Cradles of the Reich

A Novel

By: Jennifer Coburn

Narrated by: Natasha Soudek

Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Three women, a nation seduced by a madman, and the Nazi breeding program to create a so-called master race

At Heim Hochland, a Nazi breeding home in Bavaria, three women’s fates are irrevocably intertwined. Gundi is a pregnant university student from Berlin. An Aryan beauty, she’s secretly a member of a resistance group. Hilde, only eighteen, is a true believer in the cause and is thrilled to carry a Nazi official’s child. And Irma, a forty-four-year-old nurse, is desperate to build a new life for herself after personal devastation. All three have everything to lose.

Based on untold historical events, this novel brings us intimately inside the Lebensborn Society maternity homes that actually existed in several countries during World War II, where thousands of “racially fit” babies were bred and taken from their mothers to be raised as part of the new Germany. But it proves that in a dark period of history, the connections women forge can carry us through, even driving us to heroism we didn’t know we had within us.

©2022 Jennifer Coburn (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Gripping

Grabs the reader immediately. Couldn’t put it down. I had no idea about this society

Drop off ending to an otherwise good read

I liked this book overall, though some of the character development was a little lacking. My biggest reason for taking off a star was that the ending drops off - I was shocked to be at the end of the book because SURELY there was another chapter or three...

A dark segment of history

This book is written in such a way that you develop attachment to characters as you learn about another dark truth of Nazi practices. It is a very well written book, but difficult to read due to the emotions that are stirred. I feel we are obligated to learn history to hopefully prevent repeating it. Historical fiction is a method that allows the reader to develop relationships with the characters while learning about a particular place and time. This author did this very well and the author’s note at the end is just as telling.

A Disturbing must read

We can never let this happen again. Cannot be just Words. We all have a duty to guard against it

Hood listen

I love historical books. This is my favorite era to read about. The performance was good and the story was good. Made you want to know what happens to the characters

Excellent story

An enlightening and moving story which is true and hard to believe as are most important books about the Nazis.

Not to be missed

This is a story that needed to be told. While the market may be saturated with stories of the Third Reich, this is a women's story. This is a story of another shocking, secret Nazi program of life, on the edges of a society preoccupied with a painfully skewed idea of
perfection.

The three main characters each open a window into the psyche of the German people during the Nazi reign. Each are relatable, in their own way, and have fascinating story arcs.

The narrator was well chosen, and makes the story seem even more authentic.

Thank you, Jennifer Coburn, for this compelling tale. I flew through it in two days.

Dark History

I am drawn to books that highlight what dark things people or society are capable of and this one is definitely dark. The whys and how’s , the psychology behind it. This kept me wanting to know “what happens next”. It’s crazy to think THIS was a actual practice! WOW! Just wow…. Really makes you think. I background and knowing is truly worth the read. If we don’t know the history , then we could be destined to not learn from its mistakes.

The horror that this is based on true events!

I liked the detailed descriptions, they made a realistic picture of the true horror! Un fortunately, the world has not learned from the experiences!

Hidden history

This novel introduced me a part of Nazi history that is rarely discussed: A master race breeding colony that brings three very different women together.
There is much in this story that is relevant today such as the use of propaganda to shape public perception of the “other” and denigration of the free press as the “lying press”. The treatment of and propaganda created role of women of this era as pawns of powerful men and the state was reminiscent of a Margaret Atwood novel. The historical parallels gave me food for thought and a few chills as well.

I found the story compelling, and appreciated the use of individual chapters to tell the story of each woman. However, the character development was uneven. Hilda’s story particularly was disjointed and seemed unconnected to the main theme: Gundi’s dilemma of finding herself unwed, pregnant from a Jewish lover, and placed into a Nazi home for pregnant women. Placing Hilda so centrally in the novel detracts from the development and interconnection of the two main characters, Gundi and Irma. Hilda is really a distraction. I found myself wondering why the back story of the resistance nurse who rescues Gundi was not front and center and Hilda a minor plot figure.

Over all I couldn’t stop listening, the reader was great, and would recommend the book to anyone with an interest in Nazi culture, Nazi master plan and the theory of eugenics that was so prevalent in the first half of the 20th century.