Choose Life

Secrets She Kept by Cathy Gohlke is a marvellous Christian historical novel that will consume your thoughts and your every waking moment. At the heart of the novel are secrets and choice. We all must choose when we stand at crossroads in life. We always have the choice to do the right thing. We do not always choose what happens to us but we can choose our responses.

The novel is set over two time periods – 1938-1945 in Nazi Germany and 1972 in America and Germany. The voices are those of mother and daughter and in the first person as they alternate the chapters.

Germany in 1972 was still feeling the after effects of the war. “What they think about life, how they viewed the Reich and Hitler’s accomplishments or even executions … I would be very surprised if much of that has changed in their minds.” Fear still lived in the hearts of the Jewish survivors as they realised “prejudice does not disappear because laws change.” There were still German survivors of the war who still believed that they did no wrong. This is utterly, utterly horrifying and had a profound effect on me as I read.