The Wish Child

by Catherine Chidgey

Germany, 1939. Two children watch as their parents become immersed in the puzzling mechanisms of power. Siggi lives in the affluent ignorance of middle-class Berlin, her father a censor who excises prohibited words (‘promise’, ‘love’, ‘mercy’). Erich is an only child living a lush rural life, aware that he is shadowed by strange, unanswered questions.

Drawn together as Germany’s hope for a glorious future begins to collapse, the children find temporary refuge in an abandoned theatre amidst the rubble of Berlin. Outside, white bedsheets hang from windows; all over the city people are talking of surrender. The days Siggi and Erich spend together will shape the rest of their lives.

Watching over Siggi and Erich is the wish child, the mysterious narrator of their story. He sees what they see, he feels what they feel, yet his is a voice that comes from deep inside the wreckage of a nation’s dream.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, War, Germany, World War II, Historical, Novels

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Catherine Chidgey is a novelist and short story writer whose work has been published to international acclaim. In a Fishbone Church won Best First Book at the New Zealand Book Awards and at the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in her region. In the UK it won the Betty Trask Award and was longlisted for the Orange Prize. Golden Deeds was Time Out’s book of the year, a Notable Book of the Year in The New York Times and a Best Book in the LA Times. She has won the Prize in Modern Letters, the Katherine Mansfield Award, the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship, the Janet Frame Fiction Prize, and the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize for The Wish Child. Remote Sympathy was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. The Axeman's Carnival won the Acorn at the New Zealand Book Awards - the country's biggest literary prize.

Raised in Wellington, New Zealand, Chidgey was educated at Victoria University and in Berlin, where she held a DAAD scholarship for post-graduate study in German literature. She lives in Cambridge and is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Waikato.

Reviews

[Paltia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A remarkable story told through multiple viewpoints. It begins with an introduction of sorts in 1995. Sieglinde is hard at work hunting for clues that will lead her to a person from her past, Erich. Something extraordinary occurred between them some fifty years ago. That something keeps her searching for what once was. The story then turns to 1939 with the focus on two German families, one near Leipzig where Erich is a child, and the other in Berlin where Sieglinde lives. Hitler is coming to power. Both families adhere to the party line until the collapse of the Reich. Their steadfast commitment to the lies, assumptions and beliefs they hear nightly on the radio serves them like a shield. Beneath it all they seem so sad and lonely as they ally themselves with torment and mistrust. Everyone is suspicious. All words, spoken and written, are censored. Words are misused and misinterpreted resulting in repression, skepticism and persecution. It is all for the benefit of the few - those who twist words to support the Nazis. The story moves between this cold harsh propaganda and ethereal dreamlike sequences depending on the narrator. Enter the wish child. “Over the years you have tried to name me, pin me down, but I change my shape and slip away, a phantom, a rumour ...Where am I now? If you lo0k for me, I am not there. I am the wish child, the future cast in water. I am the thrown coin, the blown candle; I am the fallen star.” The wish child, a spirit presence, watches over Germany. In time he focuses on Sieglinde and Erich as they separately run from the war only to join together as fate dictates. The wish child is a fixed point through all time. He is an observer. He shares his perspectives and omens. He is a mediator between earth and sky. He offers insight and wisdom regarding Hitler’s rise to power, the people’s willingness to uncritically believe and their eventual collective realization of betrayal. He is there to remind us of the world as it was and could be. He watches as Sieglinde and Erich find escape in an abandoned theatre in Berlin. Amidst the bombed out landscape of desperation they discover their very own peace, albeit temporary, and bonds of trust. They make promises. The promises that fifty some years later neither will have forgotten. They create an alternate reality, costumes and all, touched only by the strands of starlight. As the wish child watches he feels the grace that radiates from the universe they create. At times this book reads like soothing poetry. It soars with elegance. At other times it is harsh and demanding. No matter the tone it is consistently captivating. A story that will haunt me for a long time to come.

[Carole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb and clever writing! This novel looks at how Germans lived through WWII, telling the story of the daughter of an upstanding Berlin family and a country boy whose mother is devoted to Hitler. The omniscient narrator's identity is not revealed until the end and makes the whole novel even more heartbreaking. The author uses lots of clever devices to tell the story, such as the scripted conversations between Frau Miller and Frau Muller, representing the everyday German mother. Our main characters are also very naive at times so with our knowledge of history, the reader knows more. I absolutely loved reading this book. and didn't want it to end.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was nothing going on, nothing at all. And even if there were - even if certain realignments and corrections were under way - they were certainly not in her control, nor indeed, in Frau Loewenthal's, and there was nothing to be done about it.

Firstly, this is definitely not a book to judge by its cover: it's far more robust, intelligent and self-aware than this rather saccharine image implies. It's no mean feat to write a novel set mainly during the war years in Nazi Germany without falling back into all the usual tropes and clichés, but Chidgey has managed it. One of the most perplexing and fundamental questions that continues to be asked is how did 'normal' Germans feel about what was happening: this book deals with that, showing us two families, one in Berlin, one near Leipzig, getting on with family life and bringing up their children - and we see the chilling way in which they internalise Nazi ideology.

Chidgey is often implicit rather than explicit: the Loewenthals who are 'sensible' enough to send their children away; the enthusiastic school visits to factories which manufacture yellow stars and, later, things made from human hair, the auctions of household goods from empty apartments where 'up and down went the arms of the buyers, saluting the acquisition of these new possessions', subtly evoking the Nazi salute.

There are also moments that come close to a kind of magic realism: the dividing walls of the apartments that seem to move so that the German rooms increasingly encroach on the space of the Jewish neighbours, the words cut out by the German censor that take on almost a palpable life of their own. There are touches of 1984 in the father's occupation, and the way that the term 'mercy' is used towards the end. There's even some use of a mini-chorus of Frau Miller and Frau Müller who comment more widely on what's happening, and perhaps some allegorising as the two children, divided by the post-war partition of Germany, come back together at the end.

This isn't a character-driven novel and, to some extent, all the characters are functions of the book's purpose, even the mysterious and omniscient narrator, the eponymous 'wish child'. The last section set after the war perhaps loses focus and dilutes what has gone before as we jump through to the 1980s and 1990s (hence my dropping of one star), but overall this is beautifully-written and offers a different perspective on a period of European history which continues to both fascinate and bewilder.

Thanks to Vintage for an ARC via NetGalley

[Natassia_trav · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Wish Child" is one of those books that made me feel pretty confused. To give up (and I never give up on the books I started reading) or to finish it, whether I am really enthused, or do I really dislike it, is it real or hardly in touch with reality? How could I have those doubts? That is exactly the question I will try to answer in this review.

The story begins in 1995, introducing Sieglinde, a mature woman with interesting task – to put together the pieces of the GDR documents that the responsible officials tried to destroy after the fall of the Berlin Wall. That's her job and she's doing it exceptionally well, though, part of her is looking for just one name - Erich Kröning, in every single document she's working on. However, to find out who Erich was, we will have to go back to the past and follow two family stories. Both begin in September 1939, either accidentally or not, just in the dramatic moments we are considering the beginning of a great war conflict that we now call - the Second World War.

This war story is told in such an interesting, but rather weird way. The narrator is mysterious, in some of the moments his narrative is so naive and unreal that you will surely wonder - is this person dazzled by propaganda to such a degree or is it really just the inescapable and unconscious evil surrounding it ?! You wonder if it was really possible to deceive the mass so much, that they would defend something unrealistic and unnecessary until the last moment, and at the same time, at least subconsciously, to know that things has not changed much until today.

Still, let's go back to the stories that this interesting narrator conveys to us. In both stories the protagonists are the children. One of the stories follows Sieglinde and her family's life in Berlin, while in the other we meet Erich's life in Leipzig. The stories are about two children growing up in the climax of the personality cult of the person we classify today as one of the greatest criminals in the history of the world, a time in which the differences between the opposing world powers reached the point from where there is no return. Yet, for these children, everything is like a game. As time go on, and war is approaching and threatening to surround them completely, they find some child joy, they care for simple family problems and are not aware of everything that is threatening and the cruel times they live in. However, they are aware that something is different, or at least, not the way it should be. To be honest, this is something I can easily identify with, because I was one of those children growing up in the times of war (not Second World War, but Croatian War for independence).

By the end of the novel, fate will merge and then again divide Sieglinde and Erich, and carry them through different ways, the great friendship as well as terrible tragedies of war. Through their destiny, the storyteller will lead us through terrible scenarios that can be created solely in warfare. It will take you some time, but you will ultimately realize - our narrator is the child himself. Or, at least, he was a child. A small person deprived of opportunity to meet this world with his own eyes.

"The Wish Child" is a tough but extremely touching story. Although it is mainly fiction, it is driven by so many real events that it is difficult to separate it from reality. This is the story of the evil that distorts peoples and masses, as well as the horrors that affect ordinary people. But, although deeply involved in the book, this is primarily a story dedicated to Child K, a case that has launched a huge wheel of evil and which has finally killed thousands of other children. Ultimately, it is easy to summarize this review in just one sentence; Very difficult topic and a bit tough book, but certainly valuable reading content.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The setting of the book is Germany during the Second World War. It’s the story of two children: Erich, who lives in a rural community near Leipzig, and Sieglinde, who lives in Berlin. The two children watch as their parents and neighbours fall under Hitler’s spell and Nazism becomes their unquestioned way of life. As Germany’s hope for victory starts to disintegrate, the two children are thrown together and spend a short period of time surviving in the rubble of Berlin. This time together will shape the rest of their lives.

I thought at first I was going to have trouble reading this novel because of the way it is told. A ghostly omnipotent narrator, who remains a mystery until the very end of the story, follows their lives and sees, hears and feels everything they do. It reminded me a bit of The Book Thief… a book that threw me off when I began reading it but the narration style grew on me, so because of that I stuck with The Wish Child. I’m very glad I did.

I’ve read a number of WWII novels but nothing quite like this one. The writing style was unique, and having the story told from the children’s points of view meant that we could follow right along with them as their innocence is slowly chipped away and finally shattered. However, I think the strongest element to the novel is the way Chidgey presented the horrors of Nazism in everyday matters. She has written a book that is, for lack of a better word, creepy in its portrayal of how Hitler managed to effectively brainwash a nation. The best example for me is the school field trips that Sieglinde goes on with her class. At first the trips are to, say, a bread factory, where the teacher instills German propaganda by telling the children how only Germans know how to make tasty bread. But as time goes on, the field trips turn into macabre horror shows as the children watch workers make perfect stars out of bright yellow fabric, or use human hair to make household items. The teacher brightly and in a very matter of fact way tells the children how wonderful and industrious the Germans are, yet we readers know exactly what it is the children are actually witnessing. Chidgey also used conversations between two ordinary housewives, Frau Miller and Frau Muller, to demonstrate the slow, insidious changes to German citizens’ daily lives as the war progressed. These scenes were brilliantly written and incredibly disturbing.

The reader doesn’t find out the identity of the narrator until the very end. (There were clues scattered throughout the novel but I never would have figured it out. You would only know who it is if you have knowledge of this person, which I did not have prior to this book.) I must confess I knew early on who was narrating because I saw it mentioned in a review, and then I read the author’s historical note at the back of the book. Quite honestly, knowing who the narrator was did not detract from the “mystery” at all and, in fact, it made me read the book with a slightly different perspective which I think may have enhanced my experience. Everyone will have a different take on whether it’s good to know who the narrator is or not but my advice would be not to worry if you find out the identity in advance. Even with my knowledge, there was still a very unexpected surprise in the final paragraph that made everything even more horrific. I must add, too, that the actual "voice" of the narrator, which sounds very childlike, really helps to set the ominous tone of the novel. It doesn't seem right that a young child, with such a simple voice, is describing these complex and horrible events to us.

This is a must read for anyone with an interest in WWII or who enjoys good historical fiction. It’s well written, it’s unique, it’s disturbing, and it’s even a little strange in some parts (but that's OK!). It’s a perfect read for our current times… a very definite warning to those who think this sort of thing could never happen again. Humans never seem to learn from their past mistakes.

[Jonathon Hagger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story will stay with me for a long time. The residue of the emotional story, the grittiness of war, the tearing of my intellect in trying to understand just how a story like this could occur was quite something. There are many stories about war and its effects but this is one story that changes ones perspective as it seeks to both educate but also move the reader.

[Jacki (Julia Flyte) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's always hard when you approach a book with expectations. I had read rave reviews of this book, the setting in wartime Germany interested me and the premise sounded similar to "The Book Thief". I fully expected to love it, but instead I found it hard, slow going. The plot outlined above really only comes into focus in the final quarter of the book, and while that final quarter is indeed very powerful, it's a long time coming.

The book follows the lives of two families in Nazi Germany. Eric lives with his mother in the countryside near Leipzig. Sieglinde lives in Berlin with her family, where her father works as a censor. The story begins in 1939 and Germany is in a state of euphoric devotion to Hitler. Gradually over the course of the war everyday life gets harder and harder. Food is scarce, almost every family is touched by death, morale is declining. Eric and Sieglinde's lives will not intersect until the very end of the war, but we know from the preface that they will have a lasting impact on one another. the story is told by a mysterious but omnipresent narrator (a device which is reminiscent of The Book Thief, but the narrator is not Death and is eventually revealed at the very end).

I felt fairly indifferent to this book until very near the end. Not knowing who the narrator was kind of bugged me (and once it was revealed, I questioned the idea that they had been observing both families). I didn't really have any sense of where the story was going or how the two families would interconnect. When everything does eventually get revealed, I felt almost like going back and reading the book again in light of what I then knew - except that the thought of reading it again after not really enjoying it the first time seemed a bit silly.

I'm not sure I'd urge anyone to read this book, but all the same I am glad that I did and I think it'll linger on in my mind for some time.

[Mandy Hager · Rating 5 out of 5]

The is an extraordinary book - lyrical, multi-layered and so beautifully written. It tackles the darkest of issues (and one of the most written about) in a way that is fresh and subtle, chilling and yet also heartwarming.

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story of two children who are growing up in different parts of Germany during WWII. Sieglinde, called "Siggi," lives in Berlin. Her father works as a government censor whose job is to (literally) cut out banned words like "freedom" and "defeat" from publications. Erich lives on a farm near Leipzig with his parents (who support the Nazi party). Siggi and Erich are thrown together for a brief time during the fall of the Third Reich. The storyline includes how they met, and their backstories and part of what happened to them later in life.

It is written in multiple perspectives. The main narrator is the titular "wish child," who possesses an ability to feel what Siggi and Erich are feeling. The storyline hinges on events involving lies, complicity, manipulation, and loss of innocence. The book portrays how people can become complicit in atrocities through willful blindness to the evidence around them. It also depicts how manipulation of language serves as a method of control. I found it compelling historical fiction. It provides a cautionary tale that is relevant to contemporary concerns about authoritarianism. I found it haunting and memorable.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am the wish child, the future cast in water. I am the thrown coin, the blown candle; I am the fallen star.

Everyone who knows me knows that I am a sucker for WWII books, so when I saw The Wish Child on Netgalley I couldn’t resist! After closing the last page, I am not quite sure where to begin, because The Wish Child must be one of the strangest – or should I say most unusual – and haunting WWII books I have ever read! The entire book is being told in the surreal voice of a ghostly omniscient being which seems to follow the two main protagonists Erich and Siggi wherever they go, infiltrates their lives and commentates on the environment of the times. I spent the first half of the book wondering who this narrator could be, and how it is connected to the story. There are a few hints throughout the book, but its true identity is not revealed until the end, when it all falls into place perfectly. As in The Book Thief, where Death narrates the entire novel, this mysterious voice added an air of mystery to the story that made the book stand out for me.

Erich and Siggi are two innocent children caught up in the events of WWII, one growing up as the daughter of a censor in Berlin, the other on a rural property near Leipzig. Bit by bit, their innocence is shattered by the horrors of war, their lives connecting due to unexpected circumstances. By offering a child’s perspective of the propaganda and the general hype surrounding Hitler, the author catches a unique snapshot of this time in history not usually found in other novels of the genre.

“On these nights, when the planes were almost too remote to hear, Sieglinde wished she could climb into her parents’ bed. But this was not a gypsy camp; this was not a den of dogs.”

But Chidgey doesn’t stop there – she also includes small chapters of two ordinary German women’s conversations in the story, as well as the internal dialogue of a teacher taking a class of children on school excursions to Berlin’s factories, where items necessary to the war effort are being produced (and other things too – some very chilling moments here!). The constant danger of living under a dictatorship is beautifully demonstrated in the conversations between Frau Miller and Frau Müller, two factory workers, discussing daily life under Hitler as the war progresses. This may sound unusual, and it certainly was! I loved the way the author manages to capture the essence of the times in those snippets of conversation and musings in often hidden phrases and seemingly innocent words – it was so very cleverly done!

Due to our ghostly narrator, there is an era of mystique but also malice underlying the entire story, which often gave me goosebumps. There are many elements of a kind of magic realism, or symbolism, hidden amongst the pages that convey the full horror of the war, reflected in somewhat puzzling scenes in the book (like the shifting walls of Siggi’s apartment or the snippets of words she keeps hidden in her tin of treasures that take on a life of their own). Whilst most of the actions pertain to the two children’s lives and fates during those horrible war years, the author also catches a perfect snapshot of the general atmosphere and attitudes of many German people during that time, even those small doubts and acts of passive resistance that were often the only thing people felt safe to offer.

Frau Müller: There’s no need. I meant nothing. It means nothing.
Frau Miller: Everything means something.
Frau Müller: The lies that fall from the sky – they are not suitable reading. You should not be reading them. They should be burned.
Frau Miller: Quite right. Quite right. And I do. But sometimes one notices a sentence here and there as one is gathering them to burn.
Frau Müller: One should stop noticing.

This is a very difficult book to review, as it relies so much on its “unusual” elements! I really enjoyed it, although it was (expectedly) very disturbing at times, and had me asking many questions along the way, many of which still haunt me. The Wish Child would undoubtedly make a fantastic book club book, as everyone will have a different take on some of these elements, and I personally would love to be able to discuss them a bit more deeply.

The Wish Child is a clever, multi-layered novel offering a very unique perspective of the events of WWII. Told by a ghostly omniscient narrator and including unusual elements not often found in other novels of the genre, the story takes on a haunting and thought-provoking air that stayed with me long after reading it and made it memorable for me. I thoroughly enjoyed The Wish Child and can fully recommend it to all lovers of historical fiction.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

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[Nissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read! Brilliantly written, loved the characters and storyline. Actually didn't want the book to end. Will definitely read more by this author in the future. If you like WWII novels I would recommend this book to you.

[Kiwiflora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such delicate, precise writing, words put together perfectly creating this difficult to read, sad, and touching story. It is only in recent years that we are getting a window on what life was like for the ordinary person in Germany during WWII. Although not oppressed and decimated as much as those in countries taken over by the Nazis, it would seem the average person's existence was as oppressive as those in neighbouring countries. In this novel, through the eyes of two children and a mysterious narrator the reader gets glimpses of how life in wartime Germany was no picnic.

The children are Siggy who lives in Berlin with her parents and younger brothers. Her father finds himself working in a censorship office cutting words out of books that are deemed unacceptable, emotional. He works in an atmosphere of fear and mistrust, the family aware that every word spoken can be heard and used against them. Siggy goes to school where the indoctrination continues. Erich is a little boy who lives in the country side near Leipzig with his pro Nazi parents. The Nazi regime did his parents a great service some years prior, the truth of which comes out as the story progresses. Eventually the war comes to both Berlin and Leipzig, bringing the two children together, who then have to endure the horrors of being the conquered people.

The Wish Child is the narrator of the story; we don't find out who the narrator actually is until near the end. The narrator reminded me very much of Death who was the narrator in another amazing novel set in Germany during the war - 'The Book Thief': not harmful, all seeing, wise, almost benign in its observations.

This is really quite an amazing book. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. There have been so many questions since the war about how did the German people not know what was going on under their noses, why didn't people stand up and object. I would say, after reading this, they were simply frozen with fear from doing anything that would draw attention to them or their families. The evil perpetrated by Hitler and his cohorts cannot ever be forgotten, and as long as stories like this keep being published, we will always be reminded.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was at times not an easy read.. and I don't mean due to the style of writing. Just how it affected my conscience and I would lie awake for some time after my nightly read of a few chapters. Catherine Chidgey has done an amazing job of writing a second world war novel but from an angle that I have not read before, nor one that gets as much publicity as from the angle of those persecuted by Hitlers army. The story is based around 2 children and how their life is affected by their parents total loyalty and immersion in the power of Hitler and his belief of the Germans being the pure race etc. The loyalists of Hitler appeared so blinded to anything that was outside of his regime. These were intelligent people that appeared naive and brainwashed, and held onto their beliefs at all costs even when Germany was defeated, and for many it cost them their lives. It made me realise that these families and their generations to come, were also victims, even though I have always struggled to understand how they could not have been affected by what happened to the Jewish people and also their own people who were not "perfect" and therefore institutionalised and euthanased in mass numbers. I found myself researching things on the web after my nightly read, such as the murder of Child K, who is said to have bought about the onset of the Nazi's organised euthanasia after his own parents wrote to Hitler for a mercy killing, due to the child's disabilities and their belief in only having a "perfect child". Is it possible to be so loyal to someone or something, that you are blinded to humanity... the answer is obviously and very sadly yes.

[jeniwren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a superb novel in that it is heartbreakingly sad but also a story detailing the horrific and puzzling mechanisms of power. Set in Nazi Germany it is a story that explains how a corrupt and sinister ideology was able to influence an entire nation. It has an almost fairytale quality and is both suspenseful and absurd.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are so many great novels set in Germany during World War II that show different aspects of the war, whether it's the persecution of the Jews in concentration camps, the resistance by Germans who hid Jews in their basement, or heroic Allied soldiers shot down in enemy territory. But this is the first time I've come across a book that shows what might even be called mainstream German attitudes during the time before, during and after the war. The characters in this book are proud of Germany's heritage and excited by a glorious future led by their charismatic leader, Adolf Hitler. But as the war brings home casualties and sacrifices for everyone, the enthusiasm begins to dim and morale falls into despair toward the end of the war. The story alternates between the lives of two children, a girl Siggi who lives in Berlin, and Erich, a boy who grows up in the country. The story is told by an omniscient narrator, called the Wish Child, whose identity is shockingly revealed at the end.

There is so much to be learned in this book about how a country can be swept up in the promise of greatness and follow a maniacal leader (sound familiar USA?). And the writing is amazing with much left to the reader's interpretation. This would be a perfect book club selection!

[Kirsten McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An impossible read. At once literary yet childlike. Set during WWII in Nazi Germany, told from two viewpoints and through overheard conversations of two women. We know what happened, we know where the Jews went, we know where the fine wristwatches and clothing came from, we know what the factories are making. But the children don't, and it is from their viewpoint that we follow the story, through their childlike eyes and understanding of the world.
There are points of the narrative where you can only squirm in your seat, knowing what's coming, what's round the corner. But the end of the book also has an inevitability which you can't possibly foresee. And it is heartbreaking in every possible way.
I read it. I needed to read it. We have to learn from history to ensure it is never repeated. And yet, yet I see the same mistakes coming back from the grave today in parts of the world. And my heart breaks all over again.

[Royce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another intriguing story written by Catherine Chidgey. She created a story, loosely based on a “historical figure known as Child K.” This child was born blind with severe disabilities. His parents asked Adolf Hitler for a “mercy Killing,” which was likely carried out at a local children’s hospital. “The murder of Child K marked the very beginning of the Nazi’s programme of organized euthanasia, which in turn led to the development of more efficient methods of killing, including the gassing of victims. It is argued, therefore, that the death of Child K was the impetus for the mass murders that were to follow in the camps.”

From this tragic event, Catherine Chidgey created a fascinating story, narrated by the “wish child.” As the “wish child,” explains, “ I am the wish child, the future cast in water. I am the thrown coin, the blown candle, I am the fallen star.” Highly recommended for those interested in a different but compelling perspective of WWII.

[Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very dark story about the lives of two children growing up in strongly complicit Nazi families during the war. At times it was a bit confusing when the narration changed from third person to first person, but the reason was revealed in the end.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best novel I have read in a long, long time. It's brilliant, poignant, insightful.
Read it is all I can say.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rarely has historical fiction been so well done as in this award-winning novel from New Zealand Author Catherine Chidgey. The Wish Child won the Ockham New Zealand Award for Fiction this year, and unusually for a work of literary fiction, it has become an international bestseller as well. When I tell you that the novel employs #MyLeastFavouriteNarrativeDevice – a dead child narrator – my admiration may seem even more remarkable…

But there is more to this narrator than is immediately obvious, though many will not realise this unless #NotRecommended they sneak a look at the Historical Note at back of the book. I worked it out about half way through the book but that was only because I had read something very recently that set my antennae on alert. No, I’m not going to tell you which book that was – suffice to say that the omniscient narrator of The Wish Child tells the story of two children in Germany during WW2.

The device works because there is no attempt to render a childlike voice of innocence. This narrator knows from the beginning about the evil that lies at the heart of Nazi ambitions, and The Wish Child grapples with the culpability of ordinary Germans under the Nazis by exploring the propaganda that surrounded them. As the narrative traces the years from 1939 to 1945 – from when Germany expects to win the war and to reap the economic benefits of its policies, to when the privations of war affect Berliners and they realise that a crushing defeat is imminent – this narrator, looking back on events, alerts the reader to his stance very early in the novel:


…this is where I’ll start: some weeks later, when the absurd man with the absurd moustache calls off the Peace Rally so he can send his troops into Poland. (p.24)

But that is not the stance of the characters whose lives he observes. Like the admirers of That Grotesque Man in America, they are captivated by their Führer and the ideas he espouses. The Berlin housewives queue to hear him…

At the theatre there is standing room only for the Führer’s speech. The women hand over their furs to the coat-check girl, who cannot, it seems, trouble herself to smile, and may not even be German. They find their seats, which are ten rows back from the stage and afford an acceptable view of the lectern, until a vast individual with blond braids piled high on her head takes her place in front of them. It is difficult to see past the bulging hair, which the women agree must be false. Such persons need to acquaint themselves with mirrors, they remark, but they refuse to let her ruin their evening. Through their opera glasses they take in the one-man show, the feverish aria tumbling from the stage: swords and blood, blood and earth, betrayal and sacrifice, disguise, salvation: all the traditional and tragic themes. And how the women applaud! How they cheer. (p.41)

(Note the small touches of authorial cunning here: the exclamation mark after ‘applaud’ followed by the deflating full stop after ‘cheer’.)

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/08/16/t...

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful and important book. Two children grow up in Nazi Germany, as the world around them becomes smaller and more dangerous every day. Chidgey makes the bold choice of not making any of her characters anti-Nazi during the war, either secretly or vehemently. Instead, the adults either believe passionately in Hitler's vision, or simply accept that things are changing and they need to change with them; they know better than to question what is happening. The children, too, learn not to point out the cruelties and inconsistencies of their daily lives out loud.

With events seen through the eyes of children and willfully ignorant adults, Chidgey relies on the readers to recognise for themselves much of what is going on - the "wrong sort" of neighbours who suddenly disappear, the estate auction, the indoctrination of children to put their enforced love of the Führer before the love of their own parents. But that isn't to say that Chidgey shies away from horror, either: we see people crumbling under the strain of living in a paranoid, fascist regime; we see exactly what happens to women and girls in Berlin when the Russians arrive. We're reminded, too, that the same people who suffered in Nazi Germany went on to suffer in East Germany, that people lived their entire lives scared.

It would be easy to overstate the relevance this book has to current events. It is, of course, a reminder that good people can do bad things, or can let themselves believe that the things they're doing aren't that bad, or can simply allow bad things to happen. But more than that, it's a meditation on mercy, on how we can allow our own morals and beliefs to be twisted away from us into something alien and grotesque, on how the damage we do to others can never truly disappear.

[Brian Edgar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book is an attempt to show how ordinary Germans could have been complicit with the inhuman practices of the Nazi party. We are told about life from the point of view of two families in pre and post war Germany.
For me the story took too long to reveal the event that explained who the narrator was, the mysterious visitor to the Kröning family and Emilie's operation at the start. This made it hard for me to continue reading the book at times but I persevered because we will be talking about this in our book group.
There were many interesting ideas in the book about what it was like to live in Germany during and after the war. There were some interesting characters like Gottlieb. I am not sure why the author had the two families, perhaps it would have grabbed my attention more if Gottlieb was Erich's father and his job, which involved the excising of words and feelings, would have been a natural consequence of the terrible thing he had done.
The book won a prize that was announced the night I finished reading it so others found it a better reading experience than I did or were acknowledging the important ideas that the book was dealing with.

[Hope Elizabeth Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book is like being repeatedly kicked in the stomach. It's also one of the most beautifully written, meticulously researched, and profoundly moving books I've ever read. Stylistically, and in content, it is in many ways very similar to The Book Thief, and it deserves to be just as well known. It's probably the best example of a book utilising multiple perspectives that I've read, and I don't usually love those. The foreshadowing was so skilfully and subtlety done, and there were many moments throughout the book where I would audibly catch my my breath because certain lines were just so weighted. I guessed the identity of the narrator from the beginning but it didn't make the reveal any less hard hitting. I don't really know how I'm going to start another book after this. I think I need to sit with it and process it for a few days. It's definitely going to be one of those books that sticks with me for a long time and comes back to haunt me at occasions.

CW: OCD, suicide, anti-Semitism, eugenics, infanticide, gang rape, graphic violence and murder

[Jane Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book group book and it was quite good, but a bit wordy! If you've read the book you'll know why that's funny. She could have cut out (haha) quite a lot and I got a bit bored just past the middle of the book. She could also have left out or skirted round the nasty scene towards the end as I don't really think it was necessary - there were ways round it I'm sure without being too graphic and it really spoiled my enjoyment of the book. The ending was a bit better as was a bit faster moving - the whole thing was quite slow in places. I really liked the bits when the children were taken to the factories to look round - they were quite funny. Certainly showed what it would have been like living in Berlin during the war and afterwards and having visited Berlin this year it was nice to see placenames that we had been to. Will see what everyone else thinks.

[Christina Wedgwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was littered with some most beautiful descriptions - simply stunning sentences - which made it mostly a pleasant to read, despite being so harrowing, especially at the end. I think I would most liken this to The Book Thief, which was another incredible read. Either way, it's a stunning work of fiction by a Kiwi author.

One of my favourite passages, referring to relationships with men during the war: "Ursula said to her sister, 'Do you think it's possible to fall in love with letters?' and Emilie said certainly, because what else could she say now that all the men were paper? They were nothing but letters, photographs, certificates; they were little notes cast from a moving train; they were telegrams."

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wish Child is the story of two children, living through WW II in Germany. Their journeys, both together and separate are followed as they are forced from their homes and must survive in Berlin. Despite their hardships they are followers of the Nazi doctrines and practices. Their lives move apart as the war slows down their lives continue to change. Interest and reality are provided through changing narrators voices and distance of time as the past is explored and pieced together by Chidgey though letters. “The wish child” perspective flushes out the differences and sameness of the two primary characters during their lives and provides a contrast. I give this book a 4 star and recommend it to readers of of WW II literature.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

It feels odd phrasing it this way, but this is a beautifully-written book about a horrifying era and a nation that bought into a madman's lies and then so tragically laid down their lives in defense of his evil dream.

Many years ago I read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Between that and exposure to history books and documentaries, you think you'd get a pretty good feel for how it might have been. But this story adds a personal touch by looking at the lives of a boy and girl growing up in an increasingly war-torn Germany whose lives intersect one spring day in 1945 Berlin.

[Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It would have been an easier read perhaps if I'd known who the narrator was at the beginning of the book. I found it hard to read - slow - difficult to follow - weird, in fact. Then nearer the end, it all started to fall into place. Very cleverly written, but I can't say I'd put it amongst one of my favourite reads.

[Rosetta Allan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, soft and evocative, yet punchy and brave, and the climax! Wow! Drawn in through the subtleness of everyday life that displays the difficulty of the times with the lightest strokes of the literary paint brush.

[Jane Gregg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbing and upsetting but beautifully written. The narration did not quite work for me but I can see what she was doing and it is admirable.