Project 613 Publishing
330 Pages
I love time travel stories. I try to read every one of them that I run across. Adiel and the Fuhrer by Elyse Hoffman sells itself as a time travel novel, but, frankly, it’s something that is far deeper than that simple concept. Instead, Hoffman takes a tired and worn trope and bends it into something new, twisted like a pretzel. I was barely into this book when I immediately recommended it to my friends who are readers like me. This novel is that good.
Adiel Goldstein is an art professor in Germany in the opening days of a Nazi takeover of the country. Jewish people, like Adiel, are already looked upon with derision and outright hostility. Still, he perseveres, attempting to remain under the radar and continue to toil at his dream job. He lives with his nine-year-old daughter, Kaia, and his elderly father, Natan. As he struggles to remain relevant in a changing world that sees him as less than human, he sees his fellow soldier from the Great War, Hitler, grab more and more power. Despite being comrades in the late conflict, Adiel and his father know they must escape Germany before Hitler takes over as leader. It is during these preparations that Adiel discovers a dark secret kept from him by his parents.
This is the point that this novel diverges from the typical novels of this genre. I cannot spoil the changes here, but rest assured, it is different from almost anything else you’ve ever read about time travel and the life of Hitler. The last two thirds of the novel deal with the short time travel aspect and the impacts on the lives of Natan, Kaia, Adiel, and other historically significant members of contemporary Germany. Hoffman takes a deep dive into the development of the characters she’s created. Each of the characters are distinctive and special, adding their personalities to a rich tapestry of this speculative historical narrative.
With Adiel and the Fuhrer, Elyse Hoffman takes artistic liberties with history, but it works very well. She combines the unbelievability of time travel and mixes it with enough historical integrity to write a tale that could very well be an actual possibility in our own timeline. In the end, the empathy for several of the characters is palpable for the reader. The agonies and triumphs for Adiel and his family ring true amid the madness of a world gone wrong.
What could happen to Hitler in such a scenario? You’ll have to read this book to find out. Elyse Hoffman writes an incredibly fresh perspective on an old concept. You will want to read Adiel and the Fuhrer to uncover the intriguing path that Hoffman leads her readers. I cannot stress enough how much I loved the twists that the author threw into the novel. I read a good portion of this book while waiting for my wife to show me the clothes she was trying on while we were shopping. I couldn’t put this book down. I took it everywhere until I finished it.
Craig Bacon loves time travel and historical fiction novels. Mix the two and it’s a recipe for a great book.