Hitler didn’t miss a trick when it came to brainwashing his pure race Aryans. In Cradles of the Reich, we get to see how his goal was to create perfect Aryan babies, even to the point of recruiting very young women to prostitute themselves, having sex with senior Nazi officers. They also provided the best of care for women already pregnant, but only if the father was also of the purest blood. And they had no qualms of taking the baby from the mother and offering it for adoption, even if the mother wanted to keep the child. This book follows two young women and an older nurse during their time in a home for expectant mothers.

The characters are interesting, with different opinions on the state of Germany in the mid-1930s. All three women have secrets that they wish to keep hidden from all around them. But sometimes, that isn’t possible, and you need to reach out for help. This is a story of friendship and family, of bigotry and acceptance, of desperate measures to protect those you love.

At times, I found it hard to follow what was going on. The writing at times seemed choppy and appeared to jump around a bit. Also, attempting to follow which character was speaking proved difficult at times. I received an advanced reader copy of this book, so it’s likely these problems were fixed before publication.

The story is interesting and intriguing, and focused on a part of the Nazi system that I had not heard of before. It’s well worth the time to read this book. It is well thought out and the writing, overall, is easy to read.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley. I thank all involved for their generosity, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions expressed in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

Requested for background reading for a discussion of Cradles of the Reich; and we later also reviewed the book:
https://www.bookbrowse.com/booktalk/threads.cfm?forumid=E3A26DD5-F89B-4D86-3BF3F01A508F5EC9

I was given an ARC of this novel by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I love reading historical fiction because I always discover events I know nothing about. I end up going down a rabbit hole to find out more. Thank you Jennifer for opening my eyes. The book is worth the read. The details of the story reflect the time and research that went into this novel. I recommend giving it a read.

This is a novel about three women just before and during WWII, a novel about three different women facing the new bewildering political and social situation, three women in the Lebensborn program, one indifferent, one resistant and one indocrinated.
It is an interesting novel dealing with the Lebensborn program which is curious and baffling in itself, but I hoped for some more depth or detail on it.
The novel and the characters are well written, but there is nothing new to be read here, there is no new understanding of the matter, no new ideas, in general there are no concluisons, no insights, no deep emotions, just scattered stories about a vile period in history.

3.5 stars rounded up, just because it really made me think about it for long after finishing.

Heim Hochland is a home for mothers who are having children for the Reich. But it’s not just a women’s home. It is more like a breeding ground for the advancement of the Aryan Race. Young girls are recruited to come and most of their babies were adopted out to suitable German families. Gundi is pregnant and recruited for her beauty as well as her pedigree. Hilde is fully invested in the propaganda of the Reich and is excited to further their causes. Irma has lost so much, and is hoping Heim Hochland will be a good place for her to find peace as a nurse. So many characters and so many tragic stories. This Lebensborn Society was responsible for furthering the “master race”, but so many lives were hurt in the process. I mostly enjoyed this story, as I felt a learned a lot, but the ending was rather abrupt! There was so much more to be told. I did appreciate the author notes at the end as well.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Cradles of the Reich by Jennifer Coburn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wow, what a wonderful, well written and heart wrenching book, based off of historical events. The characters are all incredible, real, unique, and struggling with their own issues. The relationships that they form, despite all of their differences, during a dark time in history is encouraging. The light that they find in the darkness is awe inspiring. My only complaint of the book, is that is switched perspective of the three very different women - which at times I found took away from the beauty of the book. Although I don’t know which character I would remove, since they were all amazing, having only two perspectives would have probably made the story even more powerful and seamless.

During Nazi occupation, three women find themselves at Heim Hochland, a Nazi breeding home in Bavaria. Despite their differences, Gundi a pregnant aryan beauty who is part of the resistance, Hilde a Nazi supporter pregnant with an officers baby and Irma a nurse all form a close bond during a time of difficulty.

Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

The story of young women living in the the Nazi Lebensborn maternity homes, many not really realizing what this meant to them and their unborn babies. A well written historical fiction novel, with well developed characters and sensitive writing.

I find it so interesting that I am still learning new information about Hitler and his “Master Plan”. I had not heard of the Lebensborn Society before this book. What was one of the reasons I choose to read it. The storyline was intriguing as it follows 3 women through experiences they encounter, 1 as a nurse and 2 as pregnant young women. I enjoyed each Women’s story, but would have liked more detail to their back stories. A separate trilogy of each story that overlaps, perhaps? Also I would have liked an epilogue. I appreciate the research the author did, to kept the historical facts, correct and the liberties she took on creating the engaging story. There are some trigger points, as with many WII stories; Anti-Semitic expressions, prostitution/rape, descriptive sex scenes.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is a historical novel about a program called The Lebansborn Society, which was basically a Nazi breeding program that was trying to bring more racial and socially inept children. It was a secret society to try to form a master race born from the elite.
The story follows three women, Gundi, a young resistance fighter, Hilde, impregnated by a non-caring but high ranking official, and a nurse, Irma, who was determined to do a good thing even though she worked within a horrible society. The chilling secrets kept me wanting to learn more. The one thing I'm wishing is that the story didn't end on such an unsaid note. Maybe there'll be a second book?
Thank you to Netgalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Jennifer Coburn for allowing me this arc ebook version in exchange for an honest review.

This is an important book of historical fiction. It seems somehow wrong to say I enjoyed it when the topic is so painful, but I will say it is a great book. I recommend it to everyone.

Cradles of the Reich adds a largely unexplored topic to the list of WWII historical fiction titles. Coburn takes a deep dive into the Lebensborn Society, a horrific eugenics-based breeding program.
The tales unfold through the voices of three women, one devoted to Nazi ideology, one a nurse at the Lebensborn Society home, and the third an unwilling resident. I liked this approach, but the characters needed to be more developed. Each was so extreme in their characterization with little to no complexity or internal conflict. Irma was the best-developed of the three. Hilda was almost cartoonish in her behavior and made a melodramatic villain. There were few surprises in the plot, and the ending was as expected, except I didn't feel any closure with Hilda.

I liked that the stories unfolded linearly, and the author did not use a dual timeline crutch to pad the narrative (can you tell I'm tired of dual timeline historical fiction tropes?).

I recommend this book to fans of WWII historical fiction as it tells a new story. I hope the author continues to write historical fiction because I expect she will get better and better.

Thanks to NetGalley for an electronic ARC in exchange for a review.

Cradles of the Reich follows the story of three women entangled in the Lebensborn society maternity homes. Two are expectant mothers, one there by choice and the other not, and the other a nurse in charge of their care. This story albeit a work of fiction really is based in true events that happened and @jennifercoburnbooks did a really great job showcasing the different mindsets. I could not stand one of the expectant mothers- she drank too much of the koolaid but the sad part is her mindset was part of the overwhelming majority. I felt so bad for the other expectant mother and everything she went through and I think the nurse’s change of perspective probably happened to some but did they ever do anything about it. If you want to read a really thought provoking story then pick up Cradles of the Reich.



Thank you @jennifercoburnbooks @sourcebooks and @netgalley for this gifted copy in exchange for my honest feedback.

Cradles of the Reich is an excellent read for lovers of historical fiction. Jennifer Coburn does a wonderful job of drawing you into the story of thre young women who are sent to Lebensborn a German breeding program during World War II. The three women who all arrive for different reasons begin to rely on each other. I love it when a book teaches me something I did not know about and Cradles of the Reich did just that.

I did not finish this book. I jumped around too much and I was confused at who was who and what was going on.

Cradles of the Reich was rather underwhelming. It had some very interesting historical tidbits, but it lacked a certain emotional depth and the characters felt very one-dimensional.

Set during the height of World War Two, Cradles of the Reich introduces readers to the horrors of Nazi birther homes, where young "racially pure" German girls are forced to have children to enhance the Nazi's vision of a "perfect Aryan society".

The detailed historical setting was definitely the highlight of the book; it is evident that Jennifer Coburn put in an extraordinary amount of research into all the historical aspects of the story. It was horrifying to learn about these programs and realize how far the Nazis were willing to go to create a "racially pure" society.

The story is told from three different perspectives: two expectant young mothers in the program, one pro-Nazi and the other a secret member of the German resistance, and one of he program's nurses. Sadly each of these perspectives felt rather one-dimensional and simplistic. There wasn't much depth or complexity to any of the characters.

About 2/3 of the story is told from the perspective of Gundi, the anti-Nazi expectant mother. Because she is such a strong focus of the novel, the other two perspectives felt incredibly unnecessary. Eliminating the other two points of view and writing entirely from Gundi's perspective would have helped make the novel much more focused and impactful.

While the historical components of this novel were satisfying and well-researched, the actual story itself was a bit flat and disappointing. It lacked the emotional punch that many other World War Two books have.

I was lucky enough to get an advanced reader copy of this book from Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley.
It started off great. I flew through the first third. I loved the character development and background of Gundi and Irma. Although I wasn’t a fan of Hilde from the beginning, I understood the need for a character that wasn’t meant to be liked to give a different view of the experience. The middle of the book lost its luster for me, and prevented me from rating it higher than 3 stars. I just didn’t find the girls’ time at Heim Hochland interesting. It probably didn’t help that I despised the whole concept of the Lebensborn Society and the way the girls and babies were treated. And the fact that they were basically living in a whore house. The last third of the book brought me back to my original thinking and I was quickly able to finish it.
As much as I disliked the premise of the Nazi mentality, I appreciated the truth that was involved in writing this story.

This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the writing though the story itself was incredible tough to read. I would definitely read more from this author!

I just couldn't get into this book. I had a lot of trouble keeping track of all of the characters and wanted it to move faster. I didn't finish it but will try again when the audiobook comes out. Giving 3 stars for now until I've had a chance to finish it.

Powerful!! I have read so many WW2 novels and yet I will never grow numb to the atrocities I read about. This book opened my eyes to the the Nazi breeding program and is an intimate look into the Lebensborn Society maternity homes. Where babies were vetted and women were analyzed to determine who was “racially fit.” Women were kept in these homes and encouraged to have sexual relations with German soldiers in an effort to be “good citizens.” And they kidnapped Aryan infants from Nazi occupied territory and German families adopted them.

This story follows three very different women — a woman the Reich deems “pure Aryan” but she is also secretly a member of the resistance, a nurse uneasy with what is transpiring, and a German woman willing to do anything to move up in rank. Their lives intersect in Lebensborn.

I did not want to put this book down! if there were more free hours in my day I probably would have finished in one day. So much of this story was disturbing but also illuminating.

It felt like were so many unknowns at the end so I am really hoping there is a sequel!

**Excerpt from part of a review written for The Collinwood Chronicle and published online (some of it, in print) September 2022

I turned to Cradles of the Reich by Jennifer Coburn, to bring to this review a serious historical book (still fictional), something engaging worth the trouble to seek and find (but not destroy).
This author takes us to Nazi Germany. Here we find out information we may never have been privy to, in our former education, specifically a part of Henrich Heimmlers plan for the master race, if it had survived. And, while the story is fiction, there are realities shared in the book that are true, that played out in real life with real people from the past.

Hitler’s plan for eugenics and that, there were places for pregnant women to go and have their children which were not as “perfect” as the Nazi’s portrayal of what was (going on there). If you are not familiar with the word eugenics it is defined by the Oxford language dictionary as the study of how to arrange the reproduction within a human population to arrange the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable. It was a discredited study after the Nazis but here, in America, we woman (if poor or thought “loose”/easy) also suffered through this in the early 1900’s.