The book was archived before our group could download it. We are sure that we would have enjoyed the book judging from the reviews it has received.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Atmospheric and haunting. Definitely a very memorable read that stays with you after reading. Looking forward to reading more from the author.

I really wanted to like this book and I kept hoping that it would get better. Unfortunately the writing was a bit too slow for me and the ending just a little bit too convenient. It's a real shame as the blurb drew me in completely.

I’ve been finding real comfort in historical fiction lately, and I was delighted to find this on my Kindle unread (sorry for the late review!)

I have always had a fascination with fiction (and non-fiction) that immerses itself in and around the war years, and it was this that initially attracted me to this novel. One of the most fascinating elements of this novel was the tale it told of ‘the other side’. Being British, I’ve grown up with one version of the war, and I’ve long held the view that there are untold stories out there. Finding Clara tells the story of Clara Falkenberg, a German heiress to an Iron Works empire in Essen. With a British mother with known fascist sympathies and a Nazi father in an internment camp awaiting trial, she is in hiding having fled the Allied forces. Concern for her friend, Elisa, sees her return to her home town and confront long held family secrets, and her own conscience.

Finding Clara is a very readable book. Post-war Germany came through very well, and it felt very different to accounts of post-war England at the same time. The loss of the war is felt hard, and the people live in fear and in a great deal of hardship. The description of Essen in particular was very well drawn, there is a sense of apocalyptic devastation and desperation which feels vivid and lurks on every page.

For me the most fascinating character was Willy. As a representative of the youth of Germany, his is the most intriguing and also the most tragic tale of them all. Then there is Jakob, a former soldier trying to do the best to provide and protect for what remains of his family. Both Willy and Jakob become important to Clara and it is their presence in her life which drives the narrative forward. The relationship between Clara and Jakob in particular was a real highlight for me, the two made similar by their experiences, despite their vastly different pre-war status.

I was particularly interested in the perception of Nazism from inside Germany. And it is this that forms the heart of the novel as it follows Clara while she comes to terms with both the actions of herself and her family. She personifies the German nation as she grapples with her conscience, although I did feel the strapline of her ‘facing up to the truth of what she has done’ was a little strong, and it did lead me to expect more conflict and complexity within Clara than I got. It felt at times that the author shied away from anything that would vilify her too much, although I do believe that in blurring the lines a little more, this novel could have been so much more.

That being said, I did enjoy Finding Clara and whilst it wasn’t quite what I was expecting, it was a solid read and one I happily recommend.

I loved this unique story that tells you about the opposing side of the war and how the survivors lived after.

A really enjoyable WWII story told from the Germans' point-of-view! Plot was filled with twists from beginning to end. A must read to learn how the opposing people were treated after the war! Highly recommend.

An interesting period in history to stage a novel in, but it achieves a good read which highlighted the issues facing Germany after the Second World War.. The story of Clara with those of Jakob and others wound together make it a attention grabbing story that I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend.

I love my historical fiction but I just found FINDING CLARA too difficult to get into. I couldn't connect with the characters and I was thoroughly confused as what was supposed to be happening.

Clara Falkenburg is living under the assumed name of Marguerite Muller. Although she is being hunted for war crimes by Captain Fenshaw, I couldn't actually work out what Clara's crime was to have been. Or where she actually came from. In the opening chapter she is in a doctor's surgery, seemingly there for a complaint but is actually involved with Herr Doctor Blum. When he pops the question, I am not sure what Clara was up to. Did she want to marry this man or not? Her narrative was utterly confusing...and it wasn't until she discovered the truth about the doctor that she left the surgery with no intention of returning...ever!

Aside from that, Clara is searching for her friend Elisa and her son Willy whilst at the same time trying to elude capture. She fears the worst and returns to Essen to look for them. Travelling with fake credentials she is soon apprehended by Captain Thomas Renshaw before reaching Essen. But in her bravery, Clara makes a daring escape to continue searching for her friend.

Clara then meets a black marketeer named Jakob who then helps her in her search for Elisa. He works out who Clara really is but unbeknownst to her he also has some information about Elisa. Will he disclose this information to her? But when Renshaw catches up he tries persuading Jakob to betray Clara in exchange for much needed supplies for his own family. Will Jakob betray Clara?

FINDING CLARA may have been an exciting search for answers but I found it confusing and convoluted and I couldn't complete it.

I would like to thank #AnikaScott, #NetGalley and #RandomHouseUK for an ARC of #FindingClara in exchange for an honest review.

This is an excellent book. A well written, intriguing and different story about post war Germany. I loved the characters and believed in them. It is told from a different perspective than we are used to and I really cared about the outcome. Highly recommended.

An incredibly moving story from a perspective rarely seen in books about this era. Beautifully told with so much emotion theroughout. I was left wanting and needing to know what happened next.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

It is a harsh post war Germany. Margarete Muller is travelling from Hamelin to Essen, her former home city, in an attempt to find out what has happened to her friend and former work colleague Elisa and her son. On route the train is stopped,and she is arrested by a British Army Officer who claims that she is, in fact, Clara Falkenberg, the daughter of the arrested owner of Falkenberg's, a steel giant which was engaged in supporting the Nazi war effort using interned labour etc. More than this it is alleged that Clara was intimately involved in running the Company and is wanted for war crimes.
On arrival in Essen, Magarete denies that she is Clara but then escapes. and this leads to a series of frantic searches.. It is not just a search for people but also a search for truth as to what happened in the past, whose side people were on during the War and who do the support now? Who can be trusted, who has something to hide either from the past or the present? Who believes who?
Finding Clare progresses at a cracking pace whilst painting a very credible picture. I found the book hard to put down wanting to know how it would end and whether any of the characters portrayed would find themselves through their experiences. I felt this wass more important than learning whether Clara was a war criminal or not.

Strongly recommended.

Told from the POV of a German Wome in post WWII who is trying to escape capture on war crimes and find her missing friend. I was excited to get a copy but I struggled with this one a little. It started slow and felt the ending was rushed once the storyline picked up. Unfortunately it didn't move me or feel believable.

1946 Germany is trying to deal with the aftermath of WWII.

When Fraulein Muller accepts the proposal of Marriage from her Doctor boyfriend, she is shocked to discover not only that he knows of her past (or presumes to), but also that he worked in a death camp during the war.

His casual acceptance of her presumed past, and his admission prompts her to flee to her her hometown of Essen, in search of her best friend and family.

Fraulein Muller is in fact not a Muller at all, in fact she is Clara Falkenburg, heiress to the Falkenburg Iron Works and former poster girl for the Reich.

Clara is on the run, a wanted woman by the Allied authorities.

Her acceptance of her Doctor's proposal could have meant a new life, until she realised his part in the war.

Accused of her own complicity in her Father's war crimes, part of Clara wants to be captured so that she can prove her innocence.

Her return to Essen may not lead her on the path she is expecting, but it is a path that she must take in order to move on with her life in the new Germany.

I’m a huge fan of historical fiction set around World War 2 and in particular enjoy books which examine what happened in Germany during this period. It’s incredibly interesting to read a perspective from the other side and to understand how difficult it was for the Germans after defeat. Finding Clara was right up my street in that it ticked all of these boxes, concentrating as it does upon the time after WW2 in a country that has been razed to the ground and is under Allied rule.

Clara is the heiress of the Falkenberg Steelworks, a prosperous and important business for the Third Reich. She was used by the Nazis in their propaganda as the face of their party, a beautiful, beguiling and strong Nazi woman who headed up a company which was run by slave labour during the war. She is a wanted war criminal and in a post war world she is on the run and living under an assumed name.

Desperate to get in touch with her best friend she sends her a letter but doesn’t receive a reply. Worried and concerned she decides to return to her her hometown of Essen to find Elisa, a decision which she may live to regret. She finds a city that has been decimated, streets which are unrecognisable and the house where her friend lived has been bombed and nobody seems to know where she, or her son are.

Clara is presented to us as a fully formed character within the first few pages. We discover that she is brave, cunning, masterful and fearless but that there is also some kind of mystery or secret. I was intrigued and completely entranced by Clara, whose tenacity and sharp wits make her a likeable character, even though she appears to have done some unlikable things.

This is a novel which gets to the heart of the complexities of the choices we make. Things are never black and white, especially in war time, when fear, starvation and survival dictate the decisions you make, and there are always varying shades of grey. It is these grey areas in which Finding Clara takes place. Led by an incredibly well drawn protagonist, we are brought into her world and see first hand the dilemmas that she and other Germans faced.

I was particularly drawn to the flashes back to the war and to Clara’s life at the helm of the steel works. Anika Scott does a wonderful job in writing Clara and in casting seeds of doubt into the mind of the reader. Could I trust Clara? Was she all that she seems? I love an unreliable character and really enjoyed the contrast between the two different versions of Clara.

An emotionally charged character driven novel, this is an assured debut of quiet power. The imagery of Clara trudging through a blizzard and snowdrifts in a city she no longer recognises will stay with me for some time. It is brutal yet beautiful and is a nuanced examination of a difficult period of history. Finding Clara is a wonderful read for fans of historical fiction and mysteries alike.

Every so often a book comes along that captures your heart and your mind, and remains with you long after you turn the last page. This is one of those books. Clara is haunted by memories of the second world war and her part in it. Tasked with keeping her father's ironworks going, she manages thousands of forced labourers who live in appalling conditions, without dignity. She is now wanted by the Allies as a war criminal. But Clara tried to help the foreign workers where she could, and risked censure from the Nazi party in doing so. She takes on a new identity in the form of Margarete Muller and returns to Essen to find her friend Elisa. But Elisa's home is rubble. And her son Willy is missing.

Jakob Relling lost a leg in the war, and stumbles across an abandoned mine stocked full of supplies. Within that mine is a young boy who he discovers is Willy. Willy has been completely alone for two years and his mind is disturbed. Jakob makes his way to the address he has found to search for Elisa. Upon arriving he meets with Clara and their paths become inexorably linked.

This book deals with the themes of grief, guilt and redemption. It is an epic and thrilling story which highlights the shades of grey that exist in all of us.

Fraulein Muller is an insignificant woman living in Hamelin in 1946. When she accepts the proposal of a local doctor she is shocked to find out that he worked in a death camp. She decides to confront her past and visit Essen, her former home. Fraulein Muller is an alias, she is really Clara Falkenburg, heiress to a vast industrial empire, former poster girl for the Reich and a wanted woman - Clara is forced to confront the decisions she made during the war and risk everything for those she loves.
I liked the premise of this book but not the execution. There is a really interesting story here but it gets bogged down in too much detail and I found whole stretches of it too long and not very interesting. The final ending was just a little too convenient!

Story from the WWII from the other side. Having grown up in the USSR I am used to seeing WWI from the angle of the Soviet people. The losses, the horror, the ruin. The victory.
Finding Clara is the first ever book that I've read about German people from the other side, from Nazi side. Finding Clara is the story of recovery, recognition and acceptance. Life does go on after the war. Survivors are left to live with their nightmares, mistakes, choices and... hopes.
I found this book intriguing, interesting and lacking. Clara being a Nazi heiress is very vague. What did she do exactly that was so wrong or so right? Allied soldiers (British soldiers) are very slow of thought and movement. I really did not understand the point of them at all, given how slow they were to act and react.
It was interesting to read about what was going on in German towns after the war ended. However, this book just like the bird of the Falkenbergs, touched the surface with its wing without going into depth or leaving a deep impression.

In 1946 Germany is trying to heal and bring itself back to life. Finding Clara while focusing mainly on Clara Falkenberg, the pin up ironworks heiress of the Nazi party during the war, Anika Scott shows her readers that living in Germany at this time wasn't easy. People with secrets to hide are everywhere, and people are selling out their friends, lodgers, family for extra rations or luxuries.
Clara's journey back to Essen to find her best friend and her son whilst being pursued by the Allies means she is reliant upon the kindness of people that once knew her and also has to put her trust in a stranger - Jakob, a war veteran who has turned to the black market to keep his family fed. Then there is Willy, a confused teenager guarding a forgotten Nazi supply depot unaware that the war has ended. As a reader you quickly connect with these three characters, and that connection keeps the pages turning as you want to find out more.

I was given a copy of Finding Clara by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased re

A once glamorous woman is on the run in British occupied Germany, in 1946. She is wanted for war crimes that she may have committed with her father, a owner of a steel factory in Essen. She was destined to take over the successful business and had shown great promise when she ran it in her father's absence. She pretends to be someone else: takes the name of a dead woman and changes her appearance as she decides to go back to her hometown where her mother and friends are.

The mystery of her past and why she is wanted gradually unravels in this story. During this we see the the wrecked homes and bodies of the war torn country, the horrors of survival and how people cling to or reject the Nazi philosophy. The question is which side Clara really falls on.

The viewpoint is mainly from Clara, but there is also the perspective of a fifteen year old boy. He is the most interesting character as he guards a disused mine, which acts as a supply store, with no one but his pet canary. He believes that the war is still on and doesn't realise how long he has been there. He guards the mine diligently and is not prepared to let anyone in. If they attempt anything they will be shot. His chapters are short and infrequent but always fascinating. There should be more from him.

The third viewpoint is from a one legged Russian soldier. Badly injured during the war his sole aim is to protect those of his family who are still alive - his two sisters, one of whom is pregnant. He works in the black market now. He meets up with Clara while she is on the run.

This is an interesting story about the immediate aftermath of the war. There are sections that are slow and cloying and hinting at becoming tale of romance, but it just about manages to pull itself out of that. Just.

A wonderful book set in the immediate aftermath of World War 2 in Germany. Clara has been involved in the war, running her family factory using forced labour and seemingly supporting the Nazi war effort. She is on the run as a wanted war criminal, living under a new identity. When she attempts to get back to her home town, Esses, Clara is apprehended by a British Army Officer. She needs to find her friend and make sure she and her son, Willie are safe. What seems a parallel story begins, of wounded German soldier Jakob, who. finds a German supply depot hidden in old mines, guarded by a strange young man. Why is British captain Fenshaw so keen to find Clara - it has become a personal mission. How will Clara and Jakob meet and relate to each other? A story showing how things are never what they seem, and wit glimpses of true human nature.