I was pleasantly surprised by this title. I didn't know what to expect or if I would enjoy it. For me, biographies can be hit and miss. The other Hoffman sister is very well written and compelling.

For some reason, I initially thought this book was non-fiction, but once I got over my error, I settled in.

This is absolutely a character driven novel. It’s slow and atmospheric, a dense net that gradually tightens. There is a great level of historical detail of a country in the WW2 era I was unfamiliar about. It would appeal to readers who enjoyed THE ESSEX SERPENT and the character focus narrative of Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy.

A fantastic story with absolutely wonderful prose.
Fergusson constructs well thought out characters and creates wonderful plot lines.

Although I enjoyed reading this on the whole, it didn’t quite hang together for me, and I didn’t relate to the characters. The story is original and absorbing enough, telling as it does of the Hoffman sisters, Ingrid and Margarete, whom we first meet in German South West Africa in 1902, where the father has taken them to make his fortune. Already there are secrets and lies and deceptions beyond the daily routine and these only increase after the family’s return to Berlin. Unfortunately it’s all a bit convoluted and unlikely, even melodramatic at times, with some unconvincing plot twists and although I was engaged enough to keep reading to find out what happens, I can’t say I really cared. I enjoyed the historical background, particularly the events in South West Africa, but the socialist uprisings in Berlin after WWI seemed somewhat extraneous to the narrative. So I’m a bit half-hearted all round and sadly this one was nowhere near as good as Fergusson’s earlier novel The Spring of Kaspar Meier.

I struggled with this one a little. I can't say it was a bad book, far from it, but I also can't say that I particularly enjoyed it. It was incredibly slow, and the characters were quite flat and unlikeable. I never felt invested in the story in any real way. It covers some really interesting and horrific periods in history, which serve as a backdrop for a story that was not as interesting or relevant as the events which it overshadowed. It was well written, but unfortunately, I simply couldn't enjoy it.

From the very beginning, we are told that the 'other' Hoffmann sister will disappear. Ingrid is the sturdy one, the sensible one, the one who pays attention to her studies. Her elder sibling Margarete is far more sensitive. For Ingrid, the seeds for Margarete's disappearance were sown when the family first decamped from Germany to South West Africa (modern day Namibia) in 1902. The Hoffmanns seek to make their fortune, having bought a large plot of land and a big house from the fading aristocrat Baron von Ketz. Of hazy origins themselves, Herr and Frau Hoffmann have grand plans for their daughters, lording it above their native servants and hoping for an engagement between highly-strung Margarete and von Ketz's son Emil. Fergusson manages to strike a highly effective balance between Ingrid's obliviousness and the tension within her environment - with a protagonist who does not think to ask the questions, or even notice when she is being lied to, how will she ever put the pieces together when disaster finally strikes?



The Other Hoffmann Sister is highly evocative, capturing the era of German imperialism when the aristocracy still had a value and before the devastation of the twentieth century. Ingrid's parents believe that they are buying into a world that will never change, that the German supremacy is unshakable. As the years pass by, we watch as their world crumbles but how their faith is never rattled. They are proud that Baroness von Ketz requests Margarete's company once a week, even though Ingrid longs to go too. Frau Hoffmann is briskly dismissive when Margarete's unwillingness to go seems to drive the young girl towards a breakdown. Their iron will will brook no opposition. The Herero uprising of 1904 claims the life of Baron von Ketz and chases the Hoffmanns plus Emil back to Germany. The years pass and Margarete finally does become engaged to Emil, fulfilling her parents of making their daughter a Baroness. For Ingrid, this surely means that she will no longer have to protect her sister, to keep half an eye on her at all times, that Margarete will have a happy ending. The reader knows better and so we are barely surprised when Margarete vanishes on the eve of her wedding day, presumed drowned in the lake.

Ingrid has spent so much of her time up until this point preoccupied with her own concerns - she frets over Margarete's tantrums and depressions when they mean that her sister misses out on hearing their book read, or when it disrupts her lessons, but there are other times when she is bafflingly incurious. Where Margarete has the beauty, Ingrid is to be the clever one of the family, so she is focussed on her lessons and devoted to the housekeeper's son Hans who teaches her. It is a strange thing to read a book in English about a German girl studying to learn English. Ingrid grows up with an ambition to be a translator, working hard on her collection of poems translated from English to German. This was an interesting linguistic exercise, with Fergusson creating copies of 'translated' English poems ever so delicately adjusted to lose their meaning. Ingrid reads but does not quite comprehend what she sees. As with her books, so with her life.

The icy ambition of the Hoffmann parents is revealed in their pride in having a Baroness daughter, despite the fact that she had apparently ended her own life mere hours after becoming one. With her family frantic to bury any suggestion of scandal and then Europe descending into chaos, Ingrid is blocked on all sides in her attempt to get an answer on what befell her sister. With friends assuring her that Margarete was never strong, that she should let her go, hopes for finding the truth seem destined to fade. However, when Germany finally admits defeat and Berlin falls into disarray following the revolution, Ingrid and her family flee back to the von Ketz estate for sanctuary and Ingrid tries again to discover what on earth became of the other Hoffmann sister.

With a reader primed from the book's opening lines to look for all clues, that Margarete is surely doomed, it is at times frustrating when Ingrid herself notices so little. There are so many junctures when one thinks that surely Ingrid would have asked more questions, but then we remember that the child Ingrid did not have our fore-knowledge. Fergusson is a very atmospheric writer, summoning up the sticky heat of South West Africa, with the two European girls poorly adapted for their new life. The chill of a German winter is summoned up when Ingrid starts her true investigation in the immediate aftermath of the war. However, while this was highly effective, I felt that Fergusson could have spent slightly less time on build-up and slightly more on the plot as at times the action drags a little while we are waiting for Margarete to finally vanish.

In terms of suspense though, I have to admit to have been completely caught up, with the final third definitely the strongest of the novel. I grew genuinely excited as the clues began to draw together in my mind, staying up far past my bedtime because I was desperate to get to the end - I can't remember the last time I did that. Still, even with the final truths revealed, I felt a kind of discontentment. Was it just the extent to which Ingrid had been ignorant, blind even, to what was going on around her? Or was it an actual weakness of the novel? The Other Hoffmann Sister is made of parts which are perhaps greater than the sum of its whole. It is highly descriptive, evokes the feelings and preoccupations of its time period, the characters are richly varied and the novel has an impressively Gothic central mystery. It's just that somehow it fails to quite satisfy - so much of the action has taken place offstage that when we are caught up, the events hold less weight than they should. Ingrid has been necessarily blank for so long, excluded from the family secrets, that she is a difficult protagonist to engage with. Despite its many promising qualities, The Other Hoffmann Sister is rather lacking in terms of its flow.

It may seem that I am being overly critical, but with so much about this novel that I found truly gripping, and the powerful way in which Fergusson is able to transport the reader from South West Africa to Berlin to the crumbling von Kertz estate, I do have a feeling that The Other Hoffman Sister is destined to be the sophomore attempt with Fergusson's career. He has already impressed with The Spring of Kasper Meier and with this book, he solidifies his reputation as a talented writer and I will look forward to what he writes next. I just don't think that The Other Hoffman Sister is destined to be a career highlight.

This is set in pre-WWI Colonial German Africa and then progresses back to Germany until the post WWI communist unrest. The Hoffmann family live in Africa for many years, farming, where their two young daughters Margarete and Ingrid grow up to their mid teens. Once back in Germany we build up to the marriage of Margaret to Baron Von Ketz, a friend from the years in Africa, her later disappearance & the real mystery of what happened in Africa and how this reflects on the current situation.

I loved the background of this book but very much wished that there had been more detail. The detail in Africa was particularly sparse with little detail beyond Margarete visiting the Von Ketz family and the later revolution. There are comments made later in the book about the girls running barefoot and wild but we have no details. The later descriptions about the unrest in Germany do contain a little more detail but still not enough to make this all come alive.

The characters in this book are interesting though not that likeable. Ingrid particularly likes to think she is a foreward thinking and caring individual but the reality is very different. Spending one train journey in third class as opposed to first is hardly the statement of a real reformer! Ingrid is actually a very self centred person and often fails to see what is blatently obvious to the reader. Margarete is a troubled woman who is a puppet in the hands of her father and the Von Ketz family.

This could easily have been a five star book but wasn't. The missing historical depth played some part in its downfall as did the fact that the characters just weren't that nice. The solution to what happened to Margaret was actually quite obvious to the reader a long way in advance to the great reveal. If Ingrid hadn't been so self obsessed she would have noticed it earlier!

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

The Hoffmann sisters, Ingrid and her older sibling, Margarete, are taken to German Southwest Africa in 1902, to live on land bought by their father from Baron von Ketz. The Baron, his wife and son, Emil live nearby and “give” their servants Nora and Hans to the Hoffmanns, to help them settle and to make their life more comfortable. It soon becomes clear that Margarete is not emotionally stable and that the hot, arid country does not suit her particularly well.
In some ways, Ingrid settles better. She has her books to read and is given language lessons by Hans. He is well educated and speaks German and French. Time is taken away from these lessons when he has to escort Margarete over to the von Ketz home every week. It is not totally clear to Ingrid why these trips are occurring.
The Hoffmanns eventually leave Africa in a hurried manner, after Baron von Ketz is murdered at the start of a Herero uprising. Hans and Nora are missing, and this is a source of anguish for Ingrid. This younger Hoffmann sister is full of questions about what has happened and what is to come. She loves her sister deeply and cares for her well-being and these feeling for her sister continue on their return to Germany. When Margarete becomes engaged to the young Baron von Ketz, Ingrid has some misgivings. On the wedding night, Margarete disappears and it is presumed that she is dead – drowned in the lake. The rest of the novel is about Ingrid’s search for knowledge of her sister’s disappearance and her reawakened desire to discover what happened to Hans.
A considerable amount of the story takes place in Berlin after the First World War, where Ingrid becomes tentatively involved with the revolution in the city. At times, her searches for the missing are set aside so that she can follow her passion for translating poetry from English and French into German. However, on return to the von Ketz country estate, the anguish of her loss re-emerges, along with her determination to discover the truth.
This was not a particularly easy novel to read, as the pace is variable. At times, the plot seems to come to a standstill, but then, with a new piece of information, or change of scene, it moves along again. Thinking about this, however, I feel now that this is a mirror of Ingrid’s feelings and actions. She was surrounded by unanswered questions and deception; at times, the confusion seemed to overwhelm her and she, herself, came to a standstill. Then, something was revealed to her and she could move on with her quests.
I am glad that I read this book. It gave much food for thought and I was interested in the sections on post war Berlin and the revolution. Much is written about the post war world, but I hadn’t read anything that looked at it through German eyes.
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read “The Other Hoffmann Sister” in return for my honest review.

Ingrid Hoffmann's sister disappears on her wedding night and Ingrid is left bewildered by this out of character behavior.

Ingrid's story is set against a background from the tribal uprisings in German Southwest Africa to the Berlin before and after World War One.

Germany after the Great War is depicted well in the lack of young men, money and the affects on the women left behind. And Ingrid is quite a good character. She is intelligent and adaptable but she spends a lot of time tip toeing round. Her sister on the other hand is unbearable and it is almost a relief for the novel when Margarete goes missing. Ingrid however, is torn by her sister’s disappearance, and spends the rest of the novel finding answers.

The book is not an exhaustive investigation by Ingrid though. At times she appears to have no structure to her search, and she leaves many questions unanswered. The story in itself becomes lost in the book, and perhaps the book might have been better focused on Ingrid and getting on with her life as a single woman in post First World War Germany.

Perhaps because there is a lot about the family that doesn't bring anything to the plot. family, or maybe if there was more of a plot at I may have enjoyed it more. Its not that I didn’t enjoy, I just found it a bit tedious.

The original premise sounded really good, and the cover is beautiful, however I felt that it focused to long on scenes that added nothing to the story.

Thanks Little, Brown Book Group UK and netgalley for this ARC.

Traveling from Africa to Germany, this family want the world to think they are placid, normal, and conform. But this is so far from their actual state. Secrets and their explosive conclusion all come out in the end. Great reading!

An interesting book covering a period and place i have never reall6y heard of.

The Hoffman family leave Germany at the turn of the 19th century to live in German Southwest Africa (an area which shares its borders with present day Namibia) 'Settled' by White Nationals the sisters Ingrid and Margarete arrive with their parents in 1902 moving to a large house and farm which their father has acquired from Baron von Ketz- who has to move with his wife and son Emil to a more lowly neighbouring farm.
Servants Nora and her son Hans help the Hofffmans. Hans is half caste and intrigues Ingrid with his knowledge of French and English amongst many other languages and helping her to learn poetry which becomes a great love of hers. Slowly as Ingrid becomes obsessed with Hans her sister is making weekly visits with Hans(but without Ingrid) to the von Ketz property seemingly to plan for a prospective marriage between Margarete and Emil.
Later tragedy and growing local violence and unrest amongst the native population mean the Hoffman family must leave immediately and return to Berlin. But back in Germany there is instability and growing political threats. Also Margarete has returned in a highly distressed state, almost hysterical and insular leaving Ingrid often to focus her attentions elsewhere, particularly as she misses young Hans so much and dreams he will return to her in some romantic form in the future.
The author has been able to get into the mind of young Ingrid and we see the African veld from her viewpoint and share her disgust and shock as events are revealed. There will be more dramatic twists in the plot and Ingrid will discover adults and secrets go hand in hand.
The author was new to me but this is an extremely good read uncovering a part of the build up to WWI that has been so far overlooked it would seem.