Preview

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Cradles of the Reich

By: Jennifer Coburn
Narrated by: Natasha Soudek
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $16.06

Buy for $16.06

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Three women, a nation seduced by a madman, and the Nazi breeding program to create a so-called master race

At Heim Hochland, a Nazi breeding home in Bavaria, three women’s fates are irrevocably intertwined. Gundi is a pregnant university student from Berlin. An Aryan beauty, she’s secretly a member of a resistance group. Hilde, only eighteen, is a true believer in the cause and is thrilled to carry a Nazi official’s child. And Irma, a forty-four-year-old nurse, is desperate to build a new life for herself after personal devastation. All three have everything to lose.

Based on untold historical events, this novel brings us intimately inside the Lebensborn Society maternity homes that actually existed in several countries during World War II, where thousands of “racially fit” babies were bred and taken from their mothers to be raised as part of the new Germany. But it proves that in a dark period of history, the connections women forge can carry us through, even driving us to heroism we didn’t know we had within us.

©2022 Jennifer Coburn (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Cradles of the Reich

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    97
  • 4 Stars
    52
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    103
  • 4 Stars
    35
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    92
  • 4 Stars
    44
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping

Grabs the reader immediately. Couldn’t put it down. I had no idea about this society

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Drop off ending to an otherwise good read

I liked this book overall, though some of the character development was a little lacking. My biggest reason for taking off a star was that the ending drops off - I was shocked to be at the end of the book because SURELY there was another chapter or three...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A dark segment of history

This book is written in such a way that you develop attachment to characters as you learn about another dark truth of Nazi practices. It is a very well written book, but difficult to read due to the emotions that are stirred. I feel we are obligated to learn history to hopefully prevent repeating it. Historical fiction is a method that allows the reader to develop relationships with the characters while learning about a particular place and time. This author did this very well and the author’s note at the end is just as telling.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Disturbing must read

We can never let this happen again. Cannot be just Words. We all have a duty to guard against it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Hood listen

I love historical books. This is my favorite era to read about. The performance was good and the story was good. Made you want to know what happens to the characters

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent story

An enlightening and moving story which is true and hard to believe as are most important books about the Nazis.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Not to be missed

This is a story that needed to be told. While the market may be saturated with stories of the Third Reich, this is a women's story. This is a story of another shocking, secret Nazi program of life, on the edges of a society preoccupied with a painfully skewed idea of
perfection.

The three main characters each open a window into the psyche of the German people during the Nazi reign. Each are relatable, in their own way, and have fascinating story arcs.

The narrator was well chosen, and makes the story seem even more authentic.

Thank you, Jennifer Coburn, for this compelling tale. I flew through it in two days.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Hidden history

This novel introduced me a part of Nazi history that is rarely discussed: A master race breeding colony that brings three very different women together.
There is much in this story that is relevant today such as the use of propaganda to shape public perception of the “other” and denigration of the free press as the “lying press”. The treatment of and propaganda created role of women of this era as pawns of powerful men and the state was reminiscent of a Margaret Atwood novel. The historical parallels gave me food for thought and a few chills as well.

I found the story compelling, and appreciated the use of individual chapters to tell the story of each woman. However, the character development was uneven. Hilda’s story particularly was disjointed and seemed unconnected to the main theme: Gundi’s dilemma of finding herself unwed, pregnant from a Jewish lover, and placed into a Nazi home for pregnant women. Placing Hilda so centrally in the novel detracts from the development and interconnection of the two main characters, Gundi and Irma. Hilda is really a distraction. I found myself wondering why the back story of the resistance nurse who rescues Gundi was not front and center and Hilda a minor plot figure.

Over all I couldn’t stop listening, the reader was great, and would recommend the book to anyone with an interest in Nazi culture, Nazi master plan and the theory of eugenics that was so prevalent in the first half of the 20th century.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Engaging

This book kept me wanting more. It made me less me question, made me feel, and helped me gain insight into what the characters might be thinking and experiencing. I was there in the story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The story was fascinating, but..

The story was fascinating..... one more unbelievable program the Nazis devised to accomplish their idea of a perfect society. I read a lot of historical fiction and the things the Nazis did and the people who supported those things never ceases to amaze me.
I did feel the dialog was a bit too modern for the time period and the culture. The reader added to that dissonance with her voice and inflection.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!