Adiel and the Führer by Elyse Hoffman

A chance to prevent the rise of Hitler… but at what cost?

Adiel Goldstein has a good life. Despite the anti-Semitism he faces as a German Jew, he has everything he wants. A dream job as an art professor, good friends, a loving father, and a precious nine-year-old daughter, Kaia. But his life is about to be upended. An old comrade from his time fighting in the Great War is gaining power: a man named Hitler. Adiel’s father insists that they need to leave the country before Hitler becomes the leader of Germany.

Adiel and his family plan to move to America, but before they can even pack their bags, he and Kaia make a shocking discovery. Adiel’s father, Natan Goldstein, is from the future. A Holocaust survivor who lost his family to unspeakable tragedy, Natan was given the chance to go back in time and take the life of Adolf Hitler. But when he failed to kill the future Führer, he devoted himself to his new family and awaited the inevitable.

Natan can’t face the Holocaust again, but Adiel’s unique connection to Hitler means he might be able to succeed where his father failed. Adiel now has a choice: escape as planned and let history repeat itself, or sacrifice everything to stop the Holocaust before it can begin.

GENRE: Alternate History / Historical Fiction

PURCHASE LINK: Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Elyse Hoffman is an award-winning author who strives to tell historical tales with new twists. Having studied WWII since the age of thirteen and with interests in fantasy and Jewish folklore, she loves to combine them in her writing. Elyse started writing novels at fourteen and finished her first historical fiction work at fifteen. She has published eight books: five in a series called The Barracks of the Holocaust, and three novels, including The Book of Uriel, Where David Threw Stones, and Fracture. In her spare time, she loves to read, work on pretty keyboards, and hang out with her co-authors - her Goldendoodle Ari and her ex-feral cat, Echo.

Review

As much as it embarrasses me to admit, this is the second time (the first being Black Fox One) that I almost made the mistake of passing on an Elyse Hoffman book because 1) I forgot that this installment was coming, and 2) I took one look at the cover and shrugged it off as I don't really read historical fiction, moreso this time period. But the same friend who recommended Black Fox One gently prodded me to read it, and as someone who has trouble saying no to a trusted recommendation, I went ahead and did so.

OH MY GOODNESS.

If I'd read the blurb, I'd have known from the start that I was diving into a book that had some of the stuff I just love. Time travel? Alternate history? Magic and folklore? COUNT ME IN. Coupled with Elyse's engaging prose and talent for creating complex yet relatable characters, the book hooked me until the very end!

And the twists, holy moly. Based on the cover, I thought we'd be following a child or a teen character much like Jonas in Black Fox One... but no. And just when I was so certain the story was going in a particular way, I would be thrown off-balance by a plot twist, most of them so quietly but so skillfully done too. (I'm only not screaming about them because I really don't want to spoil anyone's enjoyment.) But you bet I was really gutted by some of the turns. I was feeling victorious and heartbroken in certain parts. And I was rooting for and hoping to see a redemption arc for [REDACTED] — but we can't know for sure?????

I'm making no further mistakes; I've signed up for Elyse's newsletter and very much looking forward to The Hangman's Master, the next installment!

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️⭐️️

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Hi! I'm Marie, a Filipino fantasy author and book reviewer currently based in the UK. I’m the co-author of The Prophecies of Ragnarok, a Norse myth new adult urban fantasy trilogy, and I also have several short stories published in anthologies and literary journals.

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