The Stolen Sisters (The World War Two Orphanage Book 2)
by Ann Bennett, narrated by Daphne Kouma

You do not have to read the first book in this duology to understand and enjoy this second book. But the two books together give an extremely disturbing picture of just how vast and destructive the Lebensborn program was from 1935 - 1945. The first book deals mostly with the breeding of a racially pure Aryan race (although that was expanded to encompass more extensive destruction in a variety of horrible ways) and this book deals more with the kidnapping of children from foreign countries to "Germanize" them through the Lebensborn program. The children were put through rigorous testing to be sure their bodies fit into precise qualifications. Those children who didn't "measure up" (literally) were disposed of through concentration camps and experimental programs.

In this story we follow two sisters, half sisters, actually, 10 year old Joanna and 12 year old Marta. One sister fits the rigid program of purity, the other sister has blood that is not allowed within the Aryan ideal. Neither child is going to go easily toward the fate planned for them. It's hard enough watching adults suffer through the ordeal of being rounded up, suffering the brutality of cattle car rides, concentration camp life and more, seeing these things from the POV of of an child is so much more heartbreaking. Then there is the child who is chosen to assimilate into a life she never wanted, a life that goes against the way she was raised, a life that is willing to exterminate all that is dear to her.

We meet one three year old boy, but not for long. To know there were so many other little children treated as disposable and this went on and on with no hope of an end. There are no words that make this okay, that can brush over this as if nothing happened. Thank goodness there is awareness and some families are able to find out what might have happened to those who came before them. Narrator Daphne Kouma voices the children so well, my heart broke hearing their voices. But she is able to also voice the adults and bring out the horror of the cruel captors in the way they spoke to the children.

Thank you to Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for this ARC.