Note: Thank you to NetGalley, EmblaBooks, and Marius Gabriel for the advanced reader copy of the book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

Told in a series of flashbacks from 1968 to World War II, The German Daughter raises questions on many levels. From the standpoint of someone who is adopted herself, I have to say that it hit the mark in many ways when it comes to questions of identity and the disorientation one feels when they are displaced in this world. However, there were other parts of the book that made me quite uncomfortable. Maybe that’,s the point? Maybe I’m supposed to feel that way? I’m not sure.

In England in 1968, Agnes, who is a war orphan who was raised by her grandfather whom she calls “Barbar,” learns her life is not what it seems. Rather than being the daughter of Barbar’s son and his wife who were killed in a German bombing raid, she finds part of a letter following his death which seems to indicate he brought her home from Norway as a baby during the war.

This sends Agnes on a hunt for who she really is. She uncovers a dark secret of the Nazi breeding program to create a perfect Aryan race as well as learning she has a full sister a few years older who is currently in East Germany. Karolina did not have the opportunities Agnes did and is currently under the thumb of the Stasi who intend to use her as a prostitute for the state to spy on rich and politically connected men.

I found it easy to like both Agnes and Karolina and to root for them, despite the very different way they were raised. They are forever linked by biology, and also the lonely, isolated lives they lead. The problem I had was with their biological parents and the way they were presented. Both were Nazis and true believers in Hitler and fascism, not just going along to get along while they were in power. Both are also still alive. While their mother, Liv’s, worst crime was believing in fascism and volunteering to help breed the Master Race, their father, Ulrich, was a member of the S.S. He somehow managed to survive a death sentence for crimes during the war.

The German Daughter seems to want to make both Liv and Ulrich sympathetic, which I had a hard time with. There also seemed to be a redemption arc in there. Liv’s actions didn’t bother me so much. She’s not very likable, but aside from her white Aryan supremacy, her worst crime was being able to live a comfortable life while so many of her countrymen were suffering. Ulrich, however, killed people, and not just during battles. Likewise, he is connected to other characters who were higher-ups in the Nazi Party. These people populate a part of the book where it seems like the author is trying to get us to root for them because they are now helping the girls. I wasn’t crazy about trying to make Nazis sympathetic. It bothered me enough to knock a star off of the rating.

The story is good and flows well with good attention to detail. Marius Gabriel seems to grasp what it’s like to be adopted and search for your identity. You can love the person who raised you, as Agnes does, and still feel the need to know where you come from, even if the truth is pretty ugly. Agnes’ truth is about as ugly as it gets. Both of her parents tell her she was better off being raised how she was, and that’s probably correct, but it still doesn’t cancel the need to know the truth of where you come from.

I liked The German Daughter but it made me uncomfortable by trying to frame Nazis as being redeemable. Perhaps that’s just my take on it and I’m wrong with what the author meant to do, but I have to caution people who think about reading the book that it’s there.