Through historical fiction books I always learn so much and The Sunflower House is no exception. Another eye opening and shocking WW2 historical fiction novel. This story sucked me in, broke my heart, taped it back together and then broke it again. So many emotions were felt while reading this story of The Sunflower House. We follow Allina throughout this book as she navigates how to survive in a very dark and challenging world after being thrown into a Nazi baby making factory.

A must read WW2 historical fiction novel from a debut author! It was well researched and impactful. I read this book in a day!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read "The Sunflower House" in exchange for my honest review.

The author tells a true event in history through this moving and thought provoking story. It begins in 2006 in Ramsey, New Jersey where Katrine is called to pick up her 86- year old mother Allina in the hospital ER. She has a sprained wrist, contusions and a bump to her head. Her mother fell from a step-stool in her room and when Katrine goes to right things in the closet, she finds a wooden box hidden under the floorboards. Her mother has been keeping her past from her and the book follows the story that Allina tells.

It all started back in the summer of 1938 in Badensburg, Germany. Allina's parents died when she was 3 months old and the older sister of her father took her in. Her aunt and uncle raised her as their own. There were many secrets and things that you just didn't talk about. In the fall of 1938 her uncle dies and is buried 1 day before Gud arrives and 2 days later her aunt Claudia is dead. A young Allina is taken by Gruppenfuhrer Gud to Hochlan Home - part of the Lebensborn program. Here she is put to work by Marguerite Ziegler caring for mothers and babies. She comes under the protection of Karl von Strassberg. He protects Allina from Schwester Ziegler and Gud. She makes friends with a young mother who risks all to baptize her baby Tobias. When they learn from Karl's friend Markus that dozens of children have simply disappeared from Hochland Home, they decide to do something.

Allina also learns from Karl that her uncle, Dieter Strauss was the leader of a resistance group. He vows to continue his work to help children and to help his housekeeper. When things start to get dangerous, they devise a complex plan to get Allina and their daughter Katrine to safety in Switzerland with Karl's aunt Adele. A lovely spirited woman who is a true force of nature. After fleeing to America Allina raises her daughter but there are generational secrets, identity and assimilation to deal with.

A truly moving book with characters that you grow to care about as the story goes on. There are parts that are difficult to read.

Debut author Adriana Allegri accounts the horrors of WW2 from the view of Alina Strauss, a young women who survived the massacre of her home town. She is brought to work within a Lebensborn home, or baby factory, and home of Hitler’s eugenics program in Germany.

I love books like this one that provide insight into another perspective of the atrocities that surround WW2 and prompt jumping down a google rabbit hole. The books started strong and got me hooked, but the pace slowed and I had difficulty staying engaged despite a great story. I feel like maybe it was because a lot of the action occurred outside of the main characters realm or I was not brought far enough into the fear or concern that Allina, the main character, was feeling. I do recommend for historical fiction lovers that want a unique perspective but might not be engaging enough to hold those that are new to historical fiction. Looking forward to reading more from Allegri.

This book was phenomenal and devastating at the same time. A historical fiction that takes place during the holocaust and follows a FMC that tries to make a difference. I had tears a good chunk of the time. Highly recommend.

This book is absolutely incredible. There are so many horror stories we have heard about World War II but one of the ones I didn't have a lot of information about was how Himmler's eugenics program really worked and what that meant for the women and children of Germany.

Allina has been raised by her Aunt and Uncle and does not find out about her true identity until things get very scary for the Jewish people of Germany. She is spared and finds herself at the Hochland House where she is able to work as staff caring for the babies that are being born as a contribution to the German race.

This book is incredibly well researched and although a work of fiction is based on so many facts. The author has included details of their research and other publications that can bring more education on these stories.

I cried at the end of the book even knowing where the tale would eventually end as the heartbreaking story of Allina comes to an end as she finally explains to her daughter Katrine why she has always kept secrets.

This book is incredible and if you enjoy historical fiction you will enjoy it. Please take care of yourself as there are quite triggering details and not everyone may be in the space to read about them.

The Sunflower House is now available wherever you purchase or borrow books

This is another excellent WWII historical fiction book. We're all familiar with the horrendous things the Nazis did to the Jews, but this book sheds a light on some of the horrendous things they did to their own "pure-bred" Aryan women and children as well. Allina Strauss's life is turned upside down when the Nazis invade her quiet home town. After losing everything and everyone she loves, she's brought to Hochland Home - one of many baby factories in the Nazi Lebensborn program commissioned by Heinrich Himmler. In these homes, Nazi soldiers come to mate with pure Aryan women who are there to pop out babies and help grow the Aryan population. These women actually believe they are doing their service to Hitler. Luckily for Allina, she's asked to be a baby nurse and not immediately pressed into servicing the soldiers. At Hochland Home, Allina meets senior SS officer Karl and there's an immediate spark. But he's a Nazi officer, how can she trust him? Both Allina and Karl are harboring deep, dark secrets. As they find their way to each other and fall in love, they embark on a noble mission to protect as many children as they can. This a heartbreaking story based on true events, beautifully written with well-developed characters. Adriana Allegri's debut historical novel is excellent and I highly recommend it! Thanks to #netgalley #TheSunflowerHouse #AdrianaAllegri and #StMartinsPress for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully heartbreaking. I can’t think of any other way to describe or review this novel. Please experience it for yourself.

Wonderful 4.5/5 ⭐️

After completely bawling my eyes out, I am now going to attempt to write this review. While at first I feared this was going to be a type of Nazi sympathizer book, I found myself mistaken. I’ve read many WWII historical fictions, which typically center around the Holocaust. This was in fact, not that. It was a different perspective of a German family, with Jewish heritage, trying to hide in plain sight and survive. While it’s easy to look at the eyes of this from 90 years later, living in that moment had to have been challenging. It made me wonder what I would do in a situation like that. I suppose I’ll find out in the next few years to see how the cards fall for America’s democracy…

I AM UNWELL. This broke me 😭 How can a book be so beautiful and painful at the same time. At times this made me very emotional as a mother and it was hard to read but it’s a story that needs to be known. Read it.

Allina Strauss has the idyllic German pre-WWII life, but it is not what it appears to be. As the country's antisemitism is getting worse, Allina learns that she is half Jewish - and then her life changes even more. Her small sleepy town is destroyed by Nazis and she is taken to work in a state-run baby factory. The women there are to submit to soldiers in order to increase the pure-blooded German population since birth rates were dropping as the war begins. While tending to the children Allina makes choices that can put her and those she loves at great risk.

I received this book months ago from but didn't read it until I received the audiobook accompaniment (so I am a few days past the pub date) - but OMG this book tore into me as fast as I tore into it! I am a bit over the whole WWII historical fiction genre but this one is absolutely worth reading! The storylines are engaging and the characters have wonderful dimension. This novel brings some of the horrors of Nazi Germany to light that don't get spoken of as much as well as ones we are all very (unfortunately) familiar with. I appreciated the perspective of the half Jewish woman hiding in plain sight which made her a bit more empathetic as a character. I ended up listening to about half of it and reading the other half; the narrators did a great job (there were 3). If you enjoy historical fiction then this is something that needs to go on your TBR!

4.5 stars

Thank you to netgalley and st martin’s press for the ARC to review

I blew through this book in a day! I quickly become invested in Allina's story. I was inspired by her bravery and resilience. This is a story about generational secrets. I loved the exploration of what it costs to tell those secrets and what it costs to keep them. It had multiple narrators and occasionally flipped between two timelines but thankfully the story stayed mostly in the past so I was able to get fully immersed in Allina's story. This was such an emotional read I couldn't put it down. I definitely recommend this book to fans of historical fiction and WWII. It was so fun to read about an aspect of WWII history that I was unfamiliar with.

Wow. This is one of those historical fiction novels that I knew would absolutely break my heart. And it did, but I couldn’t look away. The Sunflower House is about a woman, Allina, who is forcefully made to work by the Nazis in a Lebensborn house in WWII Germany after her entire town was massacred. To put it bluntly, the Lebensborn program was basically a eugenics-based baby factory devised by Heinrich Himmler. Women thought to have ideal genetics, ie seen as pure “Aryan,” were housed in homes to produce as many children as possible with the goal of repopulating Germany with the “racially pure” citizens. In the novel, Allina becomes involved in a mission to sneak as many of these children as possible out of Germany to the safety of England and other countries unoccupied by Nazi forces.

This book hit me on so many levels. It’s impossible not to get emotionally invested, and I definitely shed more than a few tears (especially knowing this novel is based on true events). Now, the novel isn’t completely sad! There is a beautiful romance that develops as well as beautiful friendships. There is a ton of suspense, so the novel is never remotely slow or dull. It was absolutely unputdownable!

I have nothing negative to say about this beautiful novel. It’s safe to say I will read absolutely anything Adriana Allegri writes from now on! This is a must read for everyone, not just historical fiction fans.

Big thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the gifted eARC!

Allina is exposed not only to her personal history, but also the Nazis just as she is coming of age. In quick succession, she loses her beloved uncle and aunt along with her innocence. Having lost everything, she is forced to become someone else in order to save her own life.

Unable to trust anyone, Allina had to learn to love and trust all over again. But can she do that with a senior SS officer? Can’t you trust him with her secret and her life?

The story is written and takes a different approach from many of the other World War II historical fiction books I’ve read. It’s not just about the survivors. It’s not just about those who resisted. It’s also about their children. Because history happens and it’s meant to be shared and handed down.

I absolutely loved this book. I am typically skeptical of debut novels…especially historical fiction novels of the WWII era. This one was superb! It was meticulously researched and very refined. Prior to reading this book, I was not aware of Himmler’s Lebensborn program. I have read so many historical fiction books from this time frame and yet I continue to learn new things with every book. I still find the events that occurred during this time so surreal. I just cannot wrap my brain around how humans can perform such atrocious acts against other humans.

Characters play such an important part in my review of a book. They tend to make or break a book for me no matter how good the plot is. These characters were just absolutely everything I could ever want in a character. They were so well written with tons of emotional depth and growth throughout the novel. I really liked seeing a different side of an SS officer. It brings to light the possibility that not all Nazi soldiers were without humanity. Many were stuck…forced into a situation that they weren’t sure how to get out of. So many were probably not more than children. Karl was the perfect example of this. He had a conscience, he had remorse, he tried to right wrongs but who was really capable of going against Hitler. I cannot imagine being put into that position. Allina, also barely more than a child, was such a strong female character. The life experiences that she had to face were enough to break anyone yet she found a way to persevere. She was so incredibly brave. Strong female characters are my absolute favorite.

I loved the plot and how the author tried to stay as close to fact as possible but taking liberties in the storyline to give the reader hope for a hopeless situation. I liked that she used some factual figures along with her fictional characters. It really gave the story an authentic feel. At times, I forgot that this was a fictional story based on factual events and not a historical account of actual events. The author states in her note that this was 20 years in the making and I believe it. She definitely took the time to do thorough research which I appreciate and respect. I look forward to future books from this author. I would definitely recommend this book to any reader who enjoys WWII historical fiction.

The Sunflower House by Adriana Allegri
🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

This most surely will become a classic! This is a fictional story rich with accurate historical significance. It left me with tears, yet relief.

The author illustrates the Lebensborn Program of Nazi Germany. Allina's bucolic life is forever torn by one destructive night when the Nazis kill her family and force her into labor as a nurse at a baby-making factory for the Germans.

At first, she is timid due to horrific events that happen to her and what she is surrounded by. Her resiliency grows imperishable after she meets, falls in love with, and marries a high-ranking SS officer, Karl. Together and with many other allies, they work tirelessly to save as many Jewish children as possible.

Ultimately, Karl sacrifices himself so that Allina and their daughter, Katrine, are able to survive and thus, altering the course of their futures.

This story was well researched and made this reader feel the emotions and dilemmas of each character. The atrocities of this time and horrible experiments and treatment are so deep and incomprehensible. The author brought this to life in a profound way.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the advanced reader's copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

#TheSunflowerHouse #NetGalley #StMartinsPress #HistoricalFiction #WomensFiction
#AdrianaAllegri @netgalley @stmartinspress @adrianaallegri #TheHolocaust #LebensbornProgram #Romance

The Sunflower House is an incredible debut novel that brings to light the Nazi Lebensborn Program in which women are sent to homes to give birth and also to meet and mate with German soldiers in an effort to propagate pure-born German children.

Some children remained with the mothers, others were adopted out and any with defects were sent away to a likely unfortunate end. I had heard of these homes, but this is the first detailed account I have read about what went on in the homes.

The main character, Allina ends up being sent to one such home after her village was raided and many of her neighbors and family members were murdered by Nazi soldiers. She was lucky to be saved due to her youth and appearance.

While at the home, Allina recovers from the physical and emotional trauma from the raid and eventually meets a high-ranking officer. The two become drawn to each other and after a time build enough trust to reveal their secrets and their desire to work against the Nazi regime in order to save the children.

I loved reading about this strong German woman and her brave officer. While the beginning of the story was harrowing, the rest of the story was predominately set in the home with the children and finally a tension-filled ending.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to rad an advance copy. I am happy to recommend this to other readers. I really enjoyed the book.

This historical fiction set in WWII Germany was both heartbreaking and beautiful. It had tension and suspense but not at a stressful level, which I appreciated.

Allina Straus is living a happy, quiet life working in her uncle's bookstore in a small German village. What she doesn't know is that her aunt and uncle have kept secret the dangerous fact that she is a Mischling, a person with mixed Jewish heritage. After her village is attacked, Allina is forced into servitude at a government run baby factory called Hochland Home, where she becomes a witness to the horrors of Himmler's eugenics program.

At Hochland Home, Allina meets Karl, a handsome high-ranking SS officer with his own secrets. Together they attempt to save as many babies as they can, while slowly learning to love and trust each other.

I loved this book even though it was difficult to read. The slow-burn romance was heartwarming, and the history lessons were valuable.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press for this ARC to review!

I chose this book to request on NetGalley because the synopsis grabbed my attention. I have read many historical fiction books set during World War II, but I have never read anything about the topic discussed in this book. The Sunflower House explores the topic of the German lebensborn program in which German women of "pure" blood were encouraged to breed children for the Reich.

The main character, Allina, is a young German woman with Jewish blood in her ancestry, but this fact is well-hidden. Through a series of terrible events, Allina finds herself placed in Hochland Home, one of the German "baby factories." She serves as a nurse and teacher to the children there. Through her connection to a young German officer, she seeks to help the children under her care while protecting her identity.

I found this book to be both engaging and informative. It sent me down a rabbit hole of information. The character development is done well. I felt sympathy for the main characters and the children in the home, and I felt disgust for the Nazi regime and its ideas and practices. I even found myself a little teary-eyed toward the end.

Overall, this is a solid, well-written WWII historical fiction. I would recommend it to fans of the genre.

Thank you, Netgalley & SMP for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is outside my normal genre. I don't "often" read historical fiction, but I occasionally pick one up for something a little different than my typical fantasy/romance. This was an excellent, eye-opening, and emotional read, especially in today's times. For that reason, it wasn't easy to read for me in some parts. But, this was a beautifully written story.