This is a very bold and adventurous novel, it has such a wide scope, from the mountains of Tibet to bombed out streets of Berlin, along with scenes in Churchill’s war rooms and Scottish bases. It is also an exciting blend of fact and real individuals into a Boy’s Own fiction story of brave men and daring do, with some added mystery, espionage and Nazi eugenics madness. Clearly a lot of research has gone into the story to give authenticity and there is a comprehensive reading list included. It is also a very brave novel, an unflinching account of the breakdown of civilisation in the days following the fall of Berlin and the German surrender. As the strap line states, “the worst atrocities in battle begin after the war is won” and so the author incorporates these shocking events within the story. After any conflict there is a degree of bloodletting, of victor’s summary ‘justice’ and after the atrocities inflicted on the Russians by the invading Germans and their Einsatzgruppen there was going to be some revenge. However, the scale of the orgy of looting, murder and rape was unexpected by the Western Allies, though German civilians quickly knew what was coming with some women preferring suicide to the inevitable. It’s a dark, brutal read but as a reader who has read widely about the war I can see it as an honest depiction. In thriller reviews you expect to discover it was a fast paced and gripping page turner, the second part certainly lives up to that, but the first part is slower as the situation is revealed and I found myself occasionally putting it down to reflect upon what I had read. Great fiction has the power to do that. The central thrust of the story is the search for a child, Zaya the daughter of an Englishman and a Nepalese villager. Zaya was taken as part of the Lebensborn project instigated by Himmler, to take children who fit his Aryan ideal and give them to childless Germans. First her grandmother Dawa searches whilst her mother Amira recovers from illness and takes up the quest, to find one child in the displaced humanity that is now Europe. Ultimately her father, a war weary ex-army captain Martin Geller, is drawn into the search with a request that he helps British agent Edward Kayne escape, with plans that are vital to Churchill. These plans relate to Operation Unthinkable, a real plan to continue the war against the Russians before the conquered Europe, one of many outlandish ideas considered during the war. The scenes with Kayne and Geller produce some fabulously imagined action and a breathtaking escape. This is one author with a great feel for the visual; it would make a great movie. In amongst all the savagery the author has managed to capture extraordinary strong emotions within the prose, giving a real depth of feeling. There is the intense mother’s love of Amira as she seeks out her daughter in all the madness, but there are also surrogates who also care for and nurture Zaya. Geller also has great love for Zaya and Amira, but like Kayne he has the battle weary, almost tragic sense of loyalty and duty the Nazis must be stopped no matter the cost. Then there is the incredible Rosa, a woman determined to survive and do whatever she must to ensure it. This is what so many were reduced to, but survival might strip all the humanity from your soul. Rosa is a beautifully nuanced character. A novel that makes it clear that victory came at great personal cost to so many, in terms of death, physical and psychological harm. In essence the search for Zaya becomes a metaphor for the preservation of love, morals and dignity, save one child to save humanity.

I’ve always loved reading a novel by Rob Gittins, he really does put his heart and soul into every book and ‘Year Zero’ is no exception. It’s powerful, heart-breaking, intensely emotional but at the same time, fabulously entertaining in a way it really shouldn’t be, considering the traumatic storyline of ‘Lebensborn’. I can’t mention much about the story without giving too much away but suffice to say there are some very powerful, heroic women (and girls) involved along the way, with some eye opening scenes showing their bravery and courage. Together with a determined father and a tough, unbreakable soldier, they all come together to produce a character cast to be proud of. I dread to think of the nightmares the author had whilst researching for this book and then putting it all down into a readable story. He must have a cast iron stomach because some of the atrocities mentioned, made me nauseous and I’m sure they were played down for respectability. I was very impressed with the amount of research too that must have been conducted in order for the book to read so plausible and real. There were a couple of paragraphs about real life people I’d only slightly or never heard of - the Russian ‘Night Witches’ and the sadistic ‘Ilse Koch’ to mention just two and even though they only had a couple of lines about them, the author managed to include them seamlessly into a fictional story. Set mostly just after the war when the German death camps were brutally run by the Soviets, the story is what it is - so expect heart wrenching moments and upsetting scenes. These cannot be avoided in this genre, in order to produce a high quality and memorable story, which in my opinion could easily be played out on the big screen. A must read recommendation from me and an easy 5 star rating. #YearZero - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️