A huge thanks to Dave and crew over at #TheWriteReads for organising this book tour and to Elyse Hoffman for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Genre: Historical Fiction, German historical fiction
Length: 342 pages
Published: April 2024
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195794644-adiel-and-the-f-hrer
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adiel-F%C3%BChrer-Thought-Provoking-Alternate-History-ebook/dp/B0CB6JF515/
Synopsis
Adiel Goldstein has a good life. Despite the anti-Semitism he faces as a German Jew, he has everything he wants. A dream job as an art professor, good friends, a loving father, and a precious nine-year-old daughter, Kaia. But his life is about to be upended. An old comrade from his time fighting in the Great War is gaining power: a man named Hitler. Adiel’s father insists that they need to leave the country before Hitler becomes the leader of Germany.
Adiel and his family plan to move to America, but before they can even pack their bags, he and Kaia make a shocking discovery. Adiel’s father, Natan Goldstein, is from the future. A Holocaust survivor who lost his family to unspeakable tragedy, Natan was given the chance to go back in time and take the life of Adolf Hitler. But when he failed to kill the future Führer, he devoted himself to his new family and awaited the inevitable.
Natan can’t face the Holocaust again, but Adiel’s unique connection to Hitler means he might be able to succeed where his father failed. Adiel now has a choice: escape as planned and let history repeat itself, or sacrifice everything to stop the Holocaust before it can begin.
Award winning author Elyse Hoffman has crafted a thought-provoking and daring work of historical fiction which will tug at your heartstrings.
My Thoughts
Elyse Hoffman writes so and honestly and openly about a time people really need to know and learn about. She entwines historical events with an element of fiction (sometimes fantasy) and creates something that is equally beautiful and heartbreaking. Elyse doesn’t trivialise events or characters but brings them alive and makes them real for the reader.
Adiel is such an emotional and thought provoking book. Full of thoughts of what if? What if things could be stopped and changed, even at a cost? What if things had been different? What if you had the chance to change the course of history? I just couldn’t stop questioning and thinking about my own choices in this scenario.
The early part of the book takes us on a journey through Adiel’s childhood and growing up in Nazi Germany. It’s highly insightful and showing it to us through the eyes of a Jewish child is such a clever story telling device that hooked me right in emotionally and mentally.
As the story shifts to Adiel’s adulthood, the intensity really shifts up a gear and we see Adiel with his own family, a successful career and a time travelling father with a huge dilemma.
Adiel and the Fuhrer is a twisty, intense and thought provoking novel that is so well written and cleverly put together. I love the thought of alternative history timelines and this one works so well.
Grab your tissues and dive in – I cannot recommend this enough!!!!
Author Bio – Elyse Hoffman
Elyse Hoffman is an award-winning author who strives to tell historical tales with new twists. Having studied WWII since the age of thirteen and with interests in fantasy and Jewish folklore, she loves to combine them in her writing. Elyse started writing novels at fourteen and finished her first historical fiction work at fifteen. She has published eight books: five in a series called The Barracks of the Holocaust, and three novels, including The Book of Uriel, Where David Threw Stones, and Fracture. In her spare time, she loves to read, work on pretty keyboards, and hang out with her co-authors – her Goldendoodle Ari and her ex-feral cat, Echo.
Herding Cats 