This novel set around the end of World War II looks at a small German town where there has been ammunition factory with workers the Nazi party bought in from Poland and the Ukraine to work in a factory
We meet the population of the town including a couple who have rescued a escaping baby and are bringing it up secretly and other members of the community who have been complicit in helping the atrocities that have occurred within the factory either by not doing anything or more actively being involved in in the criminality of the regime
As well as the German inhabitants of the area we meet a British Red Cross volunteer who is tasked with setting up the Camper displaced people after the war find herself alone female in charge of what it was initially mostly mail camp population
I have not Read many books set in this period of history I can remember one or two only
Being a World War II novel there are some dark subjects covered however there are also some moments of lightness. I particularly enjoyed the scene where the recently released female workers from the camp leave the camp itself and discover a Millstream in Midsomer which they swim in. They then returned to the camp with their arms full of flowers. The contrast with this seemingly afternoon and the awful life they’ve led is very marked.
The chaotic scenes in the Red Cross office with people looking for lost loved ones was beautifully written and really did bring up the desperation of so many after the war. I couldn’t help thinking how much easier it is now with mobile phones but how in some parts of the world the same issues would still apply and how important the red cross was.
The author has a clear flowing writing style the book was an easy enjoyable read
This is a primary story based novel however the characters are described well and feel like real people
I’ve not read any of the author’s previous novels. I understand that she has previously been Booker prize shortlisted
I read a copy of the novel on NetGalley UK in return for a unbiased review. The book was published in the UK on the 6th of March 2025 by Little Brown book group UK.

This review will appear on get UK, StoryGraph, Goodreads, and my book blog bionicSarahS books.wordpress.com. It will also appear on Amazon and Waterstones .

Sorry, I couldn’t get into this one. Got to 10% to give it a chance but wasn’t gripping enough. I was interested because it’s nice to read something about the war from a German point of view but not for me unfortunately.

It took quite a few chapters to get into and a gain a feel of this book. But once I did, it was brilliant. A very different view of the end of WW2 from differing points of view and perspective, British, German and Polish/Ukrainian. I enjoyed reading each chapter from a group of about 6 characters points of view/ outlook/personal thoughts.. I can see how it could be confusing but the book fell into a rhythm that I liked. I admit that I did not realise how many workers the Nazi's forced into labour from all over Europe. I have heard of forced labour but I did not realise it's breath and size. It must have been so difficult for the authorities to organise and for displaced persons to find their way home and find their loved ones if scattered across previously occupied territory.

Generic 3 stars because I did not finish this book and so I don’t believe I can give it a fair review. Hoping to one day return to this, but the constant changes of perspective entirely lost me. I got to about 300 pages in and realised I had absorbed almost nothing and didn’t care to continue. I think I’m the problem here though, I’m just not currently in the right mindset for this. I tried to push through but it just wasn’t worth the reading slump.

Seiffert never shies away from the horrors of the holocaust and the evils perpetrated on human beings. Yet it's a quiet book that allows readers to ask themselves what they would have done. Would they have spoken out or would they have acquiesced?

3.75 stars!

Many thanks to Little Brown Book Group for this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

'Once the Deed is Done' is a well-wrought post-war mystery read that examines what accountability, responsibility, and collective trauma mean for communities on both sides of the boundary. Seiffert lets her company of characters take turns in offering their reflections and testimonies regarding life on the Heide, resulting in a gripping read that has you guessing until the last moment.

I sometimes find shifting narrative perspectives a bit trite, but this really worked here. The polyphony of German town dwellers, English support officers, and Polish/Ukrainian forced labourers exposes the gaps of communication, the similarities, the fear on both sides of the fence: it is only through our reading of all these different accounts that the wider picture of shared trauma and discomfort comes into view. War is destructive, unsettling, enraging, and devastating for all those who fall in its path.

While the plot meanders at times (the pacing kicks up a notch about a third through, which really rescues it), Seiffert's novel is quietly mysterious, touching, and human. Amidst what is a saturated WW2 historical fic genre, Seiffert's focus on the aftermath of one town's horrors allows her to channel such huge loss and devastation into one understated and powerful narrative.

Rachel Seiffert is an acclaimed author, previously shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Women's Prize, and in her new novel Once the Deed is Done, she tackles a community held together by threads as the Allies advance and close in on victory in Nazi Germany in 1945. That community is a sleepy hamlet in the Lueneburg Heide, the remote region outside of Hamburg, where a town's munitions factory has been relying on forced labour to churn out weapons of war.

The Lueneburg Heide was the scene of the unconditional surrender to the Allies and is the area where the body of Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS in Nazi Germany, was secretly buried in an unmarked grave. The location for the novel is atmospheric and evocative, but the story itself is somewhat fragmented.

We meet various members of the community - the mayor, the schoolmaster and his wife, a farming family - as well as newcomer Ruth from London, a Red Cross nurse who sets up a refugee camp at the munitions factory. There's a suggestion that something sinister happened in the town during the last winter of the war, but it's only at the very conclusion of the novel that we find out what that was, though the reader will draw hints throughout. I found the reveal just took a little too long to come together and what started out as promising and interesting just ended up drifting for too long.

The insights into life for young people at this time is what really stands out in Seiffert's novel - the grim reality of donning the Hitler Youth uniform, or being sent off to certain death on the Eastern Front, or being forcibly separated from your parents and herded into forced labour, or being forcibly returned after the war to Stalin's communist bloc, paints the bleak picture of life for a generation. A good read that I struggled to connect with in a meaningful way. 3/5 stars

*Many thanks to Little Brown Book Group for the arc via Netgalley. As always, this is an honest review.

Rachel Seiffert delivers a haunting and deeply nuanced exploration of war’s aftermath in Once the Deed Is Done. Set in northern Germany in the final days of the Second World War and its immediate aftermath, this powerful book examines the weight of history, complicity, and survival through the eyes of those caught in its shadow.

In a remote town near Hamburg, young Benno witnesses something in the snow—something he does not fully understand but which will shape his future. As the war ends, English soldiers and Red Cross workers arrive, bringing order to the chaos. Among them is Ruth, newly posted from London and tasked with managing a refugee camp filled with displaced forced labourers. But as more refugees arrive, whispers of past atrocities begin to surface. The town remains silent, unwilling to acknowledge its secrets, but the children are curious, and Benno can no longer keep his to himself.

Seiffert masterfully captures the complexity of this turbulent period. Through multiple perspectives, she presents the struggles of both German townspeople and the displaced refugees, forcing the reader to confront the moral ambiguities of a society reckoning with its past. The narrative is intimate yet expansive, blending personal stories with the broader political reality of post-war Europe. The prose is restrained yet deeply affecting, allowing the weight of history to speak for itself.

This is not just another wartime book—it is a fresh, unflinching look at what comes after, at those who must live with the choices made before the war was lost. Thought-provoking and profoundly moving, Once the Deed Is Done is an essential read for those drawn to historical fiction that does not offer easy resolutions but instead lingers, demanding reflection long after the final page.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

Booker-shortlisted author Rachel Seiffert returns with another stunner, "Once the Deed is Done." The novel tells the story of what happens to a group of characters in Hamburg as the war ends. She examines the issues of culpability and how we process our connection to horrific events. How do people go on when they have ignored the horrors of the Holocaust and the war? How do the victims live amongst people who collaborated or said/did nothing?

Seiffert answers these questions through multiple narrators, and she does so with an empathy that is in short supply these days (rather disturbing and disgusting how Nazism and its accompanying violence is on the rise in 2025). Seiffert never shies away from the horrors of the holocaust and the evils perpetrated on human beings. Yet it's a quiet book that allows readers to ask themselves what they would have done. Would they have spoken out or would they have acquiesced?

I did not finish this book and sadly neither did my partner who was reading it at the same time. I usually enjoy reading on this subject but neither of us connected with the story which was disappointing.

Set in a small town in Germany at the end of WW2, this story shines a light on the experiences of the everyday people on both sides of the conflict. As the English take control of the region, you see the experience through the eyes of the local townsfolk which was both disturbing and fascinating. The main character within the story is Ruth, a young Jewish Red Cross nurse who arrives to help the inhabitants in the local work camp. These are forced labourers who have been transported from their own countries to work for the German Reich, and they have suffered at the hands of the Germans. Now classified as displaced persons they remain in the camp whilst the occupying forces decide what to do next. Europe is full of displaced people, children separated from their parents, families split up and all desperately hoping to find their loved ones alive. I found this story riveting, trying to imagine what it was like for those who lived through it. Recommended read.

The premise of this novel really appealed to me and in many ways it was an excellent book. Well researched and beautifully written it is the story of a village in Germany in the immediate aftermath of World War Two as the allies take over. Unfortunately I didn’t really understand what the writer was trying to get across . I never got to grips with the overall feeling amongst the villagers and in this regard I felt let down.

My emotions couldn't be held I whilst reading this. A big gulp of the heart was had many a time. I felt loss,pain and anger. But felt held by the tenderness to the book too.
So many secrets were had. Both through fear and uncertainty of the time. Everyone has to protect themselves. But to live and love you have to do more than that. You have to risk. And a few inspiring people in this book do that. I'm forever grateful and in awe of some of the things people did to come to the aid of others. Often with danger to their own lives.
It tells the story of after the war which struck me so much. Because I can't think of any that based a whole book to just this aftermath time. And from.reading I now think more should be written. Because how do people ever keep going after such a time. Both emotionally and physically I jist can't imagine.
We get different people perspectives which was great. From the villagers,the helpers,the youth. It spanned all the emotions and left me thinking long after.
This book will stay with me. I never ever want to stop learning and knowing about this time. Particularly in the mess of present day.

Set in Northern Germany at the end of World War Two, Once The Deed Is Done examines the impact of the war’s aftermath on a small town as they wait for their menfolk to return from the front. The narrative unfolds primarily through the eyes of Ruth, a British Jewish Red Cross worker running a camp housing freed slave labourers, and local people slowly coming to terms with Germany’s defeat.

Rachel Seiffert does not go in for broad brushstrokes. Instead, the picture is built up gradually from lots of small scenes as the reality of what has happened slowly becomes understood by everyone, even the children. She emphasises the ordinariness of the community. These are people like us, preoccupied with day to day concerns, in the midst of a terrible reality in which they are all incriminated.

Beautifully written and profoundly moving.

In the closing days of the Second World War, during the harshest of winters, this story unfolds in a village in the north of Germany, near Hamburg. As in previous work, Rachel Seiffert once again revisits ordinary or not Germans at war's end. Who is culpable, who resents, who turns a blind eye. What happened during that one forced march from the munitions factory in the snowy dead of night. All these categories and questions are appropriate once the deed is done.

Seiffert writes in short decisive chapters seemingly disjointed but each well reflects the chaos and confusion at war's end. The uncertainty of the villagers, will their sons return from the east, will their husbands be released by the allied soldiers. When will the English leave.

Yet it is the story, not of the townsfolk, but those of the innocent taken from Poland and Ukraine as forced labourers, that hits the hardest. Much of the novel takes place in a Red Cross displacement camp on the outskirts of the village. Mothers whose children have been taken from them. Children whose mothers were ripped away from them. Men both old and young taken, all facing the unknown if there is even a home or family left to return to. I found this part of the book haunting, heart wrenching and difficult knowing that while this is written about 1945 such atrocities and displacements continue in other wars now.

Thank you to Little Brown Book Group, Virago, and to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

A haunting and powerful read set in the winter of 1945, exploring the aftermath of war through the eyes of young Benno and those fighting to survive in a refugee camp.

The things witnessed, the secrets kept, and the pain endured made this an unforgettable read.

Tough but gripping book that stayed with me long after I turned the last page.

Once the Deed is Done

A village in Northern Germany
A time of uncertainty towards the end of World War Two
A secret that there are only rumours about
Stories about the forgotten
A political struggle

What an interesting premise of a book… there can’t be many books that concentrates on the displaced at the time of the German surrender… so the storyline already had many things going for it..

I loved the multi-person narrative... I loved the different perspectives of the different characters embroiled in this single event in time – a time of uncertainty – not knowing what’s happening and what’s going to happen and how this is going to affect their lives moving forwards. It’s very interesting viewing the events unfolding through the different characters affected by the storyline in completely different ways – you’ve got the English Red Cross worker, you’ve got the young boy stuck in the displacement camp, you’ve got the young local boy who is a member of the Hitler Youth whose father goes missing as the Germans start to withdraw from the village, you’ve got the woman who’s son is wounded from the war but “finds” a baby left from one of the displaced, you’ve got the local school teacher’s family, and there are many other characters with appealing backstories and interactions that keeps the story ticking along and keeps it interesting..

On top of that, all the villagers are intrigued by the happenings at the local munitions works – and are shocked by the conditions of the workers that appears to be working there not knowing the full story of what’s happening there…

There’s so much going on and a vast array of characters that is beautifully written and sensitive to the people at a time of history that is not well covered but important nonetheless…

Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and Virago and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this fascinating book

In a small, isolated town near Hamburg the war is reaching its end. The soldiers in the forced labour camp are deserting and the townspeople know it's only a matter of time before the Allies arrive. A forced march passes through the town one night and the repercussions can only stay shrouded in darkness for so long. This is a tale with multiple narrators, from the Red Cross officer tasked with finding home for the displaced prisoners of war and finding families who have been split up, to the townspeople themselves, some delighted that the war is over, some not. In the background hums a darker catastrophe and shame. This is generously written, beautifully imagined and powerful in scope.

An unususal setting. Germany just before the end of World War Two.
The storyline was set up wonderfully well.
The bulk of the action is in a Displaced Person's Camp, but there is interacting with the local inhabitants.
Great Characters, Good story. The interaction between the people was especially well thought out, and was spot on.
I liked the fact that the setting and storyline was not the normal fare for books such as this.
I really liked this book, only spoiled for me by the end of the book, being a little hurried or cut short.
This is fairly common for modern books.
This may be so that a follow up story can be written ( I do hope so, I would like to read more about these characters).
My thanks to the author for the hours of enjoyment that the book has brought me, I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Once The Deed is Done -centers around a German Village shortly after the Nazi Surrender and is told from the point of view of several people who are in the village at that time.
This was a really interesting book . I particularly liked that it highlighted that for the the thousands of people who had been displaced during the war , life did not immediately improve or indeed change very much. Their lives may not have still been in peril, but they carried on living in camps not knowing, if their loved ones were alive or dead or if they still had homes to go to.
The story lines concerning the Red Cross displacement camp were particularly strong and I really liked Ruth Novak, an English/ German Jew who volunteers for the Red Cross and runs the camp.
The author also attempts to capture the politics of a German Village , as the villagers themselves wake up from The war and the horror they have witnessed. I enjoyed this part less, as I was never completely sure what the author was trying to portray.
I am not convinced this book will stay with me, but I'd definitely like to find out more about what happened in Central Europe at the end of the war , so for that I am very glad I read the book.