Inheritance of Secrets

Bates, Sonya. Inheritance of Secrets. November 2021. 432p. HarperCollins.
After her mother left when Juliet was nine, she grew up with her German grandparents, Karl and Grete. The three are close, and she’s devastated when they’re murdered. Even more upsetting, investigators claim that Karl was a long-pursued Nazi war criminal. That present-day story, set in Australia, alternates with the wartime romance tale of Karl and Grete, who love their country but are kind to Jewish neighbors, and who promise to reunite after Karl returns from the front. Most of this earlier tale takes place before and after the war, leaving what Karl did during the conflict a mystery that Juliet is desperate to unravel. This is not a story of Nazi redemption; rather, it’s a thoughtful, immersive look at pre-and postwar life in a destroyed Europe and an examination of the scars left for succeeding generations. Canadian author Bates drops readers right into this family’s heartache and struggle for togetherness. This is Bates’s first novel for adults, and readers will want more; in the meantime, steer them toward Anna Lee Huber’s Verity Kent series, which also features WWII melancholy-tinged romance.