Prisoner of Night and Fog Blog Tour

THE PRISONER OF NIGHT AND FOG

by Anne Blankman

Pages: 352, paperback

Publisher: Headline

Publication Date: April 22nd 2014

Summary

In 1930s Munich, danger lurks behind dark corners, and secrets are buried deep within the city. But Gretchen Müller, who grew up in the National Socialist Party under the wing of her "uncle" Dolf, has been shielded from that side of society ever since her father traded his life for Dolf's, and Gretchen is his favorite, his pet.

Uncle Dolf is none other than Adolf Hitler. And Gretchen follows his every command.

Until she meets a fearless and handsome young Jewish reporter named Daniel Cohen. Gretchen should despise Daniel, yet she can't stop herself from listening to his story: that her father, the adored Nazi martyr, was actually murdered by an unknown comrade. She also can't help the fierce attraction brewing between them, despite everything she's been taught to believe about Jews.

As Gretchen investigates the very people she's always considered friends, she must decide where her loyalties lie. Will she choose the safety of her former life as a Nazi darling, or will she dare to dig up the truth—even if it could get her and Daniel killed?

An Alternate First Scene 

 by Anne Blankman

If you've read my debut novel, Prisoner of Night and Fog, then you know the story is seen entirely from Gretchen Müller's perspective. But did you ever wonder what her love interest, eighteen-year-old reporter Daniel Cohen, thinks the first time he sees her? If you have, then you're in luck because today I'm going to share an alternate first scene from Daniel's POV. Without further ado, here it is...

            The first time Daniel Cohen saw the Nazi princess, she was nothing like he had expected. He stood on the edge of a pool of light cast by a streetlamp, straining to see through the dusk that had fallen across the Briennerstrasse. Farther down the street, a group of men in SA brown ducked into Café Heck. Daniel's heart raced. Hitler was in there. Only a few yards away, yet it might have been miles.

            He took a hesitant step forward. He could go inside the tearoom. Pretend to be an ordinary customer, enjoying his coffee and apple strudel, while all along he eavesdropped on Hitler entertaining his table companions with endless monologues. Maybe Hitler would let slip something incriminating, a crucial detail that could land Daniel the scoop he needed to launch his career—

            A girl's voice pierced the quiet. "Stop!"

            Each of Daniel's senses went on full alert. The cry had come from the alley. Even as he rushed toward the opening between the stone buildings, other passersby hurried there, too, eager to see what was happening.

            Thanks to his tall height, Daniel could easily see over the crowd. Within the alley, a massive teenage boy stood with his arms wrapped around a girl, murmuring in her ear. Their blonde hair gleamed in the dimness. They looked as though they were embracing, until Daniel saw how stiffly the girl held herself, like a stick of wood. She's scared, he realized.

            A man lay at the boy and girl's feet, groaning in pain. He was dressed in the black garb of a Hasidic Jew. Fury, quick and hot, surged through Daniel. Another one of his people, beaten in the street while most Müncheners did nothing. The girl had, though, he remembered. She had screamed at the boy to stop.

            As Daniel watched, the boy released the girl and she stumbled sideways, bracing a hand on the stone wall to steady herself. Then she glanced at the mouth of the alley, her eyes wide and dark, her face pale with fear.

            All the air seemed to rush from Daniel's lungs. He staggered back a step.

            No. It wasn't possible.

            Faintly, he head a policeman talking to the boy, ordering him to move along. The words buzzed in his ears.

            He recognized the girl's face. He'd seen it often enough in the Nazi Party papers, and in the month since he'd moved to Munich he'd heard her name dozens of times, uttered with reverence or disgust depending on whom was speaking.

            The girl was Gretchen Müller. The Nazi Party's golden girl, Hitler's special favorite, the seventeen-year-old daughter of the man who had died to protect him. A spoiled, mindless pet, Daniel had assumed, more of a doll than a person.

            But she had helped a Jew.

            Daniel stood motionless while the crowd broke up and trickled past him. As the blood thundered in his ears, he knew what he had to do, even if it signed his death warrant. It was worth the risk. Judging by what he had just seen, Fräulein Müller might be willing to talk to him, and if his suspicions about her father's death were correct, the ensuing scandal could break the Nazi Party apart. 

            He had to do it. He had to talk to the Nazi princess.  

This was just the first stop on the Prisoner of Night and Fog tour! Don't forget to check out the rest of the posts going up this week!!