The Sunflower House
A Novel
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4.2 • 5 Ratings
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
The beloved international bestseller!
Family secrets come to light as a young woman fights to save herself, and others, in a Nazi-run baby factory—a real-life Handmaid's Tale—during World War II.
In a sleepy German village, Allina Strauss’s life seems idyllic: she works at her uncle’s bookshop, makes strudel with her aunt, and spends weekends with her friends and fiancé. But it's 1939, Adolf Hitler is Chancellor, and Allina’s family hides a terrifying secret—her birth mother was Jewish, making her a Mischling.
One fateful night after losing everyone she loves, Allina is forced into service as a nurse at a state-run baby factory called Hochland Home. There, she becomes both witness and participant to the horrors of Heinrich Himmler’s ruthless eugenics program.
The Sunflower House is a meticulously-researched debut historical novel from Adriana Allegri that uncovers the notorious Lebensborn Program of Nazi Germany. Women of “pure” blood stayed in Lebensborn homes for the sole purpose of perpetuating the Aryan population, giving birth to thousands of babies who were adopted out to “good” Nazi families. Allina must keep her Jewish identity a secret in order to survive, but when she discovers the neglect occurring within the home, she’s determined not only to save herself, but also the children in her care.
A tale of one woman’s determination to resist and survive, The Sunflower House is also a love story. When Allina meets Karl, a high-ranking SS officer with secrets of his own, the two must decide how much they are willing to share with each other—and how much they can stand to risk as they join forces to save as many children as they can. The threads of this poignant and heartrending novel weave a tale of loss and love, friendship and betrayal, and the secrets we bury in order to save ourselves.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
One woman fights against evil in this stunning novel set in Nazi Germany. 1938 in Badensburg was not a good time to be outspoken, but feisty young Allina Strauss couldn’t keep silent listening to her friend’s fiancé, a member of the Hitler Youth, talk about her Jewish friends as if they were animals. Yet her resolve is shaken when, amidst the turmoil of the war, she is forced into service as a nurse at a shadowy facility called Hochland Home, working to see the eugenic theories of the Nazis become a reality. Author Adriana Allegri’s account of Himmler’s Lebensborn program is a heartbreakingly brilliant piece of historical fiction. We were horrified to learn about some of the lesser-known yet equally appalling atrocities the Nazis committed and cheered when Allina teamed up with a young officer to try to combat these wrongdoings from the inside. Rich in historic details and full of unforgettable characters, The Sunflower House has all the makings to become a classic.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Allegri's stirring debut, a secretly Jewish woman works at a Nazi maternity home during WWII. In a frame narrative set in 2006, Katrine, the daughter of 86-year-old Allina, discovers a swastika-adorned box in her mother's closet in New Jersey, and unexpectedly learns the truth of Allina's past. As a girl in 1920s Germany, Allina was happily raised by her aunt Claudia and uncle Dieter in the tiny town of Badensburg. In 1939, shortly before his death from cancer, Dieter tells Allina her birth mother was Jewish. She keeps the news a secret, but still does not escape abuse from the Nazis. When they raze her village for reasons that come out later, she's abducted and raped by a German soldier, who then forces her to work as a nurse at a Nazi Lebensborn home, or "baby factory," where women give birth to Aryan babies. There, Allina falls for SS officer Karl von Strassberg, who's covertly working for a resistance group. After their marriage and the birth of their daughter Katrine, Karl and Allina struggle to survive the war as he continues his dangerous resistance activities—leading them to make a fateful decision that Katrine eventually discovers. Allegri keenly depicts her characters' moral calculations, and she convincingly portrays the horrors of the Lebensborn program. This will stay with readers.
