Kit Sergeant

Looking for a powerful historical fiction based on a true story? The Doctor of Auschwitz by Kit Sergeant tells the courageous story of Psychiatrist Dr. Adélaïde Hautval who braves imprisonment, her health, & death in a fierce desire to protect those most vulnerable. Deemed a friend of the Jews, she faces the most dire of circumstances when forced to work in inhumane conditions & assist in medical experiments. Juxtaposed with her story is the 1964 trial of another doctor whom Adelaide show more worked with & must testify against. This hauntingly compelling story touched my heart & is a must read for historical fiction fans.

In Occupied France, 1942, Dr. Adelaide Hautval is thrown into prison for defending a Jewish family. What she believes is a few weeks imprisonment turns into months then years as her unwillingness to apologize & desire to care for the sick extend her sentence. Sent to the most brutal of concentration camps, Adelaide does what she can to smuggle medicines, change orders, & make sick patients appear healthy to avoid the gas chambers. Time & again she refuses to comply when ordered to do things that go against her conscience. When asked to assist the infamous Josef Mengele in his experiments at Auschwitz, she refuses, & is sent to Ravensbruck.

In London, 1964, Dr. Wladislaw Dering is suing an American author for libel. Several doctors as well as Auschwitz survivors testify that he didn’t use anesthesia & performed unnecessary sterilization surgeries. The Polish doctor claims the operations were necessary & he was threatened into following orders. Adelaide plays a key role in exposing the truth.

This story was so well done. I enjoyed getting to know Dr. Adelaide Hautval. She had such a courageous, indomitable spirit. I admired her integrity & unwillingness to comply. One of my favorite moments was when she & other prisoners in a subtle act of defiance perform a play based on The Song of Roland.

The story alternates between the trial & actual events & I enjoyed the pacing. Amid the horrific experiences, Adelaide’s bravery & compassion shine through. Though the subject matter maybe difficult for sensitive readers, the author does a fantastic job of includng only the most essential details.

Highly recommend listening to the beautifully narrated audiobook. The narrator did a wonderful job distinguishing each character, including their various accents. I received an advanced listener copy from the author but also purchase the ebook through Kindle Unlimited. All opinions are completely my own & provided voluntarily. show less

What a fascinating, suspenseful story! I’d never heard of Nancy Wake before reading this book, & now I’m completely impressed. Kit Sergeant does an amazing job bringing this colorful, courageous, incomparable WWII heroine to life. Her bravery in the face of unimaginable danger, true grit, & joie de vivre won my admiration.

Australian Nancy Wake ran away from home at 16 & trained herself as a journalist. Working in Berlin during the rise of Hitler, she witnessed firsthand the cruel show more treatment of the Jews. Escaping Germany, she fled to England, then later France, where she met her wealthy, handsome husband, Henri Fiocca. When France entered the war in 1940, Henri was drafted, & Nancy was determined to do her part. Using their immense wealth, she began working for the Resistance, hiding soldiers & helping them escape to Spain. Her daring missions kept me on the edge of my seat as she tried to stay one step ahead of the Germans. Her ability to evade capture earned her the moniker The White Mouse. Forced to flee France, she doesn’t stay away for long, returning as a spy & liaison between the Resistance & Maquis.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story! Nancy was such a joy to get to know, full of charm, wit, & expensive taste, yet utterly courageous. I loved how she carried her silk nightgowns & embroidered red pillow from Henri all over the front. Their courtship & marriage was so endearing. Though he was pursued by countless women, confident, beautiful Nancy won his love & led him on a merry chase. Henri could never say no to her schemes, & I loved how he always supported her daring missions. No amount of money was too great to help the Resistance & those in need.

Nancy’s bravery shines throughout this thrilling story. There were so many moments when I wondered if she’d escape with her life. Again & again, she put her life on the line for her countrymen & Allied soldiers. The sacrifices she makes are unimaginable, & I found myself shedding a tear or two at the cost.

Her remarkable, inspiring life is such a testament to sacrifice & courage. Highly recommend to WWII fiction fans. I received an advanced copy from the author but also purchased it in Kindle Unlimited. All opinions are completely my own & voluntarily provided.

Includes: Wartime violence, mentions of assault, torture, injury, & death, all mostly off page. I’d rate it PG-13. show less

I enjoyed this. There was enough detail that I felt transported to revolutionary America but not so much that I felt I was reading a textbook. Both main as well as secondary characters were well drawn. I liked each of the three women and appreciated how each had her own motivations. The way their paths crossed in this novel and the fact that they interacted with some of the same people made this feel like one complete story rather than three separate stories. I also liked that not everything show more was black and white, that sometimes the women questioned their allegiances and that sometimes they had to face the negative effects of their well intentioned actions. It added to the realism.

I received an e-copy from Member Giveaways, and I'm so happy I did as I wasn't previously familiar. Now I've bought the author's next book. show less

Historical biographies by numbers - just add adjectives to Wikipedia! Honestly, how anyone can suck the drama and emotion out of the real life stories of brave and daring men and women is beyond me, but potted accounts like this somehow manage the impossible. I caught a passing reference to Marie-Madeleine Fourcade in a book about another WW2 secret agent and added both this fictional account and a biography to my wishlist - unfortunately, the price dropped on the novel first.

The author show more reduces Fourcade's life to being a doting but selfless mother ('why else would a mother go so long without seeing her children?' Ha!) who spends all of her time either crying or sleeping/trying to sleep while various men crash into her room to announce another betrayal/arrest/death ('Oh no, here we go again!') The writing is both perfunctory and clunky, not to mention riddled with mistakes, while the pacing is slack to the point of somnolence. And the dialogue is so horrendously American that I had to keep reminding myself that Marie-Madeleine was French!

I'm still going to read the biography by Lynne Olson, by way of apology, and recommend anyone else with an interest in this amazing woman does the same. show less