- Paperback: 221 pages
- Publisher: Cargo Publishing (10 July 2011)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 095630835X
- ISBN-13: 978-0956308351
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.4 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 789,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Girl In The Bunker
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Girl in the Bunker for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Number One Best Seller in Scotland, Week beginning 10/7/11 --Scottish Best Seller chart
Product Description
The Number 1 Scottish Best Seller July 2011 Chosen for the LoveScottishLibraries Campaign. Tracey S. Rosenberg-winner of the SBT New Writer s Award. 1945. BERLIN. ONE LITTLE GIRL WANTS TO PROTECT HER FAMILY... AND HER UNCLE ADOLF. When twelve-year-old Helga Goebbels walks into Adolf Hitler s underground shelter, she expects to emerge as the most important girl in the victorious German Empire. Bewildered by the lack of celebrations, Helga defies her father s orders to stop asking questions... Horrified to discover how many lies she s been told, and how obediently she believed and repeated them, she finally accepts that Uncle Adolf has lost the war, and runs away. Realizing she s the only person willing to save her mother and her five younger siblings from the invading Russians, as well as from her father s demented loyalty, she sets in motion a plan to escape from Berlin. In The Girl In The Bunker, SBT New Writer s award winner Tracey S. Rosenberg explores the downfall of the Nazi regime through the eyes of a child. This stunning, cinematic novel takes us to the dark heart of Nazi Germany and into a story none of us will ever forget.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I stayed up till the small hours reading The Girl in the Bunker by Tracey Rosenberg. For the rest of the night my mind stayed firmly in the bunker. The story is seen through the eyes of 12 year old Helga Goebbels who believes she is being taken to see her Uncle Adolf so that she and her family can help him celebrate the success of his campaign. With a poet's eye for the tiny detail, Rosenberg paints a graphic and poignant picture of the life and atmosphere in Hitler's bunker as the Russians approach Berlin. What makes the story so compelling is Helga's sense of responsibility for the reputation and ultimately the safety of her family. When she realizes how she has been deceived she musters all her wits and also her little's brother's skills in order to plan their escape from an impossible situation. Puppies and glass vials of poison appear in the same scenes while the simultaneous care and neglect of Helga and her younger siblings by each other and by their parents make for an agonizing tale. Full of insight and empathy this is an extraordinary narrative.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
No ham-handed references to Nazis exist in this book. The name of 'Hitler' is never even mentioned within its pages. And yet, I couldn't help but feel that this book, more so than any other I've ever read, really got to the heart of what happened in that bunker in the last days of the Third Reich, because it focuses on the people within those walls as human beings, real and tangible. The bunker is not just a place where Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels saw the end and killed themselves; it's about a desperate last gasp, angry, power-drunk, borderline insane people once so deluded, now disillusioned and finally confronted with their own utter failure and the loss of everything.
Helga, only twelve, is worried about her hair, she is repulsed by the food, she dreams about a tomorrow that would never be a reality, she yearns for her mother's love, she is intensely protective of her sisters. She begins the story innocent, believing that the war is nearly over and she will be the young heroine of the Third Reich. The ten days in the bunker are her awakening, all the growing up she will ever have before the inevitable and horrific ending. She is so desperate to live, no matter what, that I couldn't help but hope that she would, despite knowing of course how her story ends. Ultimately her downfall is her yearning for her mother's love, her desire to slip back into innocence again, to be a child again.
This story, which is subtly told and of course meticulously researched, will stay with you emotionally. The ending did not leave me in tears, but awe-struck, transfixed in horror on the last page, and finally I closed the book with a sigh.
Helga, only twelve, is worried about her hair, she is repulsed by the food, she dreams about a tomorrow that would never be a reality, she yearns for her mother's love, she is intensely protective of her sisters. She begins the story innocent, believing that the war is nearly over and she will be the young heroine of the Third Reich. The ten days in the bunker are her awakening, all the growing up she will ever have before the inevitable and horrific ending. She is so desperate to live, no matter what, that I couldn't help but hope that she would, despite knowing of course how her story ends. Ultimately her downfall is her yearning for her mother's love, her desire to slip back into innocence again, to be a child again.
This story, which is subtly told and of course meticulously researched, will stay with you emotionally. The ending did not leave me in tears, but awe-struck, transfixed in horror on the last page, and finally I closed the book with a sigh.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the riveting account of the last days in Hitler's bunker, with the Russians at the door, and Goebbel's children believing they are being taken to victory celebrations. Helga Goebbels is the twelve-year-old daughter of the Nazi Party's head of propaganda Joseph Goebbels; her mother Magda obsessed with her loyalty to Hitler. Although Magda's eldest son by her first husband is a prisoner of war, she takes her five daughters and son by Goebbels with her to the bunker. Gradually, we learn of Helga's understanding that Germany have not won the war and that all is lost. Her parents are shown as sarcastic, self obsessed, uncaring and critical, although the children are loyal when loyalty is to a lost cause. Helmut, the only boy, is afraid of his father, the two eldest girls trying desperately to keep the younger children calm, but criticised despite their efforts, the younger girls bored and terrified in turns.
I have read quite a few books about the downfall of Berlin, including the biography by Hitler's secretary, and the author does a great job of recreating the harrowing and claustophobic sense of the world narrowing in the bunker and the feeling of everybody trying to desperately escape a sinking ship. Helga's worship of 'Uncle Adolf' is tested by the shambling wreck she is confronted with and the reality of a world gone mad, with adults no longer seeming to be in control, cause her to feel afraid as only a child can when the adult world falls apart around them. The unreality of the situation, the absurdity of parties while the bombs are falling, Eva flipping through photo albums and eating chocolates while the Russians approach and Magda's jealousy are shockingly evoked. This is a really a stunning book, well written, about a difficult subject but portrayed with great empathy.
For anyone interested in this period, I also highly recommend, Chocolate Cake With Hitler, which also has Helga Goebbels as the main character.
I have read quite a few books about the downfall of Berlin, including the biography by Hitler's secretary, and the author does a great job of recreating the harrowing and claustophobic sense of the world narrowing in the bunker and the feeling of everybody trying to desperately escape a sinking ship. Helga's worship of 'Uncle Adolf' is tested by the shambling wreck she is confronted with and the reality of a world gone mad, with adults no longer seeming to be in control, cause her to feel afraid as only a child can when the adult world falls apart around them. The unreality of the situation, the absurdity of parties while the bombs are falling, Eva flipping through photo albums and eating chocolates while the Russians approach and Magda's jealousy are shockingly evoked. This is a really a stunning book, well written, about a difficult subject but portrayed with great empathy.
For anyone interested in this period, I also highly recommend, Chocolate Cake With Hitler, which also has Helga Goebbels as the main character.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Major disappointment.
Whilst on the whole I enjoyed the story, for me the entire book was ruined by the confusing names given to the Goebbels children. Read more
Published 4 months ago by QI Elf
Did I read the right book?
After reading the glowing reviews of this book, I was expecting something a bit special. I have to say, though, that this was a long, hard slog through a book that had interesting... Read more
Published 7 months ago by N. Butt
Excellent
Fascinating and enlightening read. I was disappointed with the ending, but I
guess that another would just be a fairytale...
guess that another would just be a fairytale...
Published 8 months ago by C. L. Kent
The Girl in the Bunker
I bought this as a Kindle cheapie, and was spellbound. It is confusing in parts, but this was because of the formatting, and not because of the story. I recommend this book.
Published 8 months ago by Alison
An amazing read!
I get the sense that this book is meant for young adults but even as a 40 something adult I loved this book and found I couldn't put it down. Read more
Published 9 months ago by J. Muir
A gripping read
I didn't know much about Hitler's bunker before reading this, and found it fascinating reading-- like another poster said, this is a book that will keep you up at night or sneaking... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Stephanie in Scotland
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Fiction > Historical
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
