When Vivi arrives in Madrid, she is captivated by its heat and colour, a world away from the grey of her life as a lonely newlywed back in Berlin. But her diplomat husband and beloved brother Christian are here for one reason only: to bring the Nazi regime to Spain, and to destroy everything that […]
The dark legacy of the Spanish Civil War
The legacy of the Spanish Civil War is still felt in Spain today, 90 years after it began. A culture of deliberate forgetting has meant that some of the darker truths about what happened are still covered up, as Catherine Hokin explains. My latest novel, The Man She Had to Save, takes place during the […]
The fall and rise of fascism
Catherine Hokin, author of The Girl Who Told the Truth, reflects on the rise and fall of Oswald Mosley’s fascist movement in England, how fascism continued after the end of the Second World War, and the lessons history can teach us. “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” That quote from […]
The Girl Who Told The Truth by Catherine Hokin
It’s London in 1941, and the war has already taken everything from Annie. Her sweetheart, Harry, returned from the front with broken limbs and grief-stricken eyes, and her father betrayed his family by joining the Nazis. But with each new day at her desk in the War Office, a flame burns inside her to right […]
Segregation and suffering in the cities of occupied Europe
Catherine Hokin looks at why ghettos were created in the cities of occupied Europe during the Second World War – places of segregation and also of suffering. My latest World War Two novel, The Secret Locket, tells a story that’s very much tied to its settings. Part of the book takes place in the Bavarian […]
The Secret Locket by Catherine Hokin
In Germany in 1941, when Pascal kisses Noemi and presses his mother’s silver locket into her hands, it is a moment she has been longing for her whole life. Growing up they were fearless, exploring the wild mountains in the Bavarian countryside together. But when war is declared, overnight their love becomes forbidden – Noemi […]
The Train That Took You Away by Catherine Hokin
Ever since the Nazis came to power, violence has spread through the city Esther Spielmann once called home. Each night she prays her family will be spared. But when her husband and father are murdered alongside fellow Jews during Kristallnacht, she has no choice but to send her beloved son, Sascha, to safety. Esther’s heart […]
Kindertransport and other responses to the WWII refugee crisis
The Kindertransport rescue programme was a huge achievement — yet it wasn’t a complete success. Catherine Hokin writes about this and other responses to the refugee crisis before and during the Second World War. “When a country crosses all the lines, the person should be able to cross just one border.” Lyeb Kvitko. One of […]