Germany 1940. As secretary to the leader of the SS, Magda spends her days sending party invitations to high-ranking Nazis, and her evenings distributing pamphlets for the resistance. But Magda is leading a dangerous double life, smuggling secrets out of the office. It's a deadly game, and eventual exposure is a certainty, but Magda is driven by a need to keep the man she secretly loves safe as he fights against the Nazis...
Forty years later. Nina 's heart pounds as she steps into an uncertain future carrying a forged passport, a few bank notes, and a scribbled address for The Tower House taken from an intricate drawing she found hidden in her grandmother's wardrobe. Separated from her family and betrayed by her country, Nina's last hope is to trace her family's history in the ruins of the past her grandmother ran from. But, when she finally finds the abandoned house, she opens the door to a forgotten story, and to secrets which will change everything: past, present, and future...
***
Why had he given her a drawing? PROLOGUE
***
(@Bookouture, 24 May 2021, 354 pages, ebook, #ARC from the publisher via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed, #BlogTour 24 May, #booksontour)
***
***
I've read and enjoyed other books by the author so I was really looking forward to The Secretary. I've read a lot of books set during and after WWII including some set in Berlin and Germany so I was on familiar ground with this book. The Secretary uses one of my favourite structures with the story moving between 1940 telling Magda's heart-breaking story and 1989 focusing on Nina's search for the truth and her shocking discoveries against the backdrop of the fall of the Berlin wall. This is an engrossing read.
