Category: Reading Challenges

Book Review: A Quiet Genocide by Glenn Bryant

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A Quiet Genocide [Amsterdam Publishers] by Glenn Bryant COVERAbout the Book

Germany, 1954. Jozef grows up in a happy household – so it seems. But his father Gerhard still harbours disturbing National Socialism ideals, while mother Catharina is quietly broken. She cannot feign happiness for much longer and rediscovers love elsewhere. Jozef is uncertain and alone. Who is he? Are Gerhard and Catharina his real parents?

A dark mystery gradually unfolds, revealing an inescapable truth the entire nation is afraid to confront. But Jozef is determined to find out about the past and a horror is finally unmasked which continues to question our idea of what, in the last hour, makes each of us human.

A terrifying and heartbreaking story.

Format: ebook (240 pp.)             Publisher: Amsterdam Publishers
Published: 22nd August 2018     Genre: Historical Fiction

Pre-order/Purchase Links*
Publisher | Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find A Quiet Genocide on Goodreads

My Review

The Quiet Genocide contains a wealth of fascinating information about the rise of Hitler and National Socialism that was certainly new to this reader. The author chooses to impart these facts largely through the classes Jozef attends at school and university, so I did feel at times that I was sitting alongside him in a series of history lectures – a case of telling rather than showing.  This contrasted with the sections of moving first-hand testimony, for example from Professor Zielinski, which felt much more vivid and powerful.   I also confess that I found it difficult to identify with the adolescent drinking exploits of Jozef and his university friends that take up some of the book.

Jozef’s experiences at school and university are interspersed with insights into the troubled marriage of his parents, Catharina and Gerhard.   Gerhard finds refuge in drinking sessions, either alone or with his acquaintance Michael, who seems to exercise a strange hold over Gerhard and exudes a general air of malevolence.  Catharina finds refuge from her unhappy marriage in a quite different way; a way that will have unforeseen and tragic consequences.

The subtitle of the book, The Untold Holocaust of Disabled Children in WW2 Germany, means the subject matter of the book is clear to the reader from the start but of course what the reader doesn’t know is how Jozef’s personal history is connected to this terrible atrocity.  I think it’s fair to say that it takes quite a while for the mystery surrounding Jozef’s past to be revealed.  However, as the book draws towards its shocking conclusion and the true nature of the connection is revealed, it provides an explanation for the strained relationship between Jozef’s parents and demonstrates how the malevolent influence and twisted belief systems of Nazism persisted in some quarters even beyond the end of the war.  I found this latter section of the book the most compelling and, for me, it had the pace that was perhaps lacking in earlier parts of the book.

Although I have read a number of books about atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War Two, the shocking nature of those events never seems to lose its impact.  Most shocking of all, I find, is the ruthless efficiency and organisation with which such terrible acts were carried out: paperwork completed, records kept, numbers tallied, targets set.  Books such as A Quiet Genocide perform an important role in ensuring that such atrocities are never forgotten.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of the author in return for an honest and unbiased review.

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In three words: Compelling, factual, chilling

Try something similar…The Good Doctor of Warsaw by Elisabeth Gifford (read my review here)

Glenn Bryant PORTRAITAbout the Author

Glenn Bryant was born in 1976 and grew up in Grimsby, the north of England. He has a Masters degree from the University of Dundee, Scotland in modern history where he studied in detail the Warsaw Ghetto 1940-43. He trained in newspaper journalism and is a qualified and experienced senior journalist.

His wife champions disability rights and is experienced working closely with people with complex disabilities.

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Blog Tour/Book Review: The Unlikely Heroics of Sam Holloway by Rhys Thomas

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FINAL Unlikely Heroics Blog Tour Poster

I’m delighted to be co-hosting the final stop on the blog tour for The Unlikely Heroics of Sam Holloway by Rhys Thomas, along with my tour buddy Sharon at Stardust Book Reviews.  You can read my review of this quirky, engaging and heart-warming book below.  However, first let’s see what a few of the other book bloggers taking part in the tour have had to say about the book.

Kaisha at The Writing Garnet described The Unlikely Heroics of Sam Holloway as ‘thought-provoking and poignant’ whilst on her blog Ronnie Turner admitted that it broke her heart reading about Sam’s past.  Jo at Over The Rainbow Book Blog thought the book was ‘gorgeous’, managing to be ‘heartbreaking and heart warming at the same time’.  There was similar praise from Adele at Kraftireader who found herself ‘totally entranced’ by the story and thought it likely to be one of her top reads for 2018.  Amanda at My Bookish Blogspot concluded it was a novel that will stay with her for a long time.

I could go on but I think you’ve probably got the message by now so I’ll leave you to check out the thoughts of other bloggers on the tour.

The Unlikely Heroics of Sam HollowayAbout the Book

This is no ordinary love story and Sam is no typical hero…but he is a hero.

Sam Holloway has survived the worst that life can throw at you. But he’s not really living. His meticulous routines keep everything nice and safe – with just one exception… Three nights a week, Sam dons his superhero costume and patrols the streets. It makes him feel invincible – but his unlikely heroics are getting him into some sticky, and increasingly dangerous, situations.

Then a girl comes into his life, and his ordered world is thrown into chaos … and now Sam needs to decide whether he can be brave enough to finally take off the mask.

Format: Paperback, ebook (304 pp.)    Publisher: Wildfire Books
Published: 9th August 2018                 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Unlikely Heroics of Sam Holloway on Goodreads

My Review

‘The two most important things in life are to be brave and to be good.’

As a child, Sam recalls being told by his mother that he was ‘a sensitive boy’.  He is indeed sensitive but I think a more appropriate description might be ‘humane’.  Sam is intensely aware of the needs of others, their daily struggles and their feelings.  He also has an appreciation of how each person in their own way contributes to society and, indirectly, to his own well-being and creature comforts.  ‘Sitting down to a nice cup of coffee.  And yet we go about our lives without ever thinking of the people working whole lifetimes on coffee plantations, living awful hand-to-mouth existences in the hope things will be better for their kids, but they never are, and all that so we may enjoy sugar-free gingerbread one-shot skinny decaf lattes with a sprinkling of cinnamon in lovely coffee shops who falsely claim ethical perfection.’

This aspect of Sam’s character really comes to the fore when an incident occurs that affects the operation of the company for which he works.  It also triggers distressing reminders of the traumatic and tragic event which has shaped his life and to which his response has been to adopt a regimented, ordered existence – what he himself describes as seeking a ‘stable state for his soul’.   Unfortunately, that stability will prove to be precarious as events unfold that are outside his control.

To my mind, Sam is a superhero, not just because of the brave and selfless acts he carries out when he becomes his alter ego The Phantasm, but because of what he has endured in his life and the fact he is still carrying on despite everything.  Having said that, I defy anyone not to shed a little tear at the description of Sam’s usual Christmas Day routine.  Then a chance – or if you believe in such things, fated – encounter brings him the possibility of a much brighter future but one which will test Sam’s fortitude to the limit.

The Unlikely Heroics of Sam Holloway is a story of grief and guilt but also of friendship, generosity, love, the resilience of the human spirit and the importance of community.  It delivers a powerful message about knowing when to reach out to others, having the courage to let people get close to you and being willing to accept help when that is the hardest thing you can imagine.   In case this makes the book sound heavy, I’ll also say that it is written with real wit and humour.

I received a review copy courtesy of publishers, Wildfire Books, and Anne at Random Things Tours in return for an honest and unbiased review.

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In three words: Quirky, heart-warming, hopeful

Try something similar…600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster or A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (read my review here)

Rhys Thomas Author PictureAbout the Author

Rhys Thomas lives in Cardiff with his long-term girlfriend and two cats, Henry VIII and Sheldon Tilllikum Cooper.

Connect with Rhys

Twitter  ǀ  Goodreads