November 15, 2017
A young German woman is recruited for an unusual position on Hitler's staff.In 1943, alarmed by increasing Allied air raids on Berlin, Magda Ritter's parents send her to Berchtesgaden, a remote Bavarian Alpine town. When she arrives, Magda's uncle Willy, a staunch Nazi, wangles her a position at The Berghof, Adolf Hitler's nearby mountain citadel. After a grueling interview process, during which Magda must downplay her lack of Nazi sympathies, she is hired, but she's startled to learn that her duties will involve tasting Hitler's meals to ensure that he's not being poisoned. Her training includes learning to recognize the characteristics of various poisons, including the almond scent of cyanide. She falls in love with Karl, a handsome SS officer, who, she learns with mixed relief and alarm, is plotting against Hitler. Karl shows her photographic proof of Nazi crimes, of which Magda, like most ordinary Germans, or so she believes, was completely unaware. Magda's roommate, Ursula, is also part of the resistance, and, when a poisoning plot against Hitler goes awry, Ursula drinks the cyanide-laced tea intended for the Fuhrer. Karl and Magda escape suspicion. In fact, the Fuhrer takes a special interest in the young couple, whom he views as ideal Aryan breeding stock. Their nuptials are hosted by Hitler and his mistress, Eva Braun, and shortly thereafter, the newlyweds are transferred to Wolf's Lair, Hitler's forest hideout. As war rages on and defeat appears imminent, Magda's fate will depend on the success of her continuing masquerade as a loyal Hitler retainer. For such a fraught story, the pacing is curiously episodic and static. Magda's hatred of Hitler--who on his occasional appearances is characterized as, at worst, self-deluded--is less than convincing, particularly while she enjoys the privileges her proximity to him confers.The last days of the Reich have never seemed so quotidian.
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January 1, 2018
Magda Ritter is pressed into service for her country and, now, every meal could be her last. She is one of a handful of young women given the dubious honor of tasting Adolf Hitler's food, protecting the paranoid dictator from death by poisoning. Pampered compared to most in wartime Germany, the girls lives on a knife's edge of fear and suspicion. Alexander (The Magdalen Girls) brings a little-known tidbit of history alive while developing the character of Magda from political ambivalence to active participant in the resistance movement. Readers will root for the young woman, at times unbelievably naive, other times shockingly brave, as she navigates the dangerous Third Reich just a dinner plate away from the Fuhrer himself. Alexander's intimate writing style gives readers openings to wonder about what tough decisions they would have made in Magda's situation. The "taster's" story adds to a body of nuanced World War II fiction such as Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity, Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See, and Tatiana de Rosnay's Sarah's Key. VERDICT Book clubs and historical fiction fans will love discussing this and will eagerly await more from Alexander.--Christine Barth, Scott Cty. Lib. Syst., IA
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
March 5, 2018
Alexander’s uneven novel depicts Hitler’s final years from the perspective of one of his servants. In 1943, 25-year-old Magda Ritter is sent from Berlin to escape the Allied bombardment. She goes to live with her uncle and aunt in Berchtesgaden, where her uncle uses his connections to get Magda a government interview. Within a few weeks, Magda is driven to Hitler’s Alpine retreat and only then learns that she will be one of the women who will taste his food to test it for poisons. Magda begins the novel as a fairly naïve young woman, but SS Capt. Karl Weber, whom she comes to love, reveals evidence of Nazi atrocities to her, instilling in her a hatred of Hitler. While Karl takes part in plots against Hitler, Magda does not. Her disgust with Hitler and her love for Karl (who, as a Nazi officer, feels inappropriately positioned as a romantic hero) never really translate to compelling emotional stakes, giving the story an anemic feeling. Alexander (The Magdalen Girls) has placed his fictional protagonist in a pivotal historical position but fails to make the most of it.
December 1, 2017
In the chaos of early 1940s Germany, Magda Ritter is sent from her family's home in Berlin to live with her aunt and uncle in Berchtesgaden. Determined to bring in a little money, Magda interviews at the local government office and is quickly offered a mysterious position. Magda arrives at the secluded mountain retreat of Adolf Hitler and other high-ranking SS officers. Magda is to become one of Hitler's tasters, looking for the sights and smells of deadly poisons before sampling his daily meals. The job is nerve-jangling, but Magda's tireless work does not go unnoticed. Alexander tells the thrilling stories of Magda's rise through the upper echelon of Nazi loyalists, the intrigue and rumors swirling around the German war effort, and the downfall of the party, in 1945. He does not glorify Hitler and the horrors of the Nazis but marries history and fiction in an attempt to humanize the citizens swept up in the turbulence of the times. This haunting and engrossing novel will appeal to fans of Anthony Doerr and Kristin Hannah.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)