The Watchmaker of Dachau is a fantastic book. It follows Issac after he is taken by the Nazis and put in a camp. He is given the job of a fixer of watches and other things around a major Nazi guy's house. There he meets Anna and Freidrich and they develop friendships. The book is beautifully written with excellent character depth. Of course, the subject matter is horrifying, but this is another story that must be read. I do not think I will ever smell lemons again without thinking of Issac. I look forward to reading more by this author.

This book tells a heartbreaking story of Isaac, Anna, Nina and Levi, that were imprisoned in the Dachau camp for being Jews. This is a book that reminds us that the Second World War even though impacted non-Jew civilians and caused casualties from many nationalities, targeted the extinction of the Jewish population through what we today call the Holocaust.

The horrors of the Holocaust may be difficult to read, however the author presents them through the life of these characters that you come to know as individuals with a past, family and dreams.

Isaac, the watchmaker, is commanded to go to work to the house of Senior Officer Becher and his family. Just a few miles from the camp the house will be the setting for Isaac to meet Anna, a woman from the camp also working here as a maid; and Friederich, the officer’s eleven year old son, who has hundreds of questions and a curious mind.

While this book takes you on a horrific ride where you are afraid of the horrors and the outcome of each of the characters’ lives it does so in a beautiful way, exploring also in a wonderful way some controversial topics, and the dilemma on some of the German characters.

I liked it very much! I will be searching for more from this author.

Inspired by a true story, this WWII novel focused around Anna and Isaac (the watchmaker), who are prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp. They are both given work at a nearby officer’s home and become friends. Will the kindness of others and the friendships they forge in the midst of war help them to survive?
This was my first book by this author and it won’t be my last. I was drawn to the main characters immediately and found myself turning the pages hoping that they would survive. I was pleasantly surprised how the author seamlessly intertwined the character’s lives throughout the novel. Add this to your to read list now and look for it on its January 20, 2021 release date.

This novel is told during WWII. Issac is chosen once he arrives at a camp to fix things for the camp leader, at the leaders house. He fixes watches, trains, and anything else he is asked to. Anna is also chosen as a maid in the leaders house.

This story is very different than other WWII books about the concentration camps because the story is focused on Issac and Anna as they work in the leaders house. We get a glimpse into the camp as Issac and Anna sleep there but we mostly hear about their work outside of camp.

I liked the different point of view as each person’s life during this time was different but also felt the story was missing some of the elements of WWII and you could almost forget it was set in WWII at times.

My favorite character was Frederic, the leaders son. He is a young boy and does not truly understand what is happening around him. He is not very loved by his parents and has been told that Jews are bad but he does not believe this. His acts of kindness throughout the book are heartwarming to read.

I enjoyed this book and the different point of views. It is not a traditional WWII concentration camp story.

💫 Book Review 💫
The Watchmaker of Dachau by Carly Schabowski

This book was a book that took me back to the emotions of walking into Dachau as a “so-called” tourist for the first time. I went with my then boyfriend and another couple as the camp still existed 60 some years later. I will never forget driving through the green hills and small town that is around the camp till you pull up to the gates which houses the ghosts of the past. I mean what I say when I tell people that it’s eerily silent as your walk through the concentration camp. Whoever built it up did so with great care to show the atrocities that happened within Dachau. I had ear phones that told descriptions of each building but I didn’t need them. Because you felt death all around you. Seeing the barracks torn down but the pegs still there. Walking into the crematoriums and tracing the steps that men, women and children did. Some knowing what is ahead and some not. I didn’t need those ear phones to tell me what happened there. It was hard enough to walk through without sobbing with tears at the pain and suffering that I could never know fully.

Family and friends that visited us over the many years we lived there always asked me to take them there. Some wanting to see for themselves and some because it was the “thing” to do.... I also had family who said ‘don’t you get tired of going to the same place’ and to that, I have an easy response:

You never get tired about history. History teaches. History is where we learn. And this particular horror story of real life should never be forgotten. So yes I went back (many, many times) and always felt that same feeling of walking Among ghosts... but I also knew how important it was for others to see the people who suffered there. And to know that it must never happen again.

And so, despite having read many novels on WWII, I will never stop reading or sharing them. Because they all have a different voice to be heard. A face to remember. And historical fiction is a genre that helps us never forget.

Oh... and this book. Just read it. It’s so darn good. It’s got kindness amidst evil. It has friendship against traitors. And it ticks his way into your heart. Well done Carly 💕

Bookotoure
Pub date Jan 20

Isaac Schuller has a skill that he never thought could possibly save his life. As a watchmaker, he has the ability to fix a lot of things with motors and such and instead of working in a concentration camp, he is asked to go to the home of the supervisor and fix things in his home. With a maid who sneaks him food and a place to work, this could completely alter his life.

Yes, this is another one of those World War II books that as hard to read, but worth every page. There were moments where I had a difficult time reading because the horror of what happened was weirdly beautifully written and captivating. There are times when we each need to be reminded of what happened in the past, so we have the hope to not repeat it and this book presented what happened in a way that I could digest it and see the truth pain that was inflicted on a group of people.

If you think you have read all of the World War II books, you should add this one to the list, but read with caution as it is hard and heavy.

This was a powerful and moving book. Told from several angles as each chapter is divided by the person telling their side of the story.
This makes for a fascinating read and being based on a true story even more so. I was totally hooked to see what would happen to everyone involved.
This is a must read for 2021 if you are into this genre of book.

BOOK REVIEW
The WatchMaker of Dachau by Carly Schabowski

Thank you to @netgalley and @bookouture for my ARC in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis
Anna lives in Dachau, and each day is sent to the Bechers house nearby as a household servant. She knows nothing of the Bechers or their relationship with Hitler, only that she she needs to keep her head down and survive. Isaac ,new to Dachau, is sent to the Bechers to work on repairing a clock. Together they form a fast friendship, based on shared stories of loss, and a will to survive, a strength that binds them.

Review
Human compassion, the will to survive, strength, resiliency, sheer determination. These are the words that pull me in. The author makes the reader feel hope in a time of despair. In Isaac’s relationship with the young Becher child we see the potential to open minds and hearts to a future filled with compassion and acceptance. Hope is a powerful weapon.

I read historical fiction because of the personal stories, because of the author’s ability to capture the human spirit. Where there is tragedy, war, death; there is also kindness and light. These stories teach me to be humble, to be grateful, to hold my loved ones tighter and smile brighter. Isaac and Anna sound like friends I would be blessed to know.

Recommend for readers of WW2 historical fiction.

I loved this, I really loved this book. I felt for the characters and the character development alone, fantastic!!!

A world war II drama taking place in Dachau. This is my first book by this author so I didn’t know what to expect.

What was different about this book is that while it takes place in a concentration camp and the house of the commander the focus of the book is mostly on the characters. There is very little about the daily life and horrors of the camp, but all about the connection between the characters. Their lives get touched and forever change because of their meeting for a short amount of time. There are small things that happen between them, but in those circumstances they have a big impact.

It made for a beautiful and engaging read.

Make sure you have a box of tissues ready when you read this book! The fact that this is based on a true story, makes it even more heart wrenching, yet difficult to put down.

Isaac Schuller, a Jewish watchmaker, arrived in Dachau, Germany in January 1945. He finds himself spending his nights in a concentration camps and days “working” in a Senior Nazi Officials home. Isaac is required to use his watch making skills to fix things in Officer Becher’s home. Anna Reznick, also a Dachau concentration camp prisoner, also finds herself working in the Becher’s home. She waits tables, cooks, and cleans. The differences between the life that Anna and Isaac, who become close friends during an incredibly dark and difficult time, and the life that the Becher’s live is mind boggling. But as time goes on, all kinds of secrets are discovered and the kindness of strangers is heartwarming.

Carly Schabowski writes a touching story about an incredibly dark time in history. The unimaginable horrors that are witness and experienced by the main characters are difficult to read, but Schabowski does an incredible job of highlighting the strength of not only the prisoners but those who quietly were against the attrocioties committed during the holocaust. A must read for anyone who enjoy Historical Fiction.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for my Advanced Reader Copy.

Isaac is a fixer of things, watches and clocks. He is taken to Dachau and is brought to the commander's house to fix a grandfather clock, which he does. He then is instructed to fix other things. Anna is brought to the commander's house to be a maid. This is the story of their lives in the last days of Dachau.
I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"The Watchmaker of Dachau", by Carly Schabowski is a novel set during WWII of the resilient men and women who survived and those who did not.
It begins with Isaac a Jewish watchmaker who is alone, his wife and son both having died years before the war began, his other family members disappearing overnight to who knew where? Isaac enters his shop which has been closed since Hitler took over. Inside he gets a watch from a secret hiding place and engraves his name and the date on it and the words "remember me". The he hides it again and leaves. On the way home he is picked up by Hitler's men and taken to a concentration camp where his skills as a watchmaker and "fixer" of things lands him a job in the camp commander's house fixing first a old grandfather clock that doesn't chime, then the commander's son's toy train. Isaac is set up in a shed at the back of the property to use as a workshop where he fixes whatever his commander gives him. Here he meets Anna, also a member of the camp and working in the commanders house as a maid. They form a friendship of sorts and when Isaac finds a hiding place under the floorboards of the shed filled with papers written by a prisoner before them he shares the readings with Anna, thus furthering the bonds of their friendship. As the allies draw nearer to the camp and the tensions run higher for the guards and camp leaders Isaac and Anna face even more uncertain fate. Will their love and friendship survive the cruelty of the camp? Will they live to share their love with each other and their friends? After the commander's son also finds Isaac in the shed he becomes friends of a sort also. And when he learns the true nature of the camp and of the horrors that go on there his loyalty to his family is severely broken.
This book is both sad and happy. It shows how love can survive the most dismal of times. It is a story of enduring love and of family. Showing that family isn't just whom your born to but so much more.
I thought it was a beautiful story told with a tender caring voice and it didn't dwell on the ugliness of the camp but rather showed the beauty of love, friendship and caring for fellow human beings.
I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. This is a great story and I would recommend to all historical fiction fans.
I would like to thank the publishers at Bookouture and thank NetJGalley for the ARC of this e-book in exchange for my honest review.

The Watchmaker of Dachau is Isaac. This story starts with him in his home village shortly before he is taken. Isaac is taken to Dachau where he is having to adapt to camp life. The story is about love, friendships and how life was in those difficult times. The characters are well developed and likeable (where they should be).
This is a lovely story that I would read again and thoroughly enjoyed.

As overwhelmed as I am by the WWII plotline, I keep finding more and more titles worthy of note. Schabowski writes a beautifully heart wrenching tale. The book tells the story of four families; those of Anna, Isaac, Nina, and Frederick, and how WWII impacted and changed their lives. The reader gets to experience how friendships forged strength and a will to survive. The story shows how compassion took so little but meant so much. It shows how love can, and did, transcend the invisible boundaries that society forced upon itself. Beautifully written.

I am always drawn to stories that focus on the good that some people were able to find amongst the heinous acts of the Holocaust. Based on a true story, we meet two Jewish prisoners, Isaac Schüller, a watchmaker, and Anna Reznick, a young woman who serves and waits on Senior Officer Becher and his wife. They are saved from the gas chambers because of their skills but are witness to the awful acts purported on the prisoners. Both of these people live in fear knowing their lives depend on their usefulness and mean nothing to the Bechers. They find solace in one another eventually becoming friends and more.

They constantly walk a tightrope afraid to do any wrong. As Issac worked in a cold wooden shack at the back of the Becher's plating home, he discovers something hidden in the floor that could put both Issac and Anna in even more danger. He also develops a friendship with the Becher's son, Friedrich, who had been taught to fear and hate the Jews, a group of people that he had never met. He learns through Issac's kindness that what is being done by his parents and others of their ilk is ever so wrong, repulsive, and shocking.

This well written story based somewhat on fact, is a well done historical fiction that kept the reader focused on the two main characters and praying for their safety and eventual rescue. It's a story of kindness intermingled with the abominable acts of others.

Thank you to Carly Schabowski, Bookouture, and NetGalley for a copy of this story due out January 20,2021.

Books in this genre are some of my favorites, and this was no exception.

The story takes place in 1945 at Dachau, where the Nazis are working to eliminate the inmates through any means possible (including starvation and torture) before the Americans arrive.

It's obvious that the author put a lot of care and time into crafting the characters and storyline. The reader is made to feel a part of the story, watching it all unfold. Schabowski holds the reader captive, as no word or scene is wasted in this emotional, thought-provoking read. The author reminds the reader that what happened at Dachau happened to real people, who were more than just numbers ... a fact that should never be forgotten.

A great read. This was not my normal book genre to read, but after reading “The Tattoo Artist of Auschwitz,” I thought I would give it a try. I certainly was not disappointed! The characters were compelling and so life like. The story was suspenseful and gripping. I could not put this book down. This is a must read, don’t miss it type of book!

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This gem of historical fiction is based on a real incident which makes it all the more a fascinating read. I read this book in record time because I simply could not and did not want to put it down.

Issac Schuller is a watchmaker who was grabbed by the gestapo as he was leaving his shop and was loaded into a cattle car and taken to Dachau. Issac was singled out to work at Senior Officer Becher's home first fixing the grandfather clock, then repairing the watches and jewelry stolen from the prisoners. He works in an old shed used by the gardener and soon discovers a loose floor board which leads to a journal of sorts written by someone with the initials J. A. L. Another prisoner, Anna, works as a domestic in the home of Becher and his sadistic wife, Liesl. The Bechers have a son, Friedrich, who had to return from boarding school and they find him a nuisance and are often mean to him. There are multiple narrators and a nonlinear timeline in this book but everything meshes together very nicely. This was a very sad read at times but also there was a lot of human kindness and compassion shown by the prisoners to one another.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this very sad but yet very compassionate book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for a copy of "The Watchmaker of Dachau" in exchange for my honest review.

A warning that this book is difficult to read in places as well as graphic. It is based on a true story. The story is told in several voices. It starts and ends in Cornwall, England in 1996. In between we have Isaac Schüller in January 1945, Friedrich Becher (aged 11), Anna (aged 29), J.A.L. from May 1944, Anna from February 1944, J.A.L. from June 1944, July 1944 and August 1944, Anna from March 1945, Isaac from April 1945, J.A.L. from September 1944.

Isaac was a watchmaker but his shop had been closed for over a year. He still went there to look at his grandfather's pocket-watch which he hid under the floorboards. He engraved it - "Isaac Schüller, remember me, January 1945". His wife Hannah had passed away 10 years ago. It's January 1945 and Isaac feels that if they had not taken him away yet, perhaps he has been lucky. But that day his luck runs out. He is taken away and then singled out by a Kapo for not having brought any belongings to the camp. All he had was in his pocket - a leather pouch with tiny silver and gold instruments, miniature screwdrivers. He tells them that he is a watchmaker and uses them to fix watches, clocks, music boxes, jewelry, puzzle boxes, toys.

Friedrich is a kind boy who doesn't really seem to be liked by his parents. He's not allowed to have friends, not allowed to ask questions - especially not why all the rooms on the opposite side of the house to his room are always locked.

Anna works at the home of Strumbannführer Becher. She is walked to and from the camp every day by Schmidt, who acts like he is lord of the manor. Greta is a kind, older, local woman who cooks for the family and she always gives Anna coffee and food. She also arranges for Anna to have a maid's uniform to wear instead of her camp clothing.

Isaac is first brought to the house to repair a grandfather clock. Liesl Becher doesn't want him working in the house, so he is set up in the cold garden shed to work. Greta is kind to him as well and always has coffee and bread for him. One he has the clock working, he is told to fix Friedrich's toy train set. One day he finds a loose board in the shed and underneath are pages from a diary written by someone with the initials J.A.L. When he can, Isaac reads the pages - sometimes with Anna.

Friedrich is told to stay away from Isaac as he might hurt him. Friedrich has other ideas because no one in the house seems to want him around. His father is away a lot and his mother is always "hysterical" so he often sneaks into the shed to talk to Isaac.

As the Americans draw ever close to Dachau, Becher wants Isaac to work on 2 cars that he brought home. There is frenzied activity in the house as furniture is packed up to be shipped. Friedrich thinks they are moving back to Munich or Berlin but he sees a label on a crate marked "Argentina" and he asks Isaac where that is.

As they start evacuating the camp, preparing everyone to march before the Americans can arrive - Isaac adds his own notes to the diary pages of J.A.L. Isaac gives Friedrich the address of his shop and tells him to go there when he's older. "18 floorboards from the door, walk due north, the floorboard with the gold-tipped nail, lift the floorboard and there would be a treasure for Friedrich alone." Friedrich decides that Isaac has been his bestfriend, even better than Otto his friend at school had been.

As the pieces from the past and present collide, Isaac tells Anna what to do when they start evacuating them camp - hopeful that it will help her survive.

The last chapter truly places the missing puzzle pieces where they belong and the story is complete. All the questions that remained are answered.

A truly moving book, wonderfully written by Ms. Schabowski.