Berlin, 1934. Homes once filled with laughter stand empty as the Nazi party's grip on the city tightens. When Anna Tiegel's beautiful best friend catches Reich Minister Goebbels' special attention, an impulsive act to save her brings Anna under his unforgiving scrutiny. First, she loses her job, and then slowly, mercilessly, she finds her life stripped away. After her father is killed by the Nazis, Anna's final hope is to escape to America with her boyfriend Eddy, but when she reaches his apartment on the agreed date, she finds it deserted. Alone and pregnant, the future feels terrifying, but she must try to protect the life inside her.
Rhode Island, 1957. Peggy Bailey stares in shock at the faded photograph of two laughing women which her beloved adoptive mother struggled to pass on to her before she died, whispering 'It was inside your baby blanket when we brought you home'. As Peggy continues to stare, she realises that she has seen one of the girls before, in the most unlikely of places... Bursting at the realisation, she embarks on a mission which takes her across America to find the truth behind her heritage. Nothing, however, could prepare her for the tragic story her actions uncover...
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Anna felt the sound in the same moment she heard it. PROLOGUE, CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 1935
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(@bookouture, 28 January 2021, 361 pages, ebook, #ARC from the publisher via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed, #BlogTour 30 January)
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I loved this book. I cried a lot reading it. I loved the way the chapters alternate between 1934 and 1957, gradually revealing how the past affects Peggy's life in the present as she strives to find the mother who abandoned her and get answers. I didn't like Peggy at times; she is single-minded in her determination to find her mother, drudging up the past of a famous Hollywood actress with little consideration for privacy or thinking about what the consequences could be. I warmed to her in the end. She just wants to know the truth. I enjoyed the chapters set in 1945 the best, as Germany falls under the grip of Nazi's and Anna's life is changed forever. I loved this book
