Christoph Fischer

I like a book that has me second guessing all the way through. It grabs hold and takes you on a wonderful journey. This book is exactly like that. I changed my mind as to who is wrong and who is right, who could be trusted and who couldn’t, from the start through to the finish.
The story tells of Erica, a successful advertising executive who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. After exhausting her options using conventional treatments, she seeks out a healer and convinces him to treat her. The descriptions of her treatments, her own attitude to them, and what happens afterwards, kept me chasing after the truth of that happened.
This book hooked my interest and at no point could I guess what was coming next. I can’t honestly say I warmed to any of the characters, but that was probably because it so was so well written I didn’t know who to trust at any given point. A great read, and I recommend it to anyone who likes a story full of twists and turns.… (more)

"As she expected, Ludwika missed her next period and was sure that she was expecting another child. She was delighted that Jerzy would have a sibling, although she couldn't believe how easily she fell pregnant. Almost every time she looked at a man it seemed to happen. At this rate there would be a whole bunch of them. Ludwika laughed at the thought - the more the merrier."

Ludwika was a real Polish woman who was moved to Germany after a soldier took a shine to her. After that, more men took a shine to her and she had several children out of wedlock. After the war, she married another refugee, settled in Britain and had more children. And that's the bones of what we know about Ludwika. Fischer has taken those bones and fleshed out a story though I can't say there's really much more to it then what I've already said. I didn't particularly enjoy reading about Ludwika, I didn't care for her at all. I thought she was quite simple, though, I don't know if she was actually that way in truth or if she was just written that way. I wonder if some of it was due to a male writing a female character. Not that they can't successfully do so, but sometimes that is an issue.… (more)

Ludwika, a young Polish woman who was an unwed mother who was forced to give up her child, travels to Germany. She is separated from her family and loses all contact with them as the Reich gains momentum. At first she works for a German family. She sees her status changing, but it really changes when she becomes involved in an affair with the man for whom she works. She suffers an injury and is placed in a camp where she works in the kitchen. She continues to have children out of wedlock until the war is over. I'm skimming over much of the plot so I don't give away too much. While the story is interesting, it is far less so than other stories set in this time period. The author bases the plot on a real life person and comments on his liberties with the plot at the book's conclusion. I never really related to Ludwika and at times I did not really care for her character.… (more)