This was an excellent novel that I had a great time reading. The characters were well drawn, and the storyline flowed seamlessly. Would like to read more books by this author.

I have always loved historical fiction, this book is set just after the ending of World War Two in a decimated ruin of the town Essen in Germany. The story is told from a German perspective where Clara a rich German industrialist is being pursued by the English for crimes that she committed while running the family's factories using forced labour. Her story is no different to many others who believe that they had little or no choice in doing the bidding of the Germans who could make a person disappear in the blink of an eye. There is so much more to this book which is an interesting and realistic read.

An unusual story set not only in the devastation of post-war Germany but primarily from a German non-military perspective. As the main subject Clara, the heiress of an industrial empire is hunted by the British as a Nazi sympathiser, slowly comes to terms with guilt she never before recognised particularly in the use of slave labour in the war period.
A very interesting and well written book with my only criticism being the rather elongated sub-plot regarding the quest for the whereabouts of her best friend. Yes, relevant to the story but a little too long I felt but, well worth a read.
My thanks to NetGalley and Hutchinson for the opportunity to give a free and unbiased review.

💕 An incredibly touching account of German life at the end of WW2, 'Finding Clara' is exceptionally well thought out, beautifully written and enlightening.

From the start, the story promises to challenge the readers moral judgement and has, as a result, made it a page turner. I enjoyed the journey that Clara and Jakob lead the reader on with the ever present Fenshaw trailing their movements. This makes it worthy of this five star review.

Thanks to #NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

It's been a while since I have read a WWII book that didn't focus on the holocaust, I have never a book that deals with the aftermath of the war with the main focus on Nazi war criminals. I thought this was an intense, well-written book with great characters that I just wanted to know more about. If you enjoy historical fiction books, I strongly recommend this one.

Sometimes I’m slow reading a book because it’s uninteresting or tedious - but I took my time with ‘Finding Clara’ because I was enjoying it so much.

Clara Falkenberg had thought she could do justice to both sides in the war, her conscience and her family, but in the end put herself at risk from both sides.

A fascinating account of life in Germany after WW2

Finding Clara is a unique read in that unlike most WW2 based fiction books it tells the story from the point of view of 'Nazi sympathiser'. I'll be honest and say that when I realised this I almost wanted to stop reading because I did not want to feel a connection with that type of person, but this is a book that should be persisted with.

Clara Falkenberg is being hunted by the allied forces in 1946 for 'war crimes' committed by herself and her father. Known as the 'Iron fraulein' Clara was responsible for a number of Eastern European slaves who had been transported during the Holocaust. Clara feels that she has no other choice than to run or face prison and this leads her back home to confront the past. It is during this rediscovery of her past that she encounters black marketeer, Jakob, who helps her to relocate those who she loved the most. Can Clara evade the English forces forever or will her decisions from the past finally catch up with her?

I'm glad I did persist as I found that has the book unravelled some truths started to uncover themselves and there is a realisation that not everything can be labelled as black and white. Clara become someone who I did like despite her bad choices.

Overall an interesting read that does make you view aspects of the war from a different point of view.

An interesting and intriguing concept that unfortunately didn't deliver for me. It was ok, just a bit too predictable and slightly underwhelming. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it, as I feel there are other far stronger books out there focusing on a similar time period.

This book explores the effect on the German people of their defeat in World War 2. Clara, daughter of one of Germany's richest industrialists, ran their business during the war - a business that used forced labour. She is being hunted by Allied soldiers who are rounding up war criminals. We also meet another survivor, Jakob, who lost a leg on the Russian front and is now a black marketeer, doing anything he can to ensure that he and his sisters have a safe place to live and enough to eat. The book follows Clara as she is captured, escapes and evades her captors, all the while trying to come to terms with what she did during the war and convince herself that she tried her best to help the workers sent to her.
A good story, well told, with compelling characters and a good twist at the end. Well worth a read

A fascinating story, focussing on the lives of German people at the end of the Second World War. I was totally gripped and immersed in the story of Clara Falkenberg, the Iron Fraulein of Hitlers propaganda machine, and her struggle to survive at the end of the war. The author very cleverly highlights the way in which the German people were all affected by the Nazi reign. Each in their own way was aware of, or carried out, acts that they would later regret. This is a novel which really highlights the shades of grey in the peoples actions and guilt. The author has also clearly described and highlighted the everyday living experience of the German people during this period, and their desperate struggle just to survive. There is no glory in war in this book, but a brilliant story which will keep you reading late into the night! Fascinating, gripping and surprising! This is a brilliant read- highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. Set in 1946 in post war Germany, Clara Falkenberg returns to her home town after a 2 year absence, to take refuge with her best friend Elisa. She finds Elisa missing and wants to find out what happened to her and her young son. She is also wanted by Allied Forces for war crimes and the book has a thrilling start where she is captured but manages to escape. She has to rely on her instincts and resourcefulness to stay one step ahead of her pursuers. Without giving too much away, Clara and Jakob (also looking for Elisa) join forces to find her. Clara has to dig into the past of her family and finds secrets that will shock her. I felt the book was written very well, was very descriptive and portrayed the hardships of people trying to survive after the war ended eloquently. 4 stars.

After reading the description of the plot of Finding Clara, I was very eager to read to the book as it seemed to be an interesting take on post WWII Germany. However, I found the actual story itself did not live up to its' potential and I overall did not enjoy the book. I felt the story would have benefited from flashbacks as I struggled to really cage who the true Clara was and to feel much interest in her outcome

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC

I enjoy reading books about Germany in the 1930s and 1940s written from the German point of view. This novel by Anika Scott about Clara Falkenberg, an industrialist and famed woman of steel, set in 1946 post-war Essen, is an excellent debut and one I highly recommend It shows the feelings of the defeated Germans for the occupying British and vice versa. It is a novel of struggles and of survival, of beliefs and conscience, and of love and hate.. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this e-ARC.

This is a really interesting book set in post war Germany. The Allies were in power and trying to round up as many war criminals as possible, meanwhile the local population were starving and had little housing due to extensive bombing. The suffering of the German civilians during and immediately after WW2 is not something I had previously heard much about. In this story the British are almost the bad guys as the Germans struggle to rebuild their lives and locate missing family members. The quesion you have to ask yourself is whether or not Clara was a war criminal. Highly recommended.

An enjoyable read set in the aftermath of WWII in Essen. Clara ran the family iron works during the war using slave labour provided by the Nazis. She runs away and changes her name as the Allies approach, but she is eventually caught. The book explores whether she supported the Nazis or was secretly working against them. It is interesting as the devastation in Germany is seldom mentioned.

The Allied soldiers do seem to be particularly stupid as she is allowed to escape and the ending is too neat. Apart from this it is well worth reading.

Anika Scott writes a post WW2 piece of intriguing historical fiction from the unusual perspective of the defeated and humiliated Germans, now living under Allied occupation of the victorious forces. Germany is a ruined and devastated nation, with ordinary people facing poverty and starvation, whilst having to come to terms with their part in and complicity with the horrors and terrors of their recent past. The allied forces are looking for war criminals to arrest, and a British Captain Fenshaw is seeking justice in his hunt for Clara Falkenberg for war crimes. She is the German heiress, the Iron Maiden, the only daughter of a wealthy, privileged and corrupt Nazi supporting family that owned and ran factories that were supplied with slave labour by the Nazi regime with whom they were well connected. Clara was a celebrated figure for the fascists and served as propaganda for the Nazi Regime.

It is 1946, and Clara is now living a very different life in hiding, having assumed another identity in her efforts to escape being caught. In her eyes she tried to do all that she could to help the horrendously treated slave workforce but is this true? She heads for her home industrial city of Essen, wanting to find and see what happened to her best friend, Elisa, and her son, Willy, who turn out to have unexpected connections to her family and its past. Willy is suffering from severe mental health issues, unaware that the war has been lost, still guarding a mine with its Wehrmacht supplies, unwilling and unable to relinquish his post. Jakob Relling is a former soldier who lost his leg in the war, now a black marketeer, trying to do the best he can to provide for his family. Scott writes a well researched atmospheric story of survival, family, secrets, complicity, guilt, conscience, love and redemption. She captures the hard and turbulent post war times, providing us with complex characters in this fascinating and insightful period of history.

This is an intense, dark and twisted historical read that skilfully portrays the often common experiences, horrors and dilemmas of being on the losing side in a war for ordinary people. Many thanks to Random House Cornerstone for an ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced reader's copy. Finding Clara is a novel about survival that's poses tough questions to the reader. It is a stunning debut that will stay with me long after finishing the last page.

or those that love historical fiction, this was an unique and gripping plot that sees a German woman's perspective of post war. The characters were well developed and intriguing.

Set in 1946, Essen, Germany, Clara Falkenberg has returned home and is trying to find her best friend Elisa, after the war.

Clara is a wartime icon and German heiress who ran the family munitions factory during the war and is now wanted as a war criminal by the English allies.

To survive Clara has been hiding who she really is. She finds her town is in ruins and nothing is as it was before.

It soon becomes a waiting game as English Captain Fenshaw is closing in on her for an arrest. Clara finds help from an unlikely and crippled ex-soldier when their paths meet.

A shocking family secret is exposed and Clara is trying to come to terms with her guilt about the part she played in the war.

An excellent read, great pace and engaging.

“Finding Clara” is set in the winter of 1946 in war torn Essen, Germany where the first order of business is to survive with a roof over your head and food in your belly. Clara Falkenberg is on the run trying to avoid Allied troops under a false identity as her real background would land her in an allied prison for war criminals in a second. As the daughter of one of the most successful steel industry tycoons and an English mother, Clara was forced to run her father’s business with the use of slave laborers under the Nazi regime to achieve their production quota. But this does not feel like an excuse to her as guilt and disgust with herself are eating at her consciousness.

Captain Fenshaw of the British Forces is hot on her heels as Clara is trying to find her best friend Elise in the ruins of Essen. Enter fate and Jakob Relling, a black market dealer who lost one leg as a soldier in Russia, and Willy, a boy in hiding in a coal mine guarding a priceless commodity – food and daily goods..

What made this novel so appealing to read is its setting in unfashionable Essen, the prewar center of Germany’s steel industry, a very well-drawn out female characters in Clara Falkenberg, her cold hearted family, Jakob Relling, a salt of the earth type black marketer trying to provide for his sisters and the grim, realistic description of life during the post war years. It reminded me in parts and atmosphere of “The Aftermath” (Niemandsland) by Rhidian Brook which has been made into a movie starring Kira Kneightly. I can easily see the potential of this plot for TV or Netflix. The author has clearly done some extensive research and written an authentic capturing story. I would guess some ideas were drawn from the history of the Krupp family.
I have to confess I was not totally blown away even though it is a well ploted story, it was just too predictable for my taste. But I can easily see the appeal to readers who are not very familiar with German history during that time.

Finding Clara
An intriguing tale of a mysterious woman in Post war Germany. On the run and trying to create an alternative life and identity for herself we quickly come to realise that she has an intricate past with shades of Nazi complicity hinted at. Her need to locate her oldest friend leads her back to her hometown of Essen, and despite the ravages that war and hunger has wrought on her features she is recognised by an over enthusuastic British officer and forced to go on the run again, hiding out in the old factory that belonged to her family in the halcyon days when they had survived by complying with the demands of the Nazis. It is an interesting read, shining a light in the plight of ordinary Germans in the aftermath of war and defeat. The discovery of a young soldier hiding out in the local mines protecting a large consignment of supplies is an interesting twist as we learn he had been there for two years and is unaware that the war is over. His mental state is such that he will not believe that the war had been lost and is determined to do his duty to the end.
Clara herself is a complex character and as we learn more about her past and her family we come to see her as a victim herself although there is still a glimmer of doubt as we find out what her role within the family business has been. Did she do enough to help the workforce who were slave labour many of whom died of hunger?.
The complexity of the dilemma faced with those caught up in war is an age old one. To stand up for what is right according to conscience and be condemned or to safely blend in and follow the patriotic line. We are never quite sure how far Clara went in her efforts to 'save' the unfortunate workforce, but there is a hopeful feel that there may be a brighter future for her in a Germany that like her, is left licking its wounds and struggling to survive the humiliation of defeat.
An interesting read with the right amount of intrigue to keep the reader guessing.