Review: The Hidden Storyteller

Title: The Hidden Storyteller

Author: Mandy Robotham

Publisher: 29th February 2024 by Avon Books UK

Pages: 384 pages

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Rating: 4.5 crowns

Synopsis:

The war is over. But there are still secrets to be found amidst the ashes…

Hamburg, 1946.

The war is over, and Germany is in ruins. Posted to an Allied-run Hamburg, reporter Georgie Young returns to the country she fled seven years prior – as Chamberlain spoke those fateful words – to find it unrecognisable.

Amidst the stark horrors of a bombed-out city crumbling under the weight of millions of displaced Europeans, she discovers pockets of warmth: a violinist playing amidst the wreckage, couples dancing in the streets, and a nation trying to make amends.

But when she joins forces with local policeman Harri Schroder to solve a murder case he is working on – a woman with the word traitor engraved into her skin – she soon discovers that the darkest secrets of war haven’t been left in the past. And once again she is pulled into a world she hardly expected to see again…

My Thoughts

Mandy Robotham is an auto buy for me as you are always guaranteed a great historical read. The interesting aspect of this novel is that it is post World War II, taking place a year after the declaration of peace. It was fascinating to be on the streets of Hamburg as the struggles and tensions simmered post war under British administration. 

‘People have fought for years to survive Hitler’s madness, and they’re dying because we can’t feed the peace.’

For those of you familiar with Mandy’s 2020 book, ‘The Berlin Girl’, it is Georgie Young, a young British journalist sent to Berlin as a foreign correspondent in 1938, now finding herself in Hamburg post war 1946. The story is also told from not just Georgie but Meta (displaced German) and Harri (German police). The story is over the few weeks that Georgie is in Germany to write her newspaper article. Mandy’s research is once again en pointe with both characters and settings authentically capturing the various experiences of war and the fallout from it. 

‘Is he destined to always have the stink of fascism steeped into the fibres of his being, never to be scrubbed away? Heinrich Himmler must be bloody laughing in his grave.’

Interestingly, this is a story of not only historic details but also incorporates a thriller detective drama. Mandy does well in combining the gripping tale of a murderer on the loose. Towards the end the pace is fast with danger and several tense moments for all involved and readers are sure to engage with characters that you want a better life and outcome for.  

‘Another life lost is nothing new, even after the bombs have stopped - starvation, disease and the freezing weather are the new agents of death.’

Congratulations Mandy on yet another winning book. I have read and adored all your books and cannot recommend them highly enough. For a realistic, well written tale of what life in Germany was like directly after the conclusion of WWII, look no further than ‘The Hidden Storyteller’’. 

‘I’ve been altered by a lot over the last few years, but I didn’t imagine that two weeks in a post-war German city would be quite so life-changing. For a whole host of reasons.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.