A door slammed and the unmistakable sound of boots came crashing up the hall. Liese held her little daughter’s hand so tightly, the tiny fingers had turned purple. The SS officer’s hand was at Liese’s throat before she saw him move. “I can kill you easily, then I can kill your daughter.” He relaxed his […]
Concentration camps and the politics of memory
The preservation and interpretation of Second World War memorials of the Holocaust, such as concentration camps, varies across Europe, Catherine Hokin tells Historia. Decisions on what – and how – to preserve depended on the politics and beliefs of those in power at the time. I have spent much of the last two years researching […]
The ‘hidden’ Nazis of Argentina
Catherine Hokin’s latest novel, The Fortunate Ones, tells the story of Felix Thalberg, a young printer’s apprentice, whose life is changed forever when he meets a girl in a crowded Berlin dance hall. Despite his efforts to find her, Hannah vanishes that night without trace and it is two years before Felix sees her again, […]
The Fortunate Ones by Catherine Hokin
Every day he stood exactly where he was directed. He listened for his number, shouted his answer in the freezing cold. He was ragged and he was starving, but he was alive. He was one of the fortunate ones whom fate had left standing. And he needed to stay that way. For Hannah. Berlin, 1941. Felix […]
Books to look out for in 2020
A new year, and new historical books, both fiction and non-fiction, to look out for, written by HWA members. The Second World War continues to be popular, and there are refreshingly different takes on the Tudor era. The medieval period makes a strong showing. There are new additions to well-loved series and second books from […]
Review: The Museum of Broken Promises by Elizabeth Buchan
Elizabeth Buchan’s new novel, The Museum of Broken Promises, is a keenly observant exploration of secrets and loss set in 1980s Prague and Paris in the present day. Catherine Hokin finds it “complex and both haunting and haunted”.
An appearance of serenity: the French fashion industry in WWII
Author Catherine Hokin writes for Historia about a (perhaps conveniently) forgotten period in the history of Paris couture: the city’s occupation during the Second World War.
Review: The Almanack by Martine Bailey
“She thought of time as like a ribbon unspooling; the present moment was the only inch of the stuff you could grasp as it cascaded past you, framed by the diamond buckle of now.” I shall confess to two things from the start of this review: a love of Martine Bailey’s previous books and a […]