The Commandant's Daughter: A Compelling and Heart-Wrenching World War 2 Historical Novel
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The Commandant's Daughter: A Compelling and Heart-Wrenching World War 2 Historical Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Catherine Hokin (Author), Aysha Kala (Narrator), Sam Alexander (Narrator),
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 2,544 ratings
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"What is this place?" She lowers her camera and takes in the frail bodies and desolate faces staring back at her. "It’s hell on earth. Where the desperate abandon their last hope."

In that moment, she knows that taking pictures is not enough; she has to help these people....

Berlin, 1933. Ten-year-old Hanni Foss stands by her father, watching the celebrations marking Adolf Hitler as Germany’s new leader. As the torchlights fade, she knows her safe and happy childhood is about to change forever. Practically overnight, the father she adores is lost to his ruthless ambition to oversee an infamous concentration camp....

Twelve years later. As the Nazi regime crumbles, Hanni hides from her father on the fringes of Berlin. In stolen moments, she develops the photographs she took to record the brutality of the camp - the empty food bowls and hungry eyes - and vows to get justice for the innocent people she couldn’t help as a child.

But on the day she plans to deliver these damning photographs to the Allies, Hanni comes face-to-face with her father again. Reiner Foss is now working with the British forces, his past safely hidden behind a new identity. He makes it clear that he will go to deadly lengths to protect his secrets, but Hanni knows she can’t give up her fight. But what will she have to sacrifice in order to keep the promise she made?

A heartbreaking novel about the incredible courage of ordinary people during the Second World War. Fans of The Alice Network, The Nightingale, and The Tattooist of Auschwitz will never forget this powerful story of hope and humanity.

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  1. Listening Length
    10 hours and 18 minutes
  2. Author
    Catherine Hokin
  3. Narrator
    Aysha Kala, see all
  4. Audible release date
    January 26, 2022
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Hachette UK - Bookouture
  7. ASIN
    B09QDPX7BC
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 10 hours and 18 minutes
Author Catherine Hokin
Narrator Aysha Kala, Sam Alexander
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date January 26, 2022
Publisher Hachette UK - Bookouture
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B09QDPX7BC
Best Sellers Rank #147,363 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#637 in World War II Historical Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#1,707 in World War II Historical Fiction (Books)
#4,378 in 20th Century Historical Fiction (Books)

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
2,544 global ratings
Gripping and powerful
5 Stars
Gripping and powerful
First, thank you so very much to Bookouture, NetGalley and the author for this review copy! I have to say, here lately I have been gravitating to historical fiction and I’m loving it; but, also, I’ve always enjoyed reading about this dark part of history, The Holocaust. I can credit that with reading The Diary of Anne Frank as a child.The Holocaust, World War II and all that encompassed was truly a working of pure evil. There is no better way to put it. Sending people to their deaths for their culture and religion is just something I can’t even fathom. Hating people for just being human and referring to them as “vermin” and “those people” just doesn’t make sense to me.This story is about Hanni Winter, her evil father and another person who decides to take matters into his hands; by killing previous SS officers. In the end, it’s not about revenge for the Jews, it’s for not bringing honor to the German army. Mind boggling but, sounds about right.This story was brilliantly written and drew me in from the beginning. As I stated before, this part of history is intriguing and haunting to me. I noticed there will be a second in the series and I am very excited for that. Hanni’s character is beautiful and I feel for her and all that she’s been through and all that she puts herself through. Her will to love someone and put them first before she’ll allow herself to be loved is incredible. Courageous to me.I was hooked from the start and enjoyed it. I highly recommend if you’re a historical fiction lover.
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Top reviews from the United States

Yvonne L. Frazier
5.0 out of 5 stars great read
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2024
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The end of WW2 ... coming to terms with the hate and devastation of Jewish people in Germany. Hanni is faced with making things right by using her camera. Intriguing story that pit me in the moment.
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Reader Sharyn
4.0 out of 5 stars Hanni Winter, photographer
Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2023
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Hanni Winter is a fictional character who worked with the police department during WW11 to help find a serial killer of former Nazis. She’s hiding her past as the daughter of a Nazi officer while falling in love with a Jewish police official. It’s a complicated but an interesting read!
One person found this helpful
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Booklover
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent WWII-post War Mystery
Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2023
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This well-written and researched mostly post WWII mystery surrounds a Commandant's daughter who grows up despising her father for his treatment of the Jews. Ironically, a Jewish photographer gives her first camera to her where, throughout the years, she takes pictures of many of the atrocities. Losing her mother and sister, she changes her name to hide her true identity. Her secrets causes conflict when she works for two Jewish bosses, hiding the truth. Her father also reappears with a new identity, causing much fear and trepidation threatening her into silence. Her most recent job was to help Freddy, who lost his entire family, to photograph SS murder victims and being involved in the psychological inner conflict and guilt between her and Freddy's role. A difficult read for some with its vivid details, however, the mystery to find some justice keeps one involved until the very end.
2 people found this helpful
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Eleni Sakellis
3.0 out of 5 stars A harrowing story
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2023
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This is a harrowing story with strong characters and a compelling plot set mostly in post-World War II Berlin. Recommended for historical fiction fans.
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Linda Paxton
5.0 out of 5 stars absorbing read
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2024
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World war stories continue to grab my attention this one was good. Add it to your list good historical fiction
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JoyNealKidney
4.0 out of 5 stars The Wrong Side of the Whip
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2023
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Set in postwar Germany, this psychological thriller follows the daughter of a former SS member with a policeman who is surviving. Someone is murdering former SS members who've escaped the Nuremburg Trials. The well-written page turner maddingly solves only part of the conundrum.
2 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Bookvwith many layers
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2024
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This story is based on raw emotions! With a setting that occurs in Germany at the end of World War II as Germany is trying to make sense of what happened and, somehow, move forward in a world where some people came to their senses and others showed how senseless they were. Love strikes in a complicated, nearly hopeless situation. In addition to dealing with unrequited love, the main characters have to deal with their own consciences as they face their horrible pasts and their basic human need for revenge. They have the responsibility of seeking lawful justice that may or may not happen for people who deserve punishment, whether lawful or unlawful. This book has many layers!
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LadyPendragon
5.0 out of 5 stars i had never read of Post WWII Berlin
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2023
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I have read several holocaust related books both fictional history and nonfiction. I know there are still those who claim what the Nazi’s did is not true. I am not one of those. I am not Jewish but I cherish the Jewish culture and people for how I believe it and they are tied to my own Christian faith.
I am horrified by these acts. The rebuilding process was more than clearing rubble and rebuilding structures. It also had to be rebuilding a belief system. What was lost in lives is irreplaceable, despicable, and beyond fathomable. What was lost of historical documents from before that time is mind boggling. But the rebuilding of Germany’s culture and trust was almost beyond possible. I am thankful to those who were available, capable, and willing to work so hard at it to bring Germany to a great nation.

The unimaginable loss of the skills and talents of those hundreds of thousands of remarkable leaders of a society through the selfish, cruel, evil acts of another society can never be measured. And must never be forgotten or repeated
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Top reviews from other countries

Jan Higgins
5.0 out of 5 stars An alternate look at post WW2 German society
Reviewed in Canada on April 16, 2023
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I liked the mystery part of this book. But most of all I was intrigued with the angst that people who had been associated as family members with the SS experienced. There was also a Jewish connection that was hidden and difficult to reveal. I enjoyed this book a lot.
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Silver Lady
5.0 out of 5 stars Five stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 11, 2023
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This is a well researched and well written book. The subject is, of course unsettling and harrowing. We all know about the internment camps and the disgraceful way the Jewish people were treated . After all these years I don't suppose it is at the forefront of our minds. This book reminds us.

It's a good personal story too. Hanni is the Commandant's daughter. As she grows from a child to an adult she abhors her father's beliefs. After receiving a camera as a present she takes up photography and often takes photographs of upsetting scenes, one of which is the result of a murder. Through this she ends up assisting the police and puts herself in danger.

I haven't come across this author before but I am impressed.
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Secret Spi
3.0 out of 5 stars I am a camera
Reviewed in Germany on September 16, 2022
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“The Commandant’s Daughter” is a bit of everything - murder mystery, revenge story, love story - all set against an historical background. This historical background is what drew me to the book: it’s set in Berlin in 1946/7 in the post-WW2 and pre-DDR period of chaos and confusion. The theme of the Allies occasionally turning a blind eye to ex-Nazis’ pasts if they had useful talents is an interesting one as the backdrop for the plot.

I enjoyed the start of the book, but it soon became rather bogged-down in over-exposition and repetition of the characters’ emotions and moral dilemmas. For me, the characters themselves felt rather stereotyped: the feisty heroine, the angsty Jewish hero, the nasty Nazi. And the story seemed to be written through a 21st century lens regarding the characters’ thought processes (“Germany is going to need a brave new breed of storytellers in the years to come” - there is lots of talk of voices, stories and narratives having to be heard, which feels very contemporary).

Although the novel is well-researched in many aspects, some things just didn’t feel authentic. I may be over-critical as I’ve lived in Germany for many years. For example, the formal address (and not using the first name) is still very much in evidence today, 75 years later. And what happened to the Umlaut on Fräulein?

I did appreciate the unusual historical setting, the use of three characters’ points of view and the time shifts, which gave the novel more depth. However, it does feel more like a murder mystery first and historical novel second.
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TyndaFlat
5.0 out of 5 stars Tragic in its detail.
Reviewed in Australia on July 6, 2023
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This is so much more than a WW2 story. Its about loss, pain and choices people were often forced to make
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
Reviewed in Canada on February 9, 2023
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Very good book. Well written. Kept you on the edge of your seat and not wanting to put the book down.
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