Cradles of the Reich

Cradles of the Reich is the story of three German women during the height of the Nazi occupation. One is a pregnant university student, one part of the resistance movement and the other a middle-aged nurse who is trying to rebuild her life. Their lives soon connect at one of the homes of the Lebensborn Society - whose goal was to gather healthy, young Aryan women to breed the next generation of Nazis.

This is an interesting part of WWII, and it is clear that Coburn did a lot of research for this book. The story is set during the Nazi's reign, but despite being set in this era, there is a surprising lack of tension. The plot also progresses at a painfully slow pace until the last quarter of the book when the energy picks up substantially - only for the book to end abruptly, leaving me with too many unanswered questions. 

I like the use of multiple timelines and the inclusion of different POVs in my Historical Fiction and through Hilde, Gundi and Irma, readers get an interesting trio of perspectives. But the storytelling and character development were weak and the back and forth between the POVs and timelines often felt muddled, so I never quite felt invested in the lives of these women. 

With its lighter feel and lack of tension, the story didn't have the emotional impact I was expecting and had an almost Women's Fiction feel to it than the grittier Historical Fiction I tend to gravitate towards. I'm not the ideal reader for this lighter Historical Fiction read but I think it will find its audience with fans who enjoy lighter takes on the genre, particularly fans of Kristen Harmel, Kristy Cambron and Natasha Lester.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher for providing me with a complimentary digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Jennifer Coburn

Genre: Historical Fiction (WWII)

Type and Source: eBook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

First Published: October 11, 2022

Book Description from GoodReads: Three women, a nation seduced by a madman, and the Nazi breeding program to create a so-called master race.

At Heim Hochland, a Nazi breeding home in Bavaria, three women's fates are irrevocably intertwined. Gundi is a pregnant university student from Berlin. An Aryan beauty, she's secretly a member of a resistance group. Hilde, only eighteen, is a true believer in the cause and is thrilled to carry a Nazi official's child. And Irma, a 44-year-old nurse, is desperate to build a new life for herself after personal devastation. All three have everything to lose.

Based on untold historical events, this novel brings us intimately inside the Lebensborn Society maternity homes that actually existed in several countries during World War II, where thousands of "racially fit" babies were bred and taken from their mothers to be raised as part of the new Germany. But it proves that in a dark period of history, the connections women forge can carry us through, even driving us to heroism we didn't know we had within us.