Excerpt from Cradles of the Reich by Jennifer Coburn, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"Gundi, Frau Schiller, it is good to see you both," Dr. Vogel said, gesturing for Gundi to sit on the exam table and Elsbeth to take the stool in the corner. "I've asked Dr. Gregor Ebner to join us today."

Dr. Ebner was no larger than Dr. Vogel, but somehow he occupied more space. His round, owlish eyeglasses rested on the apples of his cheeks. As he jutted his chin, Dr. Ebner moved about the exam room, circling Gundi with icy appraisal, hands clasped behind his back.

Gundi recognized the black swastika pin on Dr. Ebner's lapel. The gold rim meant he was one of the early members of the National Socialist Party, a true believer. Many Germans jumped aboard Hitler's bandwagon after he became führer, but the men who had pledged their loyalty to a fringe National Socialist Party were a different breed.

Gundi turned her head from Dr. Ebner and focused instead on the wall clock over the door. It was twenty minutes after four. Sitting on the padded exam table, she imagined herself instead in a wooden chair at the front of the lecture hall at Humboldt University, where Professor Hirsch would be finishing his economics lecture and beginning to field questions from students. How she wished she were there, less than a kilometer away but a universe apart.

Dr. Vogel hadn't changed the décor of his office in the fifteen years Gundi had been in his care. The room was sparse—­a full-­size skeleton next to an eye chart on the white wall and a scale planted on the floor. Beside the exam table was a metal rolling cart holding cotton swabs, glass vials, and something that looked like the drawing compass she had used for geometry class in Gymnasium. Gundi rubbed her bare arms, feeling a chill.

She looked through the window and noticed that the Kirschbaum on the street outside was already blooming. Its tiny pink flowers were half-­open, as if they were waking from a deep sleep.

"Well, I see you weren't exaggerating. What a beauty." Dr. Ebner gave a short laugh, patting Dr. Vogel on the back. Finally, he turned to Elsbeth. "Dr. Vogel tells me you are a widow," he said, tilting his chin down in a manner that seemed rehearsed. Elsbeth nodded solemnly as Dr. Ebner continued. "It takes a strong woman to raise a child alone. I'm sorry you had to bear the burden by yourself."

Gundi saw her mother's tight smile and sensed her bristling internally. People often presumed that raising a child alone was a burden, but Gundi's mother always said life was simpler as the sole parent. Without Walter, there was less money, but there was also peace.

Dr. Vogel's voice brought Gundi back to the present. "Your test results came in this morning, and congratulations are in order, though the circumstances are not ideal, of course," he said, nodding as if to coax her agreement.

Gundi's fear landed with a thud in her heart. She was going to be a mother. Her missed periods, swollen breasts, and nausea had told her as much. The timing couldn't be worse. Germany was becoming more dangerous every day, and her child's father was missing. Yet Gundi couldn't help also feeling the slightest flicker of joy. She was going to have Leo's baby. In another world, at another time, Gundi would have run straight from the doctor's office into Leo's arms. The two would rush to marry and playfully bicker over names. She would tell him she knew it was a boy; Leo would insist they were having a girl. Gundi knew he would want to name his daughter Nadja, after his grandmother who had recently died. Gundi would agree easily because she was certain they would be naming the child after her grandfather Josef anyway.

Before Gundi could fully absorb the news, Dr. Ebner slipped a small envelope from his pocket. He opened it and slid out cards in various shades of flesh tones, from porcelain white to a rich vanilla cream. He glanced up at Gundi and laid out on a rolling cart three skin shades that most closely resembled hers. Placing the color swatches beside Gundi's cheek one by one, Dr. Ebner was silent until he offered a light huff of approval, signaling that he had found the perfect match for her pale skin.

Excerpted from Cradles of the Reich by Jennifer Coburn. Copyright © 2022 by Jennifer Coburn. Excerpted by permission of Sourcebooks. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.