Hitler's Niece : A Novel
Author(s): Ron Hansen
"A textured picture of Hitler's histrionic personality and his insane mission for glory, presaging the genocide to come in the cold-blooded obliteration of one young woman." — Publishers Weekly
Hitler's Niece tells the story of the intense and disturbing relationship between Adolf Hitler and the daughter of his only half-sister, Angela, a drama that evolves against the backdrop of Hitler's rise to prominence and power from particularly inauspicious beginnings. The story follows Geli from her birth in Linz, Austria, through the years in Berchtesgaden and Munich, to her tragic death in 1932 in Hitler's apartment in Munich. Through the eyes of a favorite niece who has been all but lost to history, we see the frightening rise in prestige and political power of a vain, vulgar, sinister man who thrived on cruelty and hate and would stop at nothing to keep the horror of his inner life hidden from the world.
Review(s):
"...readers will hear the brand names of beers drunk, see the clothing worn, feel the air, hear the songs-and cringe at the inevitability of the horror to come.."
"A textured picture of Hitler's histrionic personality and his insane mission for glory, presaging the genocide to come in the cold-blooded obliteration of one young woman."
[Hitler's Niece] invites us to consider Hitler in a new light . . . Hansen succeeds in conjuring Hitler as he probably was."
"A carefully crafted and distinctly macabre work of fiction."
"Ambitious, provocative . . . the confluence of historical event and personal destiny becomes mesmerizing."
"An act of sustained speculation about a small, horrifying domestic drama that took place while a much larger evil was unfolding; Hansen's achievement is to vividly portray one as a symptom of the other. . . . Because of its mixture of historical detail and psychological nuance it rings true."
"Hansen has researched not only the case itself but its political and social background in meticulous detail. All this Hansen evokes as well as I've ever seen it done, with a wealth of vivid local detail that carries complete conviction."
Hansen has written a convincing novel that is provocative, disturbing and illuminating.
Hansen is a fearless storyteller. . . . [He] creates a savagely human portrait of Hitler. . . . [Hitler's Niece] reads, like all good books, as a vehicle for the writer's obsession'an intelligent, haunting, and oddly devotional exploration of the unimaginable'-Hitler in love."
"Riveting . . . Hansen's insightful, brilliantly interpretative, and frightening novel does more to illuminate the welter of evil the fueled Hitler than a dozen biographies."
ISBN: 9780060932206