The Secretary, Catherine Hokin’s fourth Second World War-inspired novel, is a dual-timeline story set in the Third Reich Berlin of the 1940s and the Stasi-controlled eastern side of the city in the 1980s. Our exclusive extract is the prologue, which introduces us to Magda, one of the two main protagonists, and the Tower House – […]
The Lost Mother by Catherine Hokin
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 […]
The Minister for Illusion: Goebbels and the German film industry
The German film industry was controlled by Joseph Goebbels from 1933 until his death in 1945. As Catherine Hokin found while researching her new novel, The Lost Mother, this extended further than dictating only the content of films. Joseph Goebbels had an eye for the importance of film, even before he was made Reich Minister […]
Historia interviews, 2020 Crown Awards shortlists: Tim Mohr
Into the grey, authoritarian East Germany of the 1980s the punk movement exploded, challenging the regime and ultimately helping to end it. Tim Mohr’s Burning Down the Haus is a history of the GDR’s punk revolution told by the people at its heart and was shortlisted for the 2020 Non-fiction Crown Award. He tells Historia […]
German reunification: still dividing opinion 30 years on
To mark the 30th anniversary of the reunification of Germany, author Catherine Hokin looks at what – and why – divisions still remain in the country. Ask most people which singer they associate with the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the top answer you will get is David Hasselhoff. His performance of Looking for […]
Unseen Auschwitz
William Ryan on the extraordinary photo album that inspired his novel, The Constant Soldier. The Constant Soldier is set at the end of World War 2 in a valley in what was then Nazi Germany, at a time when the war was lost. The novel, about a damaged German soldier seeking redemption, has its origins […]
Historia Interviews: Ben Fergusson
Ben Fergusson won the Betty Trask Prize and the HWA Debut Crown Award in 2015 with The Spring of Kasper Meier. His new book, The Other Hoffman Sister, has just hit the shelves. Jason Hewitt caught up with Ben to find out more. Hi Ben. I loved The Other Hoffman Sister – as you know – but […]