Book Reviews: What Only We Know
Blurb: When Karen Cartwright is unexpectedly called home to nurse her ailing father, she goes with a heavy heart. The house she grew up in feels haunted by the memory of her father’s closely guarded secrets about her beautiful dressmaker mother Elizabeth’s tragic suicide years before.As she packs up the house, Karen discovers an old photograph and a stranger’s tattered love letter to her mother postmarked from Germany after the war.
During her life, Karen struggled to understand her shy, fearful mother, but now she is realising there was so much more to Elizabeth than she knew. For one thing, her name wasn’t even Elizabeth, and her harrowing story begins long before Karen was born.
It’s 1941 in Berlin, and a young woman called Liese is being forced to wear a yellow star…
Have you ever read a book that has torn at your heartstrings so much that you just know it's going to leave a lasting impression for the rest of time? I have a handful of books that have done this to me over the years and I can say without a doubt, having only just finished What Only We Know, that this book is going on that list!
The Plot
There are two main characters in this book, Karen Cartwright and Liese Elfmann. Liese is a young Jewish woman in Berlin and her story starts in the 1930s just before the outbreak of WWII. Karen is a young English woman whose story is set much later in the 1970-1990s where she searches for the truth of what happened to her mother during the war.
In the beginning, you see that Liese comes from a well-respected family and although her family are Jewish, she has never associated herself as such. When the war breaks out, it comes as a shock to her and her parents that their name is no longer respected. At first, this is the most awful thing that can happen to them and Liese' is very attached to the family business and her life as it was and was set to become. When Liese falls pregnant, suddenly nothing else matters but her child and you see her whole world completely shift around her. To adjust to this new way of living is one thing but to bring a child into it is something completely different. In some way, I think having a child saves her to begin with, gives her a purpose like nothing she's ever had before and as her story develops and she's put the most unthinkable things, it's that purpose that keeps her going.
Karen's story is also filled with pain and suffering but it's shrouded in mystery and confusion which she tries to piece together. I enjoyed reading Karen's point of view because it follows the more recent story of the Berlin Wall and the after-effects that the war had on Berlin. It shows how some scars from the past never healed and opens them all up again and it's really interesting to see the past and the more modern time come together.
I love war-time stories. I think there are so many horrifying and tragic things that happened during that time and it's so important that we don't forget the pain that people went through. This is a war-time story unlike any I've ever heard before and although it's fiction, it could so easily have been real.
My favourite quote for me was:
"Seconds. That was all it took. For the snap."
The Characters
My favourite character throughout the book was Liese. Her character develops and grows throughout the story and found myself rooting for her the whole way along. As well as Karen and Liese, the other two main characters were Michael, Liese's life-long friend, and Karen's father Andrew. I must admit I didn't like either of these's characters to begin with. Hokin did a great job at getting their personalities across but I found both men a bit annoying and arrogant at first...however, towards the end of the book their stories deepen and I became a lot more fond of them when I realised how big a part they played in Liese' life. Every character has a purpose which came to its conclusion by the end and I admire Catherine Hopkin's for that.
Writing Style
The book starts with a prologue and I know a lot of readers who have mixed reviews of having prologues in books at all, but I like them and I thought this one was brilliant. It read more like a piece of poetry and the whole way through the book I kept thinking back to it which I think is what makes a good prologue stand out. If you forget the prologue as soon as you've read it then maybe there's no need for it but with this one, it becomes so much more important as you get through the rest of the book. Catherine Hokin's has a beautiful writing style that captures the imagination. The story switches perspectives continuously between Karen Cartwright and Liese Elfmann and as they do, the time frame moves through the years with both generations. At first, I found this a bit confusing each time it went back to the other point of view because the story didn't always immediately drop back to where I had left it but it becomes obvious that this is necessary to tell each story at an equal pace and allow them to intertwine.
Book Cover
Normally a cover is what first draws me to a book. I'm not sure if it's because I came across it on Netgalley but it was the blurb/description which caught my attention and I only really took in the cover once I was at least halfway through. On reflection, I think the cover tells you a lot about the book. The image of the young and older woman suggests a close bond, the barbed wire hints at possible imprisonment or capture and the way the two figures are almost holding hands but not quite provides a lot of curiosity. I like how the 'we' has been italicised, it makes you wonder who the we is referring to. I'm not sure I would jump to it in a bookstore but I think it is very cleverly done.
Overall Conclusion:
I absolutely loved this book. The prologue was brilliant. After that, I would say you need to push through the first couple chapters before you get into the main plot but once you're there you won't want to put it down unless it's to grab a box of tissues and a strong cup of tea to settle your nerves. It's a heartbreaking story of a mother's love and how people will go to protect the person they love, right up until the very end.
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