michael, and continued to operate their business as if the new rules did not apply to them. They were royalty in German society! They dressed the wealthiest people...including Nazi wives. They were completely safe from being singled out. Until they weren't. And then they lost everything.

By 1939 they were shuffled into a Jewish ghetto and Leise sent them out to work while she stayed at home and cared for her baby daughter, Lotte. When one day her parents returned home late with letters telling them to report the following day for deportation, Leise bid them goodbye as she left the ghetto with Michael who worked for the German resistance and organised a litany of safe houses for her and Lotte to stay in, moving on regularly so as to not raise suspicion as to her being a Jew. But one day when Michael was to take them to their final safe house in the country, he had failed to arrive. And in his place were Nazi soldiers who threw Leise and Lotte into a truck and then a train bound for Ravensbruck concentration camp.

And it was there that Leise's life changed forever.

Aldershot, England, 1978: Eighteen year old Karen Cartwright was devastated when her mother Elizabeth took her own life seven years ago when she was just 11. Since then, the gap between her and her father Andrew has grown wider and wider, as she has grown angrier and angrier at him for refusing to tell her anything about her mother or why she took her life. Growing up, Karen's mother was something of an enigma. She rarely spent any time with her daughter or did anything together as a family, claiming one of her headaches and then sleeping for days on end. She would often recall her father holding her mother in a way she thought was coercive and controlling and so she therefore blamed him for her death.

It is then she ponders as where her mother's jewellery box had gone to. It always sat on her bedside table, despite her mother never wearing anything that was in it. So Karen decided to search her father's room for it...and she found it, hidden on the top shelf right at the back of her father's wardrobe. Whilst reminiscing over the pieces locked away inside, the felt lining at the bottom came away, revealing just one of her mother's hidden secrets. Her mother's passport which held a different name and another document in German which appeared to be a marriage certificate dated 1947. She confronted her father with these documents but beyond confessing that her mother was German, her father refused to give her anything else.

So when her German class announced they were travelling to Berlin, Karen jump at the opportunity to see the city in which her mother once lived and hoped to find some answers there. But the Germany of 1978 was a different Germany to that during and after the war. Now the country was divided into East and West by a wall that now separated them...and never the twain shall meet. All she had was the address to a place her mother once worked as a seamstress and upon finding it, was to learn that her mother was actually Jewish...and from the East. It seems now she has more questions than answers. But still her father refused to give up her mother's secrets.

Eleven years later in 1989, Karen's father has suffered a massive heart attack and doctors advise that his best option would be assisted living. Her father, ever the organised military man that he was, had planned for such an occasion right down to his preferred care home. So while he was in hospital recuperating, Karen set to packing up the house he shared with her mother for 40 years. In doing so, she comes across a photo of her parents' wedding with a mysterious man standing behind them, a look of pure adoration in his eyes as he gazed upon her mother, and a postcard dated 1953 with an address for a man named Michael. Karen had no idea who this man was or how he was related to her mother but she had a piece of a puzzle she was determined to solve once and for all. She could not question her father, as the mere mention of her discovery sent him into all sorts of distress, so she was advised not to visit him. But she rang the hospital daily for reports on her father's progress despite her confused feelings for the man.

So with nothing but the photograph and the postcard's address, she sets off to Berlin, just as the East and the West are about to be reunified, to find out the answers she had been seeking for almost 20 years, determined to find them at last. But just as the Iron Curtain falls, so will the secrets of the past...and nothing will prepare Karen for what she is about to discover about her mother...or her father.

WOW! That is all I can say. WHAT ONLY WE KNOW is a story that takes you through a range of emotions from grief to anger to heartbreak to love and so much more. We are taken through dual timelines through the eyes of two women - Liese and Karen - whose stories are both painful and heartbreaking. The chapters alternate with the voices through each timeline.

Karen's story is told from 1971 through to 1990 in both England and Germany. From a young girl who lost her mother at a young age through to a confused woman at the age of 29, she feels she has nothing left to lose by digging into the past. Her father won't give her the answers to her questions so therefore she must seek them herself. But at what cost to others? I especially love the words given to Karen by the priest in the church where her parents were married and which I opened this review with that I feel says it perfectly:

"I have one more piece of advice, if you can bear to hear it. When you dig up the past, do it gently. With a care for the living."

But as the reader, we feel her pain. She never really knew her mother who always seemed just out of her reach...always unwell, always sad, always longing for something else. And after she died, her father stubbornly refuses to give her any answers or enlighten her as to who her mother really was. To Karen, she was an enigma. And that is incredibly sad. To have missed out on the love and warmth of a mother's love.

And there is Liese's story. Her's is the most difficult to imagine, let alone put into words. The utter devastation of her hellish experience could be felt within every word on every page that will have the reader reaching for the tissues as we cry along with the broken but stoic Liese. By the time she was 23, she had lost everything but her life...and even that she felt was not worth much. She may have survived the camp but she wanted to die. And she spent the next two and a half decades wanting to die. What was there to live for? By 1947, she had met and married British soldier Andrew Cartwright and moved to England to begin a new life...but how could she escape, let alone forget, the old one? My gosh, her story was at times brutal and difficult to read and I found myself in tears at the horror through which people like Liese had to endure at the hands of the Nazis. But although I have read many WW2 stories, including those of the Jew's plight in Germany and beyond, Liese's story is different and even more heartbreaking...if that is at all possible.

I cannot express how completely breathtaking WHAT ONLY WE KNOW is. You cannot help but be touched by Liese and Karen's stories...and you may find yourself bereft once they have gone.

I have just two complaints with the book. The first being that the beginning was slow and incredibly drawn out. I can see why it was included, but I felt it may have also sufficed as a backstory reminisced on and reiterated at a later time, possibly as war broke out. I felt at times like giving up it was that slow...but I'm glad I stuck it out and I urge you to do the same. I guarantee that it WILL be worth it. My other gripe is the loooong and drawn out chapters. Again, I can see why they were, as alternating between the two narratives, but I really loathe long chapters and I find that they only serve to make the story even more drawn out. Had the chapters been shorter, I'm sure my first issue would have been null and void as it wouldn't have seemed so drawn out to begin with. If that makes any sense. However, as I said, I am glad I did stick with it because the story really IS WORTH it.

If you love historical fiction sagas, particularly WW2 fiction, then you will love WHAT ONLY WE KNOW. It is heartwarming as well as heartbreaking as we delve into both Liese and Karen's stories and uncover their secrets.

"We were brought together by a place. Now we need different places. To find our stories in. To be remembered in."

I would like to thank #CatherineHokin, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #WhatOnlyWeKnow in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

As well as being a book geek, I am also a history nerd. Even better is finding a book that ticks both the book and the history boxes. 'What Only We Know' certainly ticked both boxes. I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'What Only We Know' but more about that in a bit.
This book appealed to me because part of the story is set in 1930s Berlin. I studied German and Modern German History at university. Whilst living in Germany as part of my course, I had a tutor who had first hand experience of the Nazi Regime and I always found his lectures fascinating. I have also been to Berlin a couple of times and went on a tour of the main historical sites. I would say I know a fair bit about the Nazis but reading books such as 'What Only We Knew' help to bring the history alive.
It didn't take me long to get into this book. In fact after the first few chapters, I knew that I was going to thoroughly enjoy 'What Only We Know' and that I would find it increasingly difficult to put this book to one side for any length of time. This wasn't a book that I could binge read in one long reading binge. The story affected me emotionally and so I was able to read the story in chunks and then I would need a little while to reflect on what I had read, before carrying on to the next chunk of the story. The pages turned increasingly quickly as my desperation to find out how the story concluded grew and grew. I soon got to the end of the book. I can honestly say that a book hasn't affected me emotionally as much as this one did in a long time. I was gripped by this beautifully told story.
'What Only We Know' is beautifully and compassionately written. The author has clearly done a lot of research into what happened in 1930s Berlin and this shines through in her writing. The story is told from two different periods of time. One being the present day and the other being 1930s Germany. This way of telling the tale works really well and the story flows seamlessly. I loved the way in which Catherine's brilliantly vivid and realistic storytelling brought history alive as it were. Had I closed my eyes, it would have been easy for me to imagine 1930s Germany going on around me.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'What Only We Know' and I would recommend it to other readers and especially to fans of historical fiction. I will be reading more of Catherine's work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

What Only We Know by Catherine Hokin is a marvellous heart-breaking dual timeline novel that will consume you as you ‘live’ through the action.
The novel is set in Germany, mainly Berlin, in 1936-1947, and in England in 1971-1990. Chapters alternate, as do the voices through whom the story is told.
The horrors of life for Jewish people in Nazi Germany builds from ripples in 1936 to full blown horrors. Cruelty knows no bounds. One scene in particular affected me deeply as it played out before my eyes.
World War II effected lives and continued to effect lives for years later. A defining moment firmly grounded a character, stuck forever, suspended in a moment in time. No amount of love or care could move the character on.
The lives of the parents have a ripple effect on their children. Ghosts of the past hover in the present.
Catherine Hokin has constructed a marvellous novel with realistic, believable characters who were likable. My heart went out to lives damaged by experiences of war.
I found it hard to witness those who performed horrendous acts of terror and cruelty live perfectly normal lives after the war.
The novel is about learning to understand how experiences shape us and direct our steps. It is about learning to love and realising why certain actions were done.
Catherine Hokin is a new author to me and I want to read everything she has ever written! What Only We Know consumed me as I read. I feel bereft now it is ended.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. WWII story that goes back and forth between Present and past. Kept my attention but just wasn’t as page turning as so many others.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book hard to get into at the start, but by the end I was needing to know what happened. I enjoyed the two separate but entwined story lines.
I liked the main characters but lieses parent drive me to madness!!!!
It was a well written book overall, just a little hard to get into at the start

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story wasn't at all what I expected. I found it slow and it was uncomfortable reading through both timelines. It may be a great read for some but unfortunately not for me.

[Tava Foster · Rating 2 out of 5]

too much prose

I skimmed the majority of this book. It went on and on and on, the story drug out with too much prose and the time jumps were just dreadful.

[Shirley McAllister · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can one ever outlive their past?

This is two stories in one. It is the story of Liese Elfman and her family in Germany leading up to and during the Nazi rise to power under Hitler. The Elfman's were into the fashion business and even though they were Jewish they somehow felt they would be okay with the Nazi's because they were famous in the fashion world. They refused to head the warning signs until it was too late and they lost everything. Leise was only a young woman but she then had to look after her parents who had no idea how to live under Nazi rule. Michael her friend helped them until one day when the soldiers came and they were trapped.

The second story is that of Karen Cartwright. When Karen was eleven her mother died and although she is now a successful architect she never got over the death of her mother. When her father falls ill she comes home to care for him. While going through some papers she finds a photo and a letter. She is determined to find out what it means and her mother's history. Her father refuses to talk of her mother before they were married and she wants to know more.

She finds that sometimes it is harder to learn about the past than to let it be. It does however bring her and her father closer together once she learns the truth.

The book is about love, death, the horrible things the Nazi's did to the Jewish people during that time period and how many of them never got over the cruelty inflicted on them and were unable to live a productive life afterwards. Survivor guilt, the unfairness of the trials for the Nazi criminals, and the still felt anti semantic feeling in Germany even after the war was lost. The loss of loved ones, sometimes whole families was such that many could not bear it.

This book is also about love, forgiveness and letting go of the past and living and loving again.
I couldn't put this book down once I got into it, although it did start off a bit slow in spots. It was a good read although a sad and tragic one. I would recommend it.

Thanks to Catherine Hokin, Bookouture, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy in return for an honest review.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book after seeing it advertised on Kindle as "one of the best historical fiction novels I ever read." I thought, "We'll see." Not only do I read a lot of historical fiction, but I read a lot of WWII novels. This book lived up to the hype. The story really drew me in, and though I felt the tension of the time, and it the atrocities of the Nazis weren't hidden - the author didn't engage in what I've seen described as "trauma porn." It's hard to describe this book without giving away the element of surprise in the story - but I'll try. It's told by two people, Karen and her mother Liese. Karen grew up in England, never knowing that her mother (who died when she was a child) was German. So you get England in the 1960's - the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Liese's story during WWII. Very strongly recommend, especially if you like historical fiction.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first book by Catherine Hokin is a complete success! I couldn't put it down. And thankfully, I have two other novels by her sitting on my shelf. In this historical fiction, Margarethe, Paul and their daughter Liese run a very successful top fashion house in Berlin that makes clothing for wealthy women. They are Jewish and they become victims to the hatred and violence quickly escalating towards Jewish people in 1930s Germany. It is told in two timelines. One is set in the past, which focuses on the family losing everything and the horrors they are subjected to, including the concentration camps. The story mainly revolves around Liese during that period and you get glimpses of Liese's journey from childhood to adulthood. The other timeline focuses on the present and it revolves around Karen Cartwright, daughter of Liese and Andrew, who tries to piece together her mother and father's pasts and the secrets they harbored. She also tries to understand what led to her mother's tragic death when she was a young child. And just like with Liese, you get glimpses into Karen's journey from childhood on. This is a beautifully and compassionately written story, and you can clearly see how much effort the author has put into it. I think what I liked best about it is that it tackled topics like PTSD and depression, the effects that were caused by the brutality and trauma of this war. Catherine Hokin has a new fan in me and I can't wait to read more of her books!

[Lee Husemann · Rating 5 out of 5]

The more I read of this book, the more I had to read! Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres and this did not disappoint. This story is done in a then and now format with the story beginning in Berlin in September 1936. Margarethe and Paul Elfmann ,along with their 16-year-old daughter Liese, run a top fashion house making apparel for wealthy women. The Elfmanns are Jewish and as changes begin to happen, the Elfmanns choose to ignore the changes until they lose their business, their home and their money. They are forced to live in a ghetto with Liese looking after them until that night when they hear footsteps in the hallway and a knock on the door with Liese's parents being taken away. Fast forward to Aldershot, England September 1971 where 11-year-old Karen is having a hard time accepting the drowning death of her mother, beginning a new school and living with her cold military father. When Karen is 16, she decides to look through her mother's jewelry box and discovers a passport with her mother's picture and a different name. She also finds another document that she cannot figure out. When she confronts her father, he refuses to answer her questions which further divides them. The story goes back and forth from Berlin to Aldershot and ends in Berlin September 2001. What a fantastic story this is touching just about every emotion there is. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this heart-wrenching story in exchange for an honest review. This is a very well-written and well-researched book.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 stelle e mezzo

Appena chiuso il kindle sono andata a cercare altre opere dell'autrice, tanto sono stata fagocitata dallo stile e dall'intensità della trama. Non è la prima lettura che faccio sul tema, ma ammetto che a volte vorrei solo chiudere gli occhi e non sapere più nulla, tanto fa male. In questo caso, come sempre ha fatto male leggere della crudeltà di quel grande periodo oscuro, ma nello stesso tempo non riuscivo a posare il kindle. Completamente rapita. Anche se gli occhi si chiudevano volevo sapere come si sarebbe conclusa la storia di Leise.
Forse l'inizio è un po' lento, ma si riscatta subito.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We need places,. To find our stories in. To be remembered in.” It’s been awhile for me to cry while reading a book. Be forewarned there will be some very heart wrenching parts. I do plan to read more from this author. I was engaged from the first page.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I’ve given 4 stars due to an initial slow start and sometimes confusing storylines but this is such a good book! I cried at the end due to the overwhelming feelings it gives as I really felt engaged in the characters’ stories. Definitely recommend!

[Nancy Boley]

Absolutely amazing and heartbreaking.

[Renita D'Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart breaking. Poignant. Thought provoking. Devastatingly beautiful.

[Molly Chenault · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars, enjoyed this one!

[Alexis Hauge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be one of my favorite reads yet. It had a dual timeline which was really engaging. Connecting the plots was one of my favorite parts of the book. If ur a crier be ready to cry.

[Ally Carmichael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by this book!
I have not heard much about it but it's so good.
It's a little slow to start and the pacing/jumps in time threw me off a little but once I got into the story I couldn't stop listening to it.

[Kristy Woodwyk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow and a little repetitive and boring.

[Emma Crowley · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Only We Know is the second book to be published this year from Catherine Hokin following The Fortunate Ones which was published in January. Again as with her previous book, for the first half of this new story I felt it was only an OK read but then came that one pivotal moment/scene that transformed the story from average to fantastic. You quickly come to appreciate the many layers involved packed full of emotion, sacrifice, loss and pain that transcend the later half of the book. Yes there is a really slow start and I know several weeks prior to publication that the beginning was redrafted slightly to make it feel less slow in its pace so that we could get to the action more quickly but still I think this problem persisted and it was the same with her first book.

The beginning felt sluggish and disjointed and I couldn't see how connections would start to become apparent and as it was a dual timeline story I was quite worried that the modern times began in 1971. I'm not used to this, I like a dual time line story set in the very present day that then reverts back to the past. In this instance I thought the two timelines were too close together. There wasn't much separating them in terms of years and this needs to happen in order to get a real sense of mystery and of characters in the present delving far back to a time so very different from the one they live in now in order to unravel secrets and puzzles that have been hidden for many years. Thankfully the author moved the story forward and brought us up to the 1990's and when this did happen I could see the necessity for starting in 1971 and following Karen from childhood into adulthood as one event significantly shaped the rest of her life. It may sound like I didn't enjoy this book at all but that couldn't be further from the truth. Aside from what I have mentioned up above and I felt the necessity to do so because I think other readers will feel the same and I have noticed it mentioned in some other early reviews of this book, this story is a remarkable, heartbreaking one and at the halfway point because of one particular scene I became completely invested in it right until the very end.

The book opens with a brief and mysterious prologue set in July 1971. The reader can tell a woman is at breaking point and that her divisive actions will form the main focus for the remainder of the story that will unfold. Something has happened that has made her deeply unhappy and anxious and the guilt is eating away at her. We then move forward to September of that year as Karen aged 11 faces the realities that her mother is dead and she must try and come to terms with the new world presented to her. Her father Andrew is cold and standoffish and because he is in the army he adheres to strict rules and regulations that spill forth into his home life. He was not open, warm and loving like a father should be especially in the wake of his daughter losing her mother.

But you can tell that things were never truly normal for this family and that the loss of her mother will have a profound and lasting impact on Karen. Things that she took for granted as she was growing up as to how her mother acted, behaved and mothered her over time she will begin to question these. Andrew eradicates all signs of his wife and is determined life will continue on but he forms no connection with Karen. Nor does he offer her the solace and comfort and also answers that she so desperately craves. Over the course of the book we move forward in Karen's life at various intervals, we come back to her story in between reading that of Liese's. Some sections regarding Karen I felt were necessary whereas others felt surplus to requirements and did nothing to move the story further forwards. It's only when we reach the point that Andrew has a heart attack and becomes seriously ill as a result that Karen's story really picks up and she soon discovers there are many layers to her life and her past that are there waiting to be uncovered.

Many years ago having found a picture and passport details of her mother whom she knew as Elizabeth set forth a chain of thoughts and ideas but at that time Karen never had the true compulsion to act on them but now as she clears out her fathers house she discovers a letter written to her mother and it presents questions she knows she has to find the answers to. What she thought of as fact from her childhood may all be fiction and if she can travel to Germany and seek what has eluded her in relation to the reason for her mother's death and why her father acts the way he does as in being so reticent maybe then Karen herself can come to terms with everything. She will be able to alter the course of her future in order to make it more positive.

Karen wasn't the nicest of characters in the beginning. I felt she was very whingey and a bit all about herself. She was someone who needed to open her eyes to the wider world and look at the clues all around her. That in fact her parents may have had an important role to play in the history of the world and what they went through in turn deeply affected how they acted in the present. I thought Karen's story really improved when she went to Berlin and met Markus.

Things started to come full circle and I loved how the author told us about the divide between West and East and how the establishing of the Berlin Wall had such an impact on the citizens especially after having endured so much during the war. We don't get to read about the later history of Germany, normally everything focuses on the war years so this was interesting and informative and helped provide a well balanced view to the overall story. I did think the romance element was a little bit too obvious and maybe just put in there because sure that has to be part of a book as well. It would have been fine without it and it felt a bit forced, rushed and unnatural and I didn’t feel this burning desire between the pair. I'd love an author not to feel the need to include this in every book and instead let the historical elements stand for themselves and do the talking.

For me without doubt, Liese's story were the strongest sections of the book. Again it started slow but built to a crescendo of epic proportions that will leave you heartbroken and aghast but filled with nothing but admiration for a young girl who went from the daughter of one of the top fashion houses in Berlin to the lowest of the low in Hitler's quest to rid the world of Jews. Liese was a remarkable character who time and time again showed her worth, her strength, courage, determination and the endless love and devotion she had for someone she had so dear to her heart forever and always. When we first meet Liese times are still good for her family. Her parents Paul and Margarethe are the toast of Berlin society because of the fashion house they run with help from Otto. But this pair are truly caught up in themselves and really don't have the right to call themselves parents. Liese is completely neglected emotionally and she spends her time with Michael Otto's son who has joined the KPD, a group set up to oppose Hitler and all he is trying to enforce. Michael goes on to play a crucial role throughout the book and his role in the resistance is to be admired for the danger he places himself in and the sacrifices he makes and the devotion he shows to Liese time and time again.

Paul and Margarethe were characters who I wanted to slap in the face and as the situation with the Nazi's worsened and their home life deteriorated the couple just proved how worthless they were as their business crumbled around them and a target was placed on the family's backs because they were Jewish. We move forward in time every few chapters and we can see their fall from grace and it is Liese who now steps up to the forefront and tries to make the best of a horrific situation as they are confined to two rooms in a less than desirable area and more and more laws are being introduced with tighter and tighter food restrictions also.

I'm glad no details were spared as what Liese endures for the remainder of the novel was horrific. How she remained so stoic and never gave in to the taunts and the things that she actually wanted to do I will never know. For what befalls her is abhorrent, heinous, gruesome and earth shattering. At times I questioned how could the characters cope and keep going on as things just kept getting worse and worse and in particular the later half concerning Liese broke me in two. It was detailed and grim but it needed to be to make such a powerful impact. Throughout my reading of this book I was constantly questioning would there be a big reveal or a moment where I would be left open mouthed with shock and yes there was and it truly helped me make sense of the entire story and I realised that the author had blended imagination with historical fact to an incredible level.

Do bear with What Only We Know because to do so proves very fruitful and rewarding. That one scene will completely change your attitudes towards the story and any opinions you may have formed of it. From the midway point Catherine Hokin excels at telling a story that will completely wrench you in two and leave you heartbroken and devastated but at the same time a small bit of hope remains as one character finds redemption and acceptance. OK it won't grab your attention from the immediate start and I was worried I wouldn't like it as much as her previous book but to abandon it would be completely unfair as persistence does pay off as you are taken on an exhilarating journey full of strength, conviction, empowerment and yes horror, sadness, loss and devastation but overall the author really pulled it off and confirmed for me that if the issues with the beginning of her books could be sorted that she will truly catapult herself to the top of the historical fiction genre and all of her books will become impossible to stop reading once you pick them up.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read a lot of historical fiction as it’s one of my favourites genres and What Only We Know definitely is up there! It is set across the 1970s and WW2. It follows the stories of 1970s Karen, a teen and adult across the book as she discovers more about her mother’s tragic death. After a school trip to Berlin, she is left with more questions than answers. Her strained relationship with her father pushes her into returning to Berlin during another historically significant time and this time, she isn’t leaving with answers.
I found Karen to be unlikeable and childish but I could understand her persistence to discover more about her mother’s early life.
Overall, a strong 4 stars!

[Helen H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely marvellous! Can I give a rating higher than 5 stars?!
What Only We Know is an emotional story of love and loss, hope, courage and survival throughout the Second World War, but a story which has a far-reaching impact years later. What made this book stand out from other WW2/Holocaust-themed historical fiction novels, was the focus on mental health - something which would never have been recognised or discussed all those years ago. But to readers of this story now in 2020, it is obvious that Leise is suffering from depression, even Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and to acknowledge this would no longer be considered a taboo subject.

The author has clearly well-researched the history and politics of Berlin and she has then successfully penned a novel that I would highly recommend without any hesitation. It is the first time I have read any of Catherine Hokin’s work and I would happily read other novels of hers.

I really loved this book - the characters are wonderfully depicted, the pace is good and the story flows really well between the different timelines and narratives. Definitely a book I didn’t want to put down!

I am grateful to the publisher, Bookouture, via NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.