The Fortunate Ones : Beautiful and Heartbreaking World War 2 Historical Fiction

This story begins in Berlin in 1941 where Felix, a mischling and a printer’s apprentice lives with his parents. Inge is wealthy and is about to enter into an arranged marriage to a wealthy, older physician. Shortly before the wedding, Inge’s best friend, Liesl talks her into going to a dance for one last chance to have some fun. At the dance, Felix and Inge meet, dance and share a few kisses and they both fall madly in love with each other. They meet one more time before she marries and Felix and his father are deported to a work camp. The book toggles between Felix’s struggles in the prison camp and his life after the liberation and Inge’s life as a Nazi physician’s wife. The story spans from 1941 to 1956 in Berlin. This was a very emotional and heartbreaking read at times and it was hard to put down. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this fantastic book in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves WWII Historical Fiction books.

This was a really good book. At first, it was confusing. Hokin has a bit of a disjointed way of writing. Whether it is seguing into new ideas through paragraphs or chapters, or starting new ideas or going from past to present, they could’ve been made clearer with a bit of editing expertise.

That said, for a first novel, this was terrific. The characters popped with their different personalities and mannerisms. Detail was very well illustrated. Felix was a strong character, surviving his horrible ordeal at concentration camps with the hope of finding his “Hannah” and having a life with her. His fixation of her was needed more for his survival than her needing to find him again.

Max was an atrocious man of the Nazi party, basically Mengele’s twin in conducting medical tests and experiments on Jews and others the Nazis deemed unacceptable. His calculating ways kept Inge fearing for her life. The only reason she was kept alive was for their son Wolf, who Max poisoned with lies and manipulation about Inge. But Inge was far smarter in the end than Max could’ve suspected. SPOILER ALERT… Although, Inge and Felix did not ultimately get together, I think that was the best result considering the perfect expectations Felix had of her. I love how Hokin made the story interweave and circle around to the coincidental ending. It seems to me that Max and other Nazis would’ve gotten away with their atrocities had Inge and Felix gotten together before he was taken away and she married Max. It was a sound storyline.

I wish there would be a sequel. I want to see Max and the others who escaped to be found and punished. I definitely recommend this book.

I was impressed by the knowledge of World War II history shown in this novel. There were so many details about the war from the prewar conditions in Germany, the war itself and the bombings, the concentration camps, life of the top Nazi officials and their wives, the post-war division of Germany, the escape of some top Nazis to Argentina, the war trials. This book takes its two main characters through all this history. Felix is an artistic young man whose father is Jewish (is his name, which means happy or lucky, ironic?); Inge is the perfect blond German girl. Felix, the ultimate romantic, after two meetings with Inge idealizes her as his love, his beacon of hope in all the following horrors of a concentration camp and afterthough he thinks her name is Harriet and that she is Jewish. Inge, as the forced wife of an abusive Nazi doctor, always remembers Felix as well. Both, then, are in different ways enslaved. Sometimes in these World War II novels (as in real life) there are happy endingsthe two parted lovers miraculously find each other. The ending of this novel on one hand rationally impressed me, and on the other left me emotionally uncomfortable and wondering: who are the fortunate ones?

This could of been such a great book, guy meets girl, guy falls in love with girl, girl’s parents interfere,Nazi invasion happens which separates them. The writing is good, but the main characters are frustrating immature and whiney people who drove me crazy. Without ruining the plot for you, the reason I gave this book only 3 stars is because the characters acted like children not adults and the ending. That being said, this is not the worse book you will ever read but IMHO I say if it’s free give it a try but it’s not worth spending any money on – may I suggest A Fire Sparkling or The Nightingale .

I spotted this book on Bookbub and bought it on Amazon. Inge, a young woman who becomes trapped in a dangerous marriage in wartime Germany, and Felix, a young man who never quits despite the odds, were embedded in my mind. I cheered for Inge. I cheered for Felix. I shuddered at their situations… abusive marriage… prison camp… I watched their innocence fade as World War II shook their lives. I wanted them to be together, each to be safe. I hoped theyd find their way back to each other, as one (reluctantly) began the process of leaving war-torn Germany… I will not share the outcome. The pacing is excellent. The authors descriptions and dialogue are brilliant. I did not expect the ending. I highly recommend The Fortunate Ones.

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