historical fiction – Page 282 – What Cathy Read Next…

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want. Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post. Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists. Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

This week’s topic is Reasons Why I Love [insert your favorite book title, genre, author, etc. here]. As regular followers of my blog will know, I love historical fiction and have a particular fondness for historical crime mysteries. Below you can find some of the reasons.

Obvious really, but you get all the elements of crime fiction – a crime (or crimes), an investigation, suspects, clues, a final reveal and maybe a few twists along the way – but with the addition of a historical setting.
The story is usually set against the background of actual historical events even if it departs on occasions from what really happened (or the order in which it happened) for the sake of the plot.
You can learn the same fascinating facts about how people lived that you would from reading a history book but with a gripping plot.
You are transported to a different period in time – the sights, sounds and usually smells!
It will commonly have a mix of real and fictional characters. For example, no historical mystery set in Elizabethan times seems to be complete without an appearance by either a member of the Cecil family or Sir Francis Walsingham!
You are likely to come across some great, often unconventional (for the times), crime busting partnerships. For example, Nicholas Shelby and Bianca Merton in S. W. Perry’s Jackdaw Mysteries series.
The author is forced to use their imagination to depict crime investigation and detection without the benefit of modern scientific techniques. No CSI-style DNA testing!
A different time period also brings other limitations that can enhance the plot: slower communication, more primitive means of transport, social constraints.
Although it’s great to experience the streets of Medieval or Elizabethan London, a historical crime mystery can also transport you to other geographical locations. Barcelona, Marrakech, New York anyone?
Finally, it’s surprising how much contemporary resonance there can be in a historical mystery. For example, pestilence in a capital city with entertainment places closed down. No, not now – Elizabethan London. Fake news used to spread misinformation? No, not now – pre-WW2 Germany.

I’m going to finish by sharing some of my favourite historical crime series. I’ve included only those where I’ve read more than one book in the series and listed only those titles I’ve read and reviewed. There may be (almost certainly are) other books in the series not shown that are still in my TBR pile or wishlist. Links from the titles will take you to my review.

The Tom Wilde series by Rory Clements (published by Zaffre)
Corpus Nucleus Nemesis Hitler’s Secret

The Teifi Valley Coroner series by Alis Hawkins (published by The Dome Press)
None So Blind

The Justice Flanagan series by Paddy Hirsch (published by Corvus)
The Devil’s Half Mile Hudson’s Kill

The Gower Street Detective and Betty Church series by M. R. C. Kasasian (published by Head of Zeus)
Dark Dawn Over Steep House Betty Church & The Suffolk Vampire

The Nighthawk series by Jim Kelly (published by Allison & Busby)
The Great Darkness The Mathematical Bridge

The Gregor Reinhardt series by Luke McCallin (published by No Exit Press)
The Pale House The Ashes of Berlin

The Jackdaw Mysteries series by S W Perry (published by Corvus)
The Angel’s Mark The Serpent’s Mark The Saracen’s Mark

The Cornish Mysteries series by Katherine Stansfield (published by Allison & Busby)
The Magpie Tree The Mermaid’s Call

The Ingo Finch series by Jeff Dawson (published by Canelo)
No Ordinary Killing The Cold North Sea

Of course, there are plenty of other historical crime series I could recommend including those by C J Sansom, S J Parris, Philip Kerr and David Ashton. OK, I’ll stop now before I have you spending all your money…

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for People Like Us by Louise Fein (published in the US as Daughter of the Reich). My thanks to Vicky Joss at Head of Zeus for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy via NetGalley. Do check out the post of my tour buddy, Grace at GraceJReviewerlady.

About the Book

‘I nearly drowned and Walter rescued me. That changes everything.’

Leipzig, 1930’s Germany. Hetty Heinrich is a perfect German child. Her father is an SS officer, her brother in the Luftwaffe, herself a member of the BDM. She believes resolutely in her country, and the man who runs it.

Until Walter changes everything. Blond-haired, blue-eyed, perfect in every way Walter. The boy who saved her life. A Jew.

Anti-Semitism is growing by the day, and neighbours, friends and family members are turning on one another. As Hetty falls deeper in love with a man who is against all she has been taught, she begins to fight against her country, her family and herself.

Hetty will risk have to risk everything to save Walter, even if it means sacrificing herself…

Format: ebook (528 pages) Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 7th May 2020 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find People Like Us on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon UK | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

People Like Us transports the reader to pre-WW2 Germany and life as seen through the eyes of Hetty. Month by month through the years between 1933 and 1938, we witness Hetty’s transformation from malleable young girl, to conflicted teenager and, finally, to young woman forced by circumstances to make the most difficult decision of her life. All this against the background of the rise of Nazism and the prospect of war. In her Author’s Note, Louise Fein explains the novel was inspired by her own family history and her desire to tell the story of a young person fed, in her words, “a twisted ideology”.

The indoctrination of young people like Hetty through the education system was especially unsettling to read about: classes in the ‘science’ of eugenics and racial purity, study of the life of the Fuhrer, and a “daily chant of gratitude” to Hitler. In a chilling subversion of the book’s title, Hetty and her classmates are taught that other races are not “people like us” but different and inferior to the German people.

Whilst reading the book I was reminded of the quotation “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. This seemed particularly relevant in a scene where Hetty’s father, an SS officer who also runs Leipzig’s main newspaper explains to her and Karl, her brother, it’s importance. “This…is the most important tool we have. With these inked words, we can shape our nation. There is no such thing as news per se. News is power, wrapped in a message, presented, told and retold.” The book is a reminder, as if one were needed, of how easy it is to manipulate public opinion by playing on people’s fears and sense of injustice. And how those feelings can be transformed into hatred of an “other”, whether that be people of a different religion or race.

However, there are messages of hope within the book. The author is careful to give us characters who demonstrate not every German was a Nazi, that there were those who resisted, necessarily in secret. As one character observes, “Even if we only do something small, help just one person…Well, that’s defiance, isn’t it?” And I loved the notion that even daring to think differently, to challenge what you have been taught is an achievement. So we see the contrast between Hetty’s witnessing of the violence of Kristallnacht – “ordinary men and women, carried along by something huge and ugly, overwhelming hatred and fear that makes them do unthinkable, unspeakable things” – and the courage and generosity of others such as those who organised the Kindertransport taking children to safety in England.

The experiences of Hetty and Walter, two young people who love each other but find events and political dogma have placed obstacles in their way, I’m sure replicate many real life stories from the time. It makes People Like Us an emotion-filled and compelling story of forbidden love, betrayal and sacrifice.

In three words: Intense, emotional, insightful

Try something similar: Hidden in the Shadows by Imogen Matthews

Follow this blog via Bloglovin

About the Author

Louise Fein holds an MA in Creative Writing from St Mary’s University. Prior to studying for her Master’s degree, she ran a commodity consultancy business following a career in banking and law. She lives in Surrey with her family.

People Like Us is inspired by her family history, and by the alarming parallels she sees between the early 1930s and today.

Connect with Louise
Website | Twitter | Facebook