review: the german heiress by anika scott

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After World War II ends, iron heiress Clara Falkenberg flees Essen under an assumed identity as she and her father are both charged with war crimes. But at the start of The German Heiress, Clara decides to return home and sends ahead a coded letter to her best friend. The letter is intercepted by the British soldier who seeks to arrest her, so Clara must use all her skills to escape arrest (and she gets some assistance along the way in the form of a wounded German soldier). Anika Scott develops the plot in such a way that the shades of gray are very apparent when it comes to the Falkenberg family. It's an interesting perspective that isn't typically shared. Although a fictional story filled with deceit, family drama, and adventure, The German Heiress is based in the reality that there were plenty of people who, like Clara, did small things but didn't fully participate in the resistance fight and thus could be implicated as Fascists. It's a powerful and touching story.
5/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, William Morrow.