Tag Archive | Catherine Hokin

The Girl Who Told The Truth by Catherine Hokin

Jan13

Powerful & Engrossing

The Girl Who Told The Truth by Catherine Hokin is a powerful historical novel that consumed me from the start.

The action is set in 1930’s-1940’s mainly in London but also in Berlin. We follow one young British woman who desires the truth about fascism to be known. She also wants the perpetrators of an evil regime to be brought to justice.

In contrast there is a young German woman who makes it her mission to make sure fascism doesn’t end with the death of Hitler. She wants to garner support, especially in Britain. She is cunning and evil – but will goodness triumph?

The reader sees the evil Oswald Moseley and his Blackshirts as they try to take over London’s East End but “we won’t be told what to do by men who peddle hatred, not on these streets.” The plucky East End fights back as good triumphs over evil in their hearts.

With World War II comes the opening up of lives for women as they step into roles traditionally occupied by men. “Annie wasn’t the only woman who’d found a sense of freedom and purpose waiting inside the war’s ministries.”

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The Secret Locket by Catherine Hokin

Jul7

When The World Was Silent

The Secret Locket by Catherine Hokin is a powerful historical novel that I read in just two sittings, pausing only to sleep.

The novel is set in Germany from 1934 to the end of World War II. The action begins in a small village before moving to other locations – Munich, Warsaw, Dachau and more.

Within the village the bully-boy tactics of a powerful man sympathetic to the Nazi party, ruin the lives of the few Jewish residents. We see the power of one man to lie, manipulate, coerce and murder – and the crime of the villagers is to remain silent.

It doesn’t matter that the Jewish family do not practice their faith, their crime is simply being born Jewish. “Nobody would tell her why a faith she rarely practised and rarely thought about had turned overnight into the most important thing about her.”

Catherine Hokin has captured the atmosphere of fear and of liberties being eroded. Far too many fell for Hitler’s lies and had the belief that war was glorious.

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The Train That Took You Away by Catherine Hokin

Jan22

Holding On To Hope

The Train That Took You Away by Catherine Hokin is a powerful historical novel that I read in just two sittings.

The novel is set from 1936-1946 in Berlin, the seat of the Nazis power. There are also a few scenes in Blitz-ravaged London.

We follow three main characters all connected with the art world – a young female art restorer from England; a young artist; and a young mother who runs an art gallery in Berlin. The latter two are Jewish and their war is beyond horrendous.

Germany seems to be a civilized nation in 1936 as it welcomes people to the Olympics. The young art restorer declares in 1936; “The German people are too kind and too good to let hatred and prejudice swallow it.” Unfortunately, the German people were governed by fear and/or blind adoration as they believed the lies they were told.

Bit by bit the lives of the Jewish people were eroded until all their liberties and freedoms were gone. Those who remained in Berlin were said to be “invisible and we’re targets, and we’ve nothing to live on but bad food, fear and rumor.”

There is much heartache and sacrificial love as a character makes the decision to put her eight-year-old son on the kinder transport to England for safety. It is an emotional wrench and only the hope that she will see him again, keeps her going.

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The Secret Hotel In Berlin by Catherine Hokin

Jul15

Back Where She Belongs

The Secret Hotel In Berlin by Catherine Hokin is a powerful dual timeline historical novel that I read in just two sittings.

The action is set in Berlin, mostly surrounding a hotel, during World War II and in 1990. The hotel was a favourite of Hitler and the leading Nazis in the war years, then fell into Soviet hands as it was in East Berlin. After the wall came down in 1989, it was privately purchased. Now it has the opportunity to be renovated and brought back to life.

Walls came down in hearts too in 1990. Families torn apart by the Soviet controlled East Berlin, had erected walls to protect hearts but it had the opposite effect and actually hurt hearts. Now these hardened hearts need to be softened, renovated and brought back to life. Now is the time to build bridges instead of walls.

Sacrificial love was a major theme. There was love that let go, in order that others might thrive. The love remained when all else was gone. The memories remained. And a hope for restoration one day remained.

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