reviewsbyerin

Imagine learning a family secret so terrible that generations have covered it up. A secret that has turned your family inward for eighty years. Then having the bravery to bring the secret to light, to question it all, in search of the truth.

That's what happened to Caroline Payne. When a friend from college approaches her a decade later to give her a courtesy heads up that he's running an article about her British great-aunt who had an affair with a Nazi soldier and defected to Germany during WWII, Caroline is shocked. All her life she believed this great-aunt—the one she was named after!—died in childhood. Could it possibly be true? What if it isn't true? Can she prove it either way?

Facing disapproval from her family, Caroline goes to London to trace her family's heritage. Uncovering letters and journals, she searches through history to find out what happened to her great-aunt all those years ago.

This book deals with all kinds of family twists and turns, both in the 1930s and 1940s as well as present day. Will unraveling the tangled secrets about Aunt Caro bring healing? Or widen the rifts between them?

While I enjoyed this book in many ways, it took me a long time to read it. The non-linear discovery of Caro's life was a bit hard to follow, and I personally find books where multiple characters share the same name to be unnecessarily confusing. I missed any kind of faith content as well. But the history was fascinating, the emotions well-drawn, and the ending was something I never expected. There's lots to recommend this book, especially if you like detailed historical fiction.

I received my copy of the book from NetGalley. All opinions in this review are my own.