The Rocket Man’s Daughter: A Novel of Family, Faith, and Resistance in Nazi Germany

By: Bruce Gardner
Publisher: Zino Publishing
Publication Date: January 10, 2025
ISBN: 978-0-9998811-6-3
Reviewed by: Diana Coyle
Review Date: December 16, 2024

In 1934, Adolf Hitler rose to the position of undisputed, supreme power over the German nation in The Rocket Man’s Daughter: A Novel of Family, Faith, and Resistance in Nazi Germany by Bruce Gardner. Every German citizen had to make some serious decisions regarding themselves and their family members. If you were a professing Christian and chose to demonstrate your Christian faith by helping to hide your secret Jewish friends or helping them escape the country, under Hitler’s regime you could face concentration camp or even execution for trying to help members of what the Nazis believed was an inferior race. The alternative—caving in and following Hitler’s beliefs and antisemitic decrees—may preserve your life and livelihood, but like anything else in Germany during this conflicting time, nothing was a guarantee.

Klara Neumann, a fourteen-year-old at the time of Hitler’s rise, has a hard time acting like she truly believes in everything Hitler stands for. But her family tries everything in their power to ensure her outward obedience to Nazi principles and laws, so that their own lives and professional careers will not suffer during one of the most horrific wars of all time. As Klara grows older, her disgust with Nazi government decrees becomes an unbearable burden—one that finally compels her to undertake dangerous acts of clandestine resistance. But since her father has now become a renowned V-2 rocket scientist, he is drawing increasing SS-police attention to Klara’s strange new behaviors. With this extra scrutiny, how will the Neumann family and those close to them survive Hitler’s reign? What horrific trials and tribulations will Klara and her loved ones have to endure? What agonizing decisions will they be forced to make?

This was one story that was simply mesmerizing. The way Mr. Gardner tells this story immediately draws the reader in. You feel as if you are another character seeing and feeling everything firsthand. The fears, hopes, and desires of each character were so palpable you truly feel you are taking part in Hitler’s invasions of other countries and his crushing of all forms of resistance within Germany. When Klara decides to be more rebellious toward Hitler and his SS henchmen, she puts her entire family’s well-being at stake. As she tells her version of the story, you easily feel the intense emotions she experienced at different stages of her life. There were times this reviewer felt absolutely gutted by the actions Klara and her family had to do just to survive.

Gardner pens raw emotions into every character and literally takes his readers on the emotional roller coaster with each character as they try surviving during Hitler’s reign. Plus, the extensive research he has conducted for some of the true events that happened in history are so realistic that readers will feel they are fighting for their own lives as they turn the pages. When a ruthless German SS officer interrogates Jews and others accused of criminal activity, readers will feel they too are being interrogated. When a character is fighting for the German army in Russia, readers will also feel they are fighting on the front lines. The storyline is truly realistic and readers will surely be consumed by the rich details of this well researched novel.

Quill says: The Rocket Man’s Daughter: A Novel of Family, Faith, and Resistance in Nazi Germany by Bruce Gardner is one novel where readers will absolutely lose themselves, captivated by the engaging storyline and characters that have been penned with true authentic flair. Well done, Mr. Gardner!