I was hooked from the start as the story opens in Summer 2006 in Ramsey, N.J., and a 2 a.m. call is answered by Katherine. It’s the hospital letting her know her 86-year-old mother was in the ER—with a sprained wrist and a bump on her head. Katherine was upset, but her mom was a hurricane of a woman; she would recover quickly. Katherine was learning how to mother her mother. It was hard

Katrine discovers something unexpected in her mother's bedroom closet. Katherine learns about the Sunflower House scenario for the first time. Katrine begs her mother, Allina, to explain her unusual upbringing. When she does expound, there is a lot to unfold. Katrine now needs to make sense of what she has learned.

In another timeline, the author shows Allina as a heroic young lady who has the courage to fight for what is right in relation to the WWII Nazi baby factory. Warning: There is a brief rape scene featuring a young girl and a Nazi. Babies are ignored and abused, living in deplorable conditions. I’ve read many WWII books, but I'd never heard of "baby factories" until reading this historical novel.

This story is based on true events. The author describes how she learned about the Sunflower House in the author’s notes: "Why a novel about the SS Lebensborn program? Once I learned about facilities like Hochland Home, I couldn’t get them out of my head.” Hitler was trying to create a master race.”

“Homes started out as havens for unwed mothers who gave their babies to “good Nazi families.” Not realizing there was something much more sinister afoot. “

This novel takes a different approach by telling the story of Germans who disagreed with what the Reich sought. However, there is a twist in this intense story. Set in Nazi Germany, the terror is mixed with moments of tenderness as Allina and Karl fight together to help the children. They were aware of the risk that they were putting themselves in, but they continued to fight for the innocent ones, their beliefs, and their love. This is a must read.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I requested and received a copy of this book by the publisher and NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Nora St. Laurent
TBCN Where Book Fun Begins!
The Book Club Network blog https://psalm516.blogspot.com/

This story was very hard to read. It tells of a Nazi WWII baby factory. So much sadness and cruelty caused by Hitler.

Historical Fiction; great narration on audio. really nice story; enjoyed the characters and their journey.

Title:  The Sunflower House  
Author: Adriana Allegri         
Genre: Historical fiction        
Rating: 5 out of 5

In a sleepy German village, Allina Strauss’s life seems idyllic: she works at her uncle’s bookshop, makes strudel with her aunt, and spends weekends with her friends and fiancé. But it's 1939, Adolf Hitler is Chancellor, and Allina’s family hides a terrifying secret—her birth mother was Jewish, making her a Mischling.

One fateful night after losing everyone she loves, Allina is forced into service as a nurse at a state-run baby factory called Hochland Home. There, she becomes both witness and participant to the horrors of Heinrich Himmler’s ruthless eugenics program.

The very idea of this eugenics program is horrifying to me, but the author did an excellent job of capturing bits of hope amidst such darkness. Allina experiences true horror the night her life fell apart, and she took a long time to heal from it, but she did. I appreciated the hope that part of the story illustrated. This was well-written and so moving—and I loved every page of it.

Adriana Allegri lives in Arizona. The Sunflower House is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Heart breaking, gut wrenching, a beautiful book with lyrical writing. I highly recommend to all my historical fiction fans

Allina has a decent life, living with her aunt and uncle and working in her uncle's shop. But then he falls ill and reveals to her the truth of her birth--she is part Jewish, which in Nazi Germany is very dangerous. When her uncle dies and her world falls apart, Allina finds herself in a home for unwed mothers. Not just young women who fall pregnant, but those who are kept there deliberately to breed Aryan babies.

A young Nazi officer catches her eye when she realizes he is not all he seems. Caring, concerned for the babies as she is. And like Allina, secretly Mischling. As the two fall in love, they conspire to keep their secret, while saving as many children as they can.

Allina and Karl are characters the reader will care deeply about. And if the well-researched backstory seems unbelievable, the reader should remember it could happen here, too. The Sunflower House is a timely warning as well as a finely drawn romance and novel of historical fiction. #TheSunflowerHouse #NetGalley

Best historical fiction!!! Just so good.

This story introduced me to things about Germany during WWII that I had heard little about until reading this book. This is a two timeline story but switching from one to the other is so smooth. It keeps the main story going without a lot of interruptions. The characters are well developed and the pace of the story was good. This story is well written and keeps the reader engaged. The book is hard to put down. I plan to read more books by Adriana Allegri in the future.

The Sunflower House is the novel about WWII we needed! This brings to light a completely different part of Nazi Germany that I knew nothing about. This is solidly historical fiction that takes us through Allina’s life as the Reich came into power and began to use “baby factories” to create the perfect race.
The storytelling is wonderful. I think fans of historical fiction will love this one! There is a nice love story and some great friendships as well as triumph over evil.

This was a very difficult but important book to have read. Quite honestly, I was seduced by the cover and had I actually read the summary of the book, either on NetGalley or Goodreads, I might not have ever read it. I have taught Holocaust literature in 13 out of my 20 years of teaching and have numerous books about the Holocaust and Hitler and have had my fill. Or at least I thought I did.
The author, Adriana Allegri, took a very emotionally wrenching subject and rendered it very realistically, no doubt through exceedingly meticulous and comprehensive research. I have not read Holocaust literature from the perspective of Germans. She faced an uphill battle, needing to convey pure evil in some Nazi characters portrayed in the book, without turning them into cardboard figures, as well as Germans who were themselves in danger because they were not purely Aryan, who faced gut wrenching decisions as they had to portray themselves as Nazis while trying to save Jews, making morally ambiguous decisions.
I learned a great deal about the Eugenics movement in Nazi Germany as well and while it is something I had always heard about, it is hard to read too much about. I never knew any specifics about these homes where they hid what they perceived to be the less inferior infants and young children before they reached their deaths or about what anyone tried to do to change or alter these outcomes. I don't know if I will be able to do this, because there are already so many unhappy things in the world right now, but this book has made me interested in researching the Eugenics movement.
The love and romance between Allina and Karl was moving and so realistically drawn as well as necessary for the book. It would have been impossible to read about such a grave and distressing topic if we could not see any joy or connect to the characters. In other words, the book would have been too unbearable and relentless to read without this.
This book should be on high school curricula everywhere. Obviously, the book, Night, is important and it is a memoir but this book could serve a similar purpose and perhaps be a bit more palatable.
Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this wonderful book, in exchange for my honest opinions.

The Sunflower House by Adriana Allegri is a very well written and engaging debut novel about the Lebensborn Program in Germany. It is an entertaining, fast paced story about WWII which is based on actual events. A truly moving story with strong characters in it. This is one of those books that keeps you reading late into the night.

The story centers around a young woman named Allina and the Nazi run Lebensborn program. An important SS officer, Karl takes a liking to Allina . Not all is as it seems. Even in terrible times romance can bloom. Together they work to help others and even save some of them from the horrors going on around them.

This book arouses a gambit of emotions in the reader from fear, panic, anger, grief, and hope in the good in some humans during horrific times. A must read for fans of historical fiction. I highly recommend this book to everyone, and look forward to this author’s next book.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book.

Adriana Allegri’s The Sunflower House is a harrowing yet deeply moving exploration of courage, resilience, and love in the face of unimaginable horrors. This meticulously researched debut sheds light on the notorious Lebensborn Program of Nazi Germany, weaving historical truth with a story that feels personal and profound.

Allina Strauss is an unforgettable protagonist. Her journey from a seemingly idyllic life in a German village to the heart of a chilling eugenics program is both heartbreaking and inspiring. Allegri masterfully captures Allina’s internal conflict as she navigates the constant threat of exposure while risking everything to protect the innocent lives in her care.

The setting of Hochland Home is hauntingly vivid, a stark reminder of humanity’s capacity for both cruelty and compassion. The romance between Allina and Karl adds depth and complexity, balancing the darkness of their reality with the hope and defiance that love can inspire. Their shared determination to resist injustice is both compelling and deeply emotional.

What sets The Sunflower House apart is Allegri’s ability to weave historical detail seamlessly into a narrative that feels intimate and raw. Themes of identity, sacrifice, and redemption resonate long after the final page. This is a story that doesn’t shy away from the atrocities of the past but also highlights the resilience of the human spirit.

A must-read for fans of historical fiction, The Sunflower House is a poignant tale of loss, survival, and the enduring power of love and resistance. Adriana Allegri has crafted a debut that will stay with readers for years to come.

TW: SA, murder, and all of the things that made WWII so very horrific.

“Doctors are all well and good, but they have no understanding of God‘s time. Promise me you’ll try to live with hope.”

“You remind me of my granddaughter.” 🤢

Let me first say this is a debut author/novel. It’s insane that this book can be that well written, thought out and researched for someone publishing their first novel and then for the prose to be so on perfect. The pacing of this book was everything it should be, my attention never left this story.

A gripping tale of sacrifice and resilience in the face of the darkest days of world history. A reminder that not everything is as it seems and there are good people everywhere, sometimes hiding in plain sight, just waiting for the right moment to take decisive action potentially changing the course of history.

While this book was sad, it also provided hope and connection to the main characters.

I think this would make a fantastic movie. Just remember to bring those tissues.

The story begins when Katrine's mother, Allina, falls from a step stool spraining her wrist. While looking in her closet she finds a wooden box with a swastika on the front. Her mother raised her alone and Katrine never knew anything about her father and now she is horrified to think he was a Nazi. Allina finally tells Katrine her secrets. As a young girl in the late 1930s Katrine was in love but after her village was destroyed she finds herself in a Lebensborn home, Hochland House, under the patronage of a gruppenfuhrer who raped her.

There is so much going on here. The characters were well developed, some not so likeable. The focus here was more about the children. In other books I have read it looks at the women more and the life they lead seducing the officers in order to bring more children into the Reich. This also looks at things from the point of view of the German people that weren't necessarily believers but had been put in a position of having to play along to survive. There was love and sadness and bravery and resilience. I can't recommend this story enough.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a digital copy.

I’ve read a few World War II books that mentioned Himmler’s program to produce a race of perfect Aryan children, but this book explores it in much more depth. Allina’s family is gone thanks to Hitler’s men. After being raped, she ends up in one of these houses where the women have babies and the babies are adopted by good German families. She becomes a caretaker in the nurseries. Allina meets a German soldier who works secretly to help Jewish children. Without giving away too much of the story, they fall in love and work together to make life better for the children in her care. Allina and Karl as well as some of the supporting characters are all wonderfully drawn as real people who rise to the occasion in horrific circumstances. I’ve read quite a few books that take place during World War II; this is definitely one of the really good ones.

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