The Women at Hitler’s Table | Rosella Postorino

By Sarah Proctor

REVIEWED BY ASHLEY BRANKIN

You’ll never look at food the same way again!

Would you be willing to die for your country? What if you didn’t have the choice?

With both parents dead and her husband fighting on the front line, twenty-six-year-old Rosa finds herself trying to find purpose in life again.

She doesn’t have to wait long as she is about to be called to serve her country… whether she wants to or not.

New girl on the block

Fleeing from a collapsing Berlin, Rosa has taken refuge with her husband’s parents out in the country. However she has drawn unwanted attention as a newcomer. This attention sees her selected as one of Hitler’s ten food tasters. A job not for the faint of heart.

In a time of rations, surely, she should feel privileged to have a belly full of food. Or does the risk of being poisoned in each bite make it difficult to swallow?

Friends in unlikely places

Miles away from home and missing her husband, Rosa finds friendship in the unlikeliest of places. Bonded together by the need to survive, she allows the other women into her life while hiding a shameful secret. A secret no one can know.

Will she survive this war – and Hitler’s mealtimes?

Rosella Postorino’s historical novel The Women at Hitler’s Table is based on the true story of Margot Wolk, Hitler’s only food taster to survive the war.

The dispensable nature of human life as portrayed by Postorino leaves a chill in your soul, while the first-person viewpoint makes the reader feel as though they are actually in the room with these women, wondering if this bite would be their last.

A thought-provoking read that gives an insight into how the ‘other side’ thought during the second world war – and what lengths they would go to secure victory.

A book that will see you through the dark winter nights with a cuppa – but maybe leave the biscuits in the tin for this one!