I so looked forward to reading this book. I liked that it was a WW2 setting. I liked the idea that Hitler was so paranoid about being poisoned that he employed female food tasters. I liked that it was loosely based on Margot Wolk, a food taster that never told her story until just before she died at age 96, but sadly for me I found the story very slow, and often a little bit repetitive.
Thank you to NetGalley , the publishers and also the author for an arc copy of this book..

This is an incredibly powerful and disturbing read about the lives of a group of women who were enforced to be tasters for Hitler during WW2. I understand that this is based on what we know to have really happened at that time, although the details and characters are fictitious. I have to admit that although really interested in the social and emotional history portrayed, I did not enjoy reading this. It seemed too long to me and I did not warm to Rosa, the main protagonist. It is overall not a comfortable read but an interesting premise and period of history to learn about.

A very interesting and sobering book to read. I hadn't been aware of the women who tasted all Hitler's food to ensure it was safe to eat, but of course it makes sense, and knowing this was based on an actual person made the horror and worry of what they could expect to go through and did actually experience even more shocking. It seems wrong to say I enjoyed the book but it was fascinating to learn more of these women's lives, together with other terrible events. Many thanks to the publisher's and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this incredible tale.

This was an interesting book, a story inspired by a true story of the women who risked their lives on a daily basis eating food prepared for Hitler.

I've read many historical novels set during WW2 but this is the first one based in the east of Germany, with a primarily female set of characters.

The story includes flashbacks in Rosa's life - her parents, her husband, her life in Berlin before the war. We meet the other woman who have been conscripted with Rosa - and find out about the hardships endured for the rural German people during the later years of the war.

Rosa is facing possible death every day, three times a day. How will this affect her choices and morals and friendships?

I enjoyed reading this and have recommended it to other readers too. Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for my digital review copy.

As a lover of history and studying about Nazi Germany in school- I found this book interesting and very insightful. It gives the readers a very personal and private view of the lives for 10 women who are food tasters to Hitler. Ensuring that none for his food is poisonous.
It is centred round Rosa and her life /family. But you are also invited to read about the other ladies and their journey and lives.
Like with the majority of historical WW2 books in places it is very heartbreaking, difficult and disturbing to read. But history is there for a purpose and not to be neither forgot nor glossed over.
Recommended read

Amazing, loved this book! It was fascinating to know it's based on real life. Incredibly powerful and emotional too at times.

I didn't realise at first that this was a book in translation, and in fact never would have, had I not looked it up- the writing is that good: spare and quite beautiful in places. The story itself is as bleak and harrowing as you would expect, but an interesting slant to see how Germans lived with the horror of their leader's decisions.
I read a review which excoriated the protagonist Rosa for her complicity, but for me that was the draw of this tale, based on a real woman. How did non-Jews deal with their circumstances? How would we? Not everyone - in fact hardly anyone - is a hero.
My main question isn't about the book and I would love an answer to it but can't find anything online - why were ostensibly loyal German women of child-bearing age forced to be Hitler's food tasters and have their lives risked, rather than Jews, whose lives weren't valued? It's not as if the German women weren't transported, guarded, restrained, suspected - so it can't have been to cut the costs in time and and manpower. Could it be that there were so few left in 1944 to provide the human guinea pigs the Nazis required, or that they would have been in an unfit physical state to compare with a healthy adult? In any case why not use German men who weren't soldiers?

A thought-provoking opening and one that introduces the dilemmas the women faced as they were forced to eat samples of the food prepared for Hitler. Postorino certainly had me wondering whether I would have willingly carried out that role, especially if I was underfed and undernourished, or would I, if I had hated the nazis, dared to have refuse?
This is told in a very personal way that engages the reader in the daily lives and fears of those involved. My only reservation is that I sometimes found the main character's obsession with her lover, the Obersturmführer, a little far-fetched and implausible.
Overall, a quite emotional trip into this aspect of Nazi history.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins Publishers for this copy in exchange for an honest review..

Rosa has fled Berlin to stay with her in laws whilst her husband fights in the war. She soon finds herself forced to work. She is to taste Hitler's food to ensure it's not poisoned along with some other women she come to know. Rosa is dealing with her husband missing and knowing she could die any day.

This is based off a true story and it's such a powerful read. I've read a few stories about the war but never one like this. The story draws you in and keeps you hooked. There were a couple of times when I got confused as Rosa thought about times from the past. The ending was sad and touching, it finished the story well. This is well written and definitely worth a read.

During WWII there were many people who wanted to put an end to Hitler’s reign of terror, and as the tide began to turn against him in 1943, those tasked with keeping him safe had to come up with every conceivable plan to ensure his continued leadership. With this in mind, every method by which his assassination could be carried out had to be covered. This included ten women who were employed as Hitler’s food tasters, and this novel is loosely based on Margot Wölk who died at the age of 96, shortly after revealing her part in serving Hitler as one of his food tasters.

Three times a day these women were forced to consume meals prepared for the Fuhrer to ensure that the food hadn’t been poisoned - too bad for these women if it had been - each bite could have been their last! One can only imagine the fear that these women endured. On the one hand they were being fed delicious food, when others in their community were starving, but that sustenance could also have been their killer.

The storyline concentrated on food taster 26 year old Rosa, she’s very much a loner, both her parents are dead and her husband Gregor is fighting on the front line, and she’s now living with Gregor’s parents.

Rosa is a deep thinking, emotionally flawed character with whom I sadly failed to connect. I couldn’t resolve myself with some of the decisions she made, and although I realise that these were extremely difficult times and choices were limited, she came across as very cold and distant, and on finishing the book, I felt I knew little more about her than I had at the beginning.

Even though I didn’t engage with the protagonist, I do think the novel was interesting and beautifully written, almost quiet and subdued in its style - the author said what she had to without great fanfare.I

Rosella Postorino writes an impressively researched blend of historical fact and fiction in this translated novel, already an Italian bestseller. It is inspired by the late in life interview and revelations of Margot Wolk of her unusual wartime role as a food taster for Hitler. In 1943, it was becoming increasing clear that Germany were unlikely to win the war, Hitler was feeling increasing hemmed in and paranoid with his growing number of enemies, living in his hidden, secure and well guarded headquarters at Wolfschanze (Wolf's Lair). With her parents dead, 26 year old Rosa Sauer escapes the Allied bombardment of Berlin, to her husband, Gregor's parents more rural abode, where she stands out like a sore thumb as a urban dweller. However, safety is the last thing she gets when she is recruited by the SS to be part of a group of women who are to taste all Hitler's meals to ensure he does not get poisoned, whilst under the gaze of the well armed soldiers.

There is an inherent contradiction in Rosa's role, on the one hand she eats well in comparison to other Germans facing starvation, but on the other hand, there is the fear of living under constant threat, of playing a version of Russian roulette, where each meal may be her last one. She is not a member of the Nazi party, but she is playing the role of collaborator in ensuring that Hitler continues to live. She faces a number of moral dilemmas, but has chosen to do whatever it takes to survive, selecting to remain blind and ignorant to what has been happening under Nazi rule and the horrors perpetrated by them. Insights are provided into the group of women tasters, the simmering conflicts, strains and tensions between the regime loyalists and those who are more critical, the abuse the women face and the relationships that are formed between them.

This is a story of guilt, shame, love, fear and secrets, of what life was like for many ordinary Germans, the difficulties of speaking out, the moral ambiguities of being at war, and the repercussions of WW2 on those who survived. Rosa can be a hard woman to empathise with, her emotional coldness and distance, and her decisions and behaviour hard to understand. This is a dark, disturbing and unsettling read, an uncomfortable rendering of how human beings can behave when living under the pressures of war, where the unacceptable becomes all too normal, under a murderous, heavily controlling, Nazi regime. This is a beautifully written novel, but an uneven read which paints a intensely chilling picture of WW2 and its fallout. Many thanks to HarperCollins for an ARC.

Germany WWII. There were plenty of people who wanted Hitler dead. One of the ways they tried to protest their leader was to have women assigned to be food tasters. Hitler was convinced that the British were trying to poison him so he hired ten women to eat every meal one hour before he did.

This book is much more than just food tasting. This is a well researched historical fiction based on war time experiences. The book is loosely based on Margot Wolk Thomas one of Hitlers food tasters for several years. As well as tasting the food they were observed for the hour after they had eaten. The book was originally released in 2017, written I Italian and called At The Wolf's Table. The book has been translated from Italian into English.

I would like to thank Netgalley, HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and the author Rosella Postorino for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Based upon the true story of Margot Wolk, this is quite a thought provoking and chilling tale, of WW2 experiences. Margot and other women are food tasters for Adolf Hitler. They are required to eat food, at least an hour before Hitler does, to see if there is any poison in his food. If there is, he survives and they die.
In this story, Margot, has been changed to Rosa, she is the main character. This maybe because Margot died before she could be interviewed by the author. Rosa, is a young wife, whose husband, Gregor, went to war, four days after their wedding. She lives with her in laws , until she is chosen to become a food taster. The story is told via timelines, her job, her search for her missing husband, and then present day, when she is visiting Gregor, with his new wife and family.
This is a very well researched story, and deals with an area that I had never heard of before. Margot, was the last of the food tasters, and kept her secret for many decades after the end of the war, only revealing the details at the grand age of 96. Was she ashamed of eating well, when other people were starving and being sent to the Death camps?
There is a part of the story that appears to be missing, what happened between the period Rosa escaped from Germany after the fall of the Reich, and the present day accounts of visiting her husband in hospital,alongside his new wife and family. It is hinted that Rosa and Gregor live together in a fragile relationship before calling it a day, but the reader has to make up their own mind. I feel this is unfair, considering how much detail went into the main body of this story. Perhaps, modern times were not as easy to justify, as actions taken during the war, in an effort to survive.
I will recommend this book, as it complements the bravery of women ,in mainly unrecognised roles. I found the war time story to be insightful, and felt the action and emphasis faded towards the last chapters. A useful reassessment of history.

I chose this book shortly after I had read The Tattooist of Auschwitz and so was probably expecting too much. This story is much slower and I found less interesting. However the book is very well researched and taught me about something I was completely unaware of before reading it.

I had no idea that this happened during the war. A well researched book that was a little slow moving, although I felt I had more of a grasp of the women's position at the end of it.

This is well written in the first person as a member of a group of women selected to taste food borer Hitler eats his meals.
It has fascinating facts about the war period but it is mostly discussion form the point of view of the main character and very little happens in the story.
It is an interesting read as a lot of these fact were new to me but I did find it very slow moving and I wished for a bit of action to move things along.

This book is based on Margo Woelk’s account of her experience as a taster for Adolf Hitler which she revealed when she was 95. In Posterino’s text we are introduced to Rosa Sauer a 26 year old German girl who worked as a secretary in an office in Berlin and married her boss. In 1943 when he went off to war she moved in with her in-laws in the country. One day she was forced along with 14 other women to become tasters of Hitler’s food; the women were guarded and watched and had no choice but to comply. For this they received a generous salary but were treated with contempt and suspicion and suffered from anxiety, fear and guilt and uncertainty. They ate the finest food but each mouthful was a risk – forced to eat everything on their plate and wait an hour to see if they lived or died. Only then could they return home to face it all again at the next meal.

There are many very interesting descriptions in this book, one of the most disturbing was the burning of the books in 1933 led by Goebbels when Jews were castigated and mocked and the intelligentsia were ridiculed. A chilling for-taste of what was to come. Similarly the telling of the executions of Jews, the mass graves, the genocide, the camps. A chilling exposure indeed. There are many facts about Hitler all narrated by Rosa illustrating her loathing of Nazis and her detachment perhaps consciously of all the horrors that surrounded her. A text populated by horrors: rape, war, hunger, attempted assassination.

This is a somewhat difficult read, made a little easier by Posterino’s prose – a calm, measured somewhat detatched voice underlining the reflective tone of Rosa’s musing.

I recommend it, but hesitantly, merely because of the content which still disturbs after all these years.

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

What a brilliant read, I didn't want it to end. Based on a true story of the women who were made to test all the food before Hitler ate it, each day, to check if anything was poisoned. We learn about each girl at the table and their different stories, but the main character is Rosa, who finds her own way to survive what she's going through. Not necessarily the easiest path to choose, but maybe the only one that she could cope with. It was a hard read at times, but coupled with love, care, compassion, sisterhood, and everything else that happened, I just loved it. I learnt a bit more about life in Germany during what was a very hard time for everyone. I'd only heard a brief reference before to Hitlers food testers, so it was fascinating to learn more about their lives. Thoroughly recommended.

A good insight into a part of history I didn’t know about. I didn’t enjoy it as much as some more recent reads in this genre but that’s personal preference in terms of the style of writing.

The story centres on Rosa, who is forced to be a taster for Hitler in case anyone tries to poison him. I thought the two thirds the book was very slow and repetitive, but then it suddenly ends 30 or more years later without fully explaining what has happened between. Sorry, I found this book really disappointing. Definitely not for me. I'm sure others will enjoy it.