Hitler's Daughter

On wet days Mark and his friends shelter while waiting for the school bus. They started playing 'The Game' - making up stories - to comfort Little Tracey when she started school. One stormy day Anna begins, tentatively at first, to tell the story of what might have happened if Hitler had a daughter, Heidi. Over a period of some days the story of the young girl enthrals the children as Anna weaves a thoughtful, provocative account of Heidi's life. Brought up in isolation by a governess and housekeeper, Heidi wonders about her background, the important man who occasionally comes to see her and the little she hears about the war in Europe. Anna's story leads Mark to ask questions: how would he feel if his father was like Hitler? Are people still being exterminated today? How did his family acquire the land for their farm? Could it have been stolen from the Aborigines? While it would make a fascinating and worthwhile adjunct to a study of World War II, it would be great pity if this novel were only seen in relation to the classroom. In a relatively few pages it has much to say about the power of story to captivate and to extend imaginative boundaries. Anna is an accomplished storyteller, and it is her voice we hear for much of the book. At the conclusion she leaves the reader with an interesting speculative thought to add to the deeply philosophical questions about ethics, emotions and behaviour. The direct gaze of the protagonist on the attractive sepia toned cover invites the reader inside the pages, and it is an invitation well worth taking up.