"The German Heiress" is a story of justice, loyalty, forgiveness, and trust.

After the end of the Great War, Germany's “the Iron Fräulein” is hunted by English officers. All Clara wants is to locate her best friend and her son. As people say, be careful of what you wish for, you might get that. And what is waiting for Clara at the end of her search is a big shocking secret that has been kept from her by her closest family and friends.

While on the run and searching for her missing friend, Clara meets many people who are loyal to her family and help Clara on her mission. Clara's path crosses with a war veteran Jakob, who becomes her ally during the hard times.

In a time of war, it took a strong person to break the rules, go against the political power to perform an act of human kindness, protect the innocent. During the great war, while the men were at the front lines protecting their countries - women were left behind to shield the people in need. Anika Scott gave as a perfect example of this effort in her new novel "The German Heiress". Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow Paperbacks publisher for a free and advanced copy of the novel.

This is a story of an heiress who assumes a new identity and is able to survive throughout WW2 but is searched for and eventually found out.

Post-WW2 historical fiction. Enjoyable but somewhat predictable. A different perspective/storyline than I am used to reading on this subject.

Wow, what a fantastic book this was! I read a lot of WWII historical fiction, and this was one of the better ones I've read in a while. The amount of research the author must have done was evident in the historical details and the fact that it's presented from the point of view of the defeated Germans was a departure from other WWII books.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, 5 stars.

Thanks to Harper Collins Publishers and Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so different from other WWII stories. Set after the war it follows an heiress who ran her families company ironworks empire. Running from the Allies, she is trying to exonerate her name and find her best friend, while also playing a cat and mouse game with a British Captain who is trying to track down war criminals. This really makes you think about what it means to just get by in a war and what happens when your side loses.

4.0 stars

I received a complimentary e-book copy of this book from William Morrow Paperbacks through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to Anika Scott, William Morrow Paperbacks, and, NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

This was a very difficult book to review most especially because of the timing WHEN I read the book. I started reading this book right as the COVID-19 pandemic was starting to accelerate.

However, this debut novel is told from a German point of view which is different from all of the other WWII books that I have read. It really explained the horror, difficulties, and poverty that Germany suffered during the end of the war and immediately afterward. The author is very upfront and descriptive of the issues that the German survivors have to endure including starvation, black market control, and Allied control. It was difficult to read at times as I knew that some of the fictional characters could be describing my distant cousins.

The writer has a lovely way of writing including incredibly detailed and vivid descriptions. The characters were fully fleshed out and real. The only real issue for me was the main character was a little unbelievable to me. Also, the ending just seemed to end abruptly - it could have been fleshed out a little more.

Definite recommend, but most especially for lovers of the WWII fiction genre.

This book did not speak to me for these reasons:

1. I felt distracted as I was reading the book. Even though it was about finding her best friend, there was alot of stuff going on simultaneously, such as running away from the British officer to looking for Willie.

2. The ending was abrupt compared to how the story was progressively presented.

3. There was not a oomph factor. The plot did not particularly stand out.

4. I didn't connect with the main characters in the book. There was lack of character development.

To be honest, I would still share the book with my friends. It was still an enjoyable light read ,but it was not for me.

I stayed up two nights until after three to finish this book. I could not wait until the house was silent both nights so that I could sink into this book. The story of Clara caught me at the very first chapter as the hunt was on for her. I couldn't decide if I wanted her caught or if I was rooting for her to escape. The author does not sugar coat what Clara did in the war and I appreciate that, Clara, along with her father, ran her family's iron works in Germany in World War II. No matter what her personal beliefs were, she did help the German war effort and did use slave laborers. The book begins in 1946, when she is on the run from the Allies as a war criminal. Clara has to face her role in the war and what the Nazis did and how she helped them.

I read almost exclusively World War II fiction and non fiction. I have had the honor of working with Holocaust survivors. I am a hard person to impress. World War II fiction is so popular and not all of it is good. This is worth the read. It is interesting to find out what life was like in Germany after the war and the consequences that everyone had to face.

The German Heiress follows Clara Falkenberg after the end of WWII, on the run from the Allies and grappling with the decisions she made during the war.

This was an interesting book, as there are so many WWII novels readily available, but very infrequently do they delve into the perspective of Germans who did what they had to do to survive during the war, even if they didn't agree with the Nazi party, and how they reconcile with those choices after the war. However, the pacing of this book was a bit off for me. It started out very slow and then felt very rushed towards the end.

This was an interesting tale of life after the war, from a German perspective. This perspective added a nice element to the story. The writing is vivid and the story heartbreaking. The plot moves slowly as the anticipation builds. Overall a good book with an interesting viewpoint, but not my favorite historical fiction. My thanks to the publisher for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

So many of the novels I've read about WWII come from those that are oppressed or in the resistance. This novel, The German Heiress by Anika Scott is a pure work of fiction from someone that was in charge of a large German production factory in Essen, Germany. Clara Falkenburg is the last child in a powerful German family that owns factories and mines in Germany. Her father charges her with leading the family holdings and in turn she is known throughout Germany as the Iron Fraulein and is one of the most powerful heiresses in the Nazi Regime.

We encounter Clara after the war using false identification papers as she is hiding from the Nazi hunters looking for her. She decides to try and locate her friend Elisa who she hasn't heard from since she escaped from Essen. She takes a train back to Essen and from there she runs into a Nazi hunter and several others along the way as she searches for Elisa. She also encounters a black market worker Jakob who has his own motives for helping Clara locate Elisa.

This story kept me gripped from beginning to end. Akina Scott weaves a story that shows the shades of gray a person had to operate under in the Nazi regime even when they knew what the Nazi's were doing. Her heroine Clara was a well written character as were the other characters in the book. They are believable as real individuals despite each being a fictional character.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins publishing for the ARC. The review is my own without influence from any source.

I want to thank NetGalley, Anika Scott and HarperCollins for providing me this advanced copy.

Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres. As such, I have read many books revolving WWII but I don't believe I ever read one that is focus on the aftermath of the war. Having just come back from Mauthausen in Austria and reading about how most SS officers went on to live their lives after the war without any repercussion. It was interesting to see the British officer seeking everywhere for criminals of war.

I will definitely be recommending this book to my friends. Great read.

I received this Arc from NetGalley and publisher for an honest review.
I honestly couldn’t put this book down and was so interested to see a German Womans point of view coming back home after the war.

In post WWII Germany during the Occupation, Clara Falkenberg -former heiress of Falkenberg Ironworks- is hiding in a small village working under a false identity and in a relationship with a doctor. Her father is in a prison camp awaiting trial for providing weapons to Hitler's army. During the war Clara ran the ironworks while her father was away. She advocated for better conditions for the enslaved workers, as well as hiding some. When the doctor proposes, Clara realizes that he is also living in secret to avoid capture for his own war crimes. She leaves for Essen, feeling the desperate need to see her best friend Elisa. On the train to Essen, she is captured by the American Captain Fenshaw who wants to question her about her father, the ironworks, and her own role in WWII. She escapes. Clara encounters Jakob who is a former soldier and also looking for Elisa. He is a fledgling black marketeer supporting his sisters who share the war damaged family home in poverty stricken post war Germany. In the ensuing cat and mouse story, Clara uncovers family secrets that cause her to reexamine and question everything she believed.

WWII novels are readily available today. This book is set apart due to its three German narrators: Clara - former heiress, Jakob - former Reich soldier, and Willy - Elisa's son and Nazi Jungfolk. The second half of the book is definitely faster paced. I could not put it down. I look forward to more from Anika Scott.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

The German Heiress is the story of Clara Falkenberg, nicked the Iron Fraulein because of her role in running her family’s ironworks during the war. Unlike most of the current World War II historical fiction available right now, the German Heiress starts after the war is over and Clara is struggling to return home and reunite with her family and friend Elisa and her son Willy.

This book is unique in the fact that although Clara to make decisions during the war that she has a hard time living with, the reader is forced to think if they would have done the same thing in her place and most likely had the same regrets. Clara is a likable, well-developed character, as are the supporting characters. I throughly enjoyed the German Heiress, and this is definitely one that readers will not want to miss!

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins Publishers for my ARC in exchange for me honest opinion.

This was a beautiful historical novel that drew me in and never let go. I felt emotionally invested in the characters’ lives and couldn’t stop reading.

This was a decent historical fiction.
What I enjoyed:
-the themes of secrecy, regret, sorrow, making amends, fighting for your life, and justice and decency.
-the different take on a WWII historical fiction.

What I didn’t like:
-I didn’t feel a strong connection to any of the characters.
-it was a little slow paced. There was one bit of action and then it took a bit for other action to happen. I found it hard to keep coming back to.

A good book overall if you’re into historical fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

WWII has ended and the Allies occupy Germany, and are intent on bringing to trial those who committed crimes against humanity, including the Falkenberg family. They’ve arrested one member, the patriarch, and now are now searching for Clara Falkenberg, who ran the Falkenberg factories making armaments for the German military and using slave labor to do it.
Clara has survived the war and is living incognito as a secretary in a small town near her home town, Essen. She decides she must talk to her best friend, who she hasn’t seen in years, Elisa. Without knowing whether Elisa is still alive, Clara decides to go in search of her. Her train is stopped in the middle of nowhere and she is removed from it and interrogate by a British officer who knows who she really is. He arrests her and throws her into an iron box for transport to Essen for further interrogation. She escapes and the chase is afoot.

This is a well-written, fast-paced book with an interesting and troubled main character and a host of well-drawn minor characters. It is told from the perspective of Clara, who says she did everything she could to help the slave laborers survive.

This was hard read on many levels, but it is well worth reading because Scott takes us back in time and you can almost see the devastation to the German people as well as the landscape. She writes vividly about the privations the Germans faced in post-WWII. If you like well-researched historicals set around WWII, this is the book for you.

My thanks to Morrow and NetGalley for an eARC.

I loved reading this book! I enjoy historical fiction but this kept me on my toes and wanting more! The connections between the characters really drew me in and I had to know what happened to Elisa.

Anyone who enjoys historical romance will enjoy this book.

I actually put my review in the private notes to the publisher, now I know better how to do it. Next time I’ll do better.