Berlin, 1934. Homes once filled with laughter stand empty as the Nazi party’s grip on the city tightens.
When Anna Tiegel’s beautiful best friend catches Reich Minister Goebbels’s special attention, an impulsive act to save her brings Anna under his unforgiving scrutiny. First, she loses her job, then slowly, mercilessly, she finds her life stripped away.
After her father is killed by the Nazis, Anna’s final hope is to escape to America with her boyfriend Eddy, but when she reaches his apartment on the agreed date, she finds it deserted. Alone and pregnant, she is terrified, but must try to protect the life inside her.
Rhode Island, 1957. Peggy Bailey stares in shock at the faded photograph of two laughing women which her beloved adoptive mother struggled to pass on to her before she died, whispering: “It was inside your baby blanket when we brought you home.” Peggy realises that she has seen one of the girls before, in the most unlikely of places.
Bursting at the realisation, she embarks on a mission which takes her across America to find the truth behind her heritage. Nothing, however, could prepare her for the tragic story her actions uncover…
The Lost Mother by Catherine Hokin is published on 28 January, 2021.
If you’d like to find out more about the background to Catherine’s book, she’s written about The Minister for Illusion: Goebbels and the German film industry for Historia.
