... astonishing.

Donner had access to material only family could find. She also, cleverly, compensates for what we don’t know about Harnack with what can be gleaned about her many acquaintances.

Donner not only has the scoop, she’s also a very good writer.

Ms. Donner’s use of the present tense increases the feeling of inevitability as she unfolds her story to its horrific conclusion. This is a powerful book. A nonfiction narrative with the pace of a political thriller, it’s imbued with suspense and dread. There are occasional lapses in the writing, and sometimes the cliff-hangers are a little forced. But it’s a deeply affecting biography, meticulously researched and illustrated with photographs, documents, diary entries, smuggled notes, and fragments of a Gestapo questionnaire Mildred was made to fill out in prison on her last day alive.

... gripping.

Despite its ostensibly forbidding subject matter this is a thrilling and inspiring book. It is a treasure trove for lovers of biography, new writing and the history of the Third Reich. Donner’s style is startling with sometimes short, even single word sentences.

... a deeply moving act of recovery.

[Donner] brings forensic and literary skills—along with access to family papers and a key witness—to a story at once deeply personal and broadly inspiring.

Photos and snippets of letters and papers are sprinkled throughout this compelling book, which reads like a tragic novel where we wish we didn't know the ending.

... untapped family sources...help Donner evoke Mildred well, including humanising details such as the occasional problems with her marriage. That said, this is far from a conventional history book. The history of the Third Reich takes up a high proportion of the text—there are whole chapters in which Mildred does not appear. The result is certainly a lively read but one that occasionally stumbles over historical detail and is more categorical about some events than most historians would be. We should nonetheless be grateful that Mildred Harnack has received proper recognition at last, although this is unlikely to prove the last word..

[A] stunning biography.

The astounding life story of [Donner's] great-great-aunt Mildred Fish-Harnack.

Donner has clearly worked hard in East German, Soviet, and recently released American archives to tell an impressive story.