thank you for letting me read an arc of this book! it was quite different to other ww2 historical fiction novels i’ve read as it read more like a personal coming of age story or a memoir. it is also very unique as it focuses only on the years after the war in germany, which i have not read about at all. i think this is a very fresh perspective in historical fiction and i would love to read and learn more about the aftermath of the war after reading this book! as for the story, i really enjoyed it. i connected with all of the characters and loved to see them and their relationships grow as they grew. i also loved the author’s storytelling and ability to create descriptive imagery, especially of nature. overall, i definitely recommend reading this if you are interested in history, coming of age stories, and memoirs!

This story is about Marie and her siblings growing up after WW11 . Marie lives in a castle where she dreams about reading all of the old manuscripts. Her father is a doctor and her mother a Baroness.
Marie's mother has a violent temper. She abuses the children and her husband. Marie's father gets sick and leaves the children in the mother's care. They have to leave Marie's beloved castle.
The family moves around and separates. Marie is coming to an understanding of what WW11 was all about and what role her family played in it.
I enjoyed this book... It put a different perspective to the war and what it felt like for the German people after the war. I found Marie charming and her siblings and father as well. This book is well written and informative.

"....the war had no body for me" - this was a phrase I felt was a turning point in this coming of age novel. The author has written an autobiographical story but with fictional additions and one of the main characters is Falkenburg Castle in Germany where the author (and not really the child as she was too young) told a lot of the history of this impressive building and its links to Barons, Princes and then the war (it was the site of someone involved in the attempted assassination of Hitler).
Above all this is a story of parents and siblings portrayed through Marie (the narrator) and her Mutti and Vati (mother and father) one of whom is very abusive and one who has to face ethical dilemmas and both who are separated from their children because of various life events.
I did find some of the plot quite difficult to follow with movements of the family not only within Germany but abroad to Canada. It did read like a diary of events at points rather than a book but above all Marie's strength, intelligence and humility alongside severe family problems led the way.
I was interested to read about the schooling of German pupils following the end of WWII and the consequences of the Nazi domination of previous life in Germany.- "letting the past rest" was both a problem but a need to resolve the history of Germany but also the family relations for Marie.
Overall an interesting read fleshed out in parts with emotional turmoil and religious and human emotions.

What a great book, A coming of age story of a girl born during WWII in Germany. An emotional read for sure, you are taken through the life and times of this girl who is trying to figure it out what it all means. With a gentle father and an abusive mother, we watch her grow and navigate life.

Thank you to NetGalley for this advance ecopy of Stone Mother by Malve Burns in exchange for a honest review.This is the story of Marie born in Germany during the waning days of WW2.Along with her brother; Bastian and sister Ingrid , Marie suffers unimaginable violence at the hands of her mother. Her father ,a doctor, is sent to prison when Marie is young because he helped a war veteran commit suicide, Her early years are filled with upheaval and turmoil..The only place she finds peace is in Falkenburg Castle which she refers to as her Stone Mother.It offers her a place of solitude and comfort.Marie is moved about many times in her childhood- from the Castle, to boarding schools to living with her father upon his return from jail and to Canada where her mother has emigrated and where she hopes to find an escape from her demons.During the book Marie also wonders why no one talks about Hitler.It is only in her teenage years when she returns to Germany from visiting her mother does she finally learn about the horrors of the Holocaust . This revelation leads her to look at her fellow Germans in a new light.This is a very revealing book about a time in German history where people were afraid to bring up the past. Very revealing!

A coming of age story about Marie, a young German girl born at the end of WWII. Marie learns to navigate through family struggles, particularly those caused by her mother. Marie’s mother had a traumatic past which has followed her into adulthood, wreaking havoc on her family. Marie learns over time of what her mother went through as well as the horrific events that transpired during WWII and her country’s actions that caused the pain of so many others. Marie turns to those she loves…her father, sister, half brother, as well as her friend Sophie, to get the emotional support that she needs.
The premise of this story intrigued me. I usually love coming of age stories, particularly those told in the first person point of view because they allow me to become emotionally attached to the character. However, there was something missing in this particular book. I did not feel that connection and through much of the book I felt some sort of disconnect in the story as well. It seemed a bit more fragmented and didn’t flow as easily as I expected it to. There was nothing really pulling me forward to want to keep reading it and find out what happened next. Also, from the description I expected there to be more about what happened during World War II and more with Marie’s mother’s inner demons.
So for me, it was just an “ok” story and not entirely what I expected.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atmosphere Press. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I enjoyed this story, and am intrigued to know how much of it is autobiographical and how much fiction. I love the continual connections to the castle, made of stone, as well as the main character's mother, who is often so stony. A difficult life for sure but hard work and determination gets her out the other side. The writing was a bit simplistic and predicable, but still enjoyable. I would like to hear from the author!

The cover attracted me , and i really enjoyed the story, took a wee while to get into but once i did i was hooked.

This book is written in a unique style. Written in first-person, we view a tumultuous world through the eyes of a German child, Marie, born during an air raid in 1944. Although this is Marie's coming-of-age novel, it's an adult read, not young adult fiction. As I read this book, I was often as frustrated as Marie was, trying to understand situations when only given tidbits of information by the adults in her life.

Two dynamics are at work in this story. Being born at the end of the war, Marie has no memories of Nazi politics which are no longer discussed in Germany. For most of the book, the more important dynamic is her family, a father she adores, two much-loved older siblings, and an impulsive, unpredictable, often violent mother. Just as Marie struggles to understand her mother, so does the reader.

Marie is a budding academic and earns a place at the girls' prep school founded by the renowned progressive educator, Elizabeth von Thadden. When Marie is 15, at a school retreat, the girls are presented with the brutal truth of the Nazi atrocities. This is the moment of reckoning for her as she steps into the adult world and what it means to be a German.

Seeing the adult world through the eyes of a bright, sensitive child gave me insights into my own grandchildren and their world. As a retired teacher, I particularly enjoyed watching Marie's love of literature grow in her new school. Marie's painful epiphany regarding her country's Nazi legacy made me appreciate and understand the Germany I've known. I don't know if I've done justice to this amazing book but I highly recommend it. It's an easy read of difficult but important issues that are more relevant now than ever.

I am grateful to NetGalley and the new to me publisher, Atmosphere Press, for the ARC. The review is my own.