I had no idea that this happened during the war. A well researched book that was a little slow moving, although I felt I had more of a grasp of the women's position at the end of it.

This is well written in the first person as a member of a group of women selected to taste food borer Hitler eats his meals.
It has fascinating facts about the war period but it is mostly discussion form the point of view of the main character and very little happens in the story.
It is an interesting read as a lot of these fact were new to me but I did find it very slow moving and I wished for a bit of action to move things along.

This book is based on Margo Woelk’s account of her experience as a taster for Adolf Hitler which she revealed when she was 95. In Posterino’s text we are introduced to Rosa Sauer a 26 year old German girl who worked as a secretary in an office in Berlin and married her boss. In 1943 when he went off to war she moved in with her in-laws in the country. One day she was forced along with 14 other women to become tasters of Hitler’s food; the women were guarded and watched and had no choice but to comply. For this they received a generous salary but were treated with contempt and suspicion and suffered from anxiety, fear and guilt and uncertainty. They ate the finest food but each mouthful was a risk – forced to eat everything on their plate and wait an hour to see if they lived or died. Only then could they return home to face it all again at the next meal.

There are many very interesting descriptions in this book, one of the most disturbing was the burning of the books in 1933 led by Goebbels when Jews were castigated and mocked and the intelligentsia were ridiculed. A chilling for-taste of what was to come. Similarly the telling of the executions of Jews, the mass graves, the genocide, the camps. A chilling exposure indeed. There are many facts about Hitler all narrated by Rosa illustrating her loathing of Nazis and her detachment perhaps consciously of all the horrors that surrounded her. A text populated by horrors: rape, war, hunger, attempted assassination.

This is a somewhat difficult read, made a little easier by Posterino’s prose – a calm, measured somewhat detatched voice underlining the reflective tone of Rosa’s musing.

I recommend it, but hesitantly, merely because of the content which still disturbs after all these years.

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

What a brilliant read, I didn't want it to end. Based on a true story of the women who were made to test all the food before Hitler ate it, each day, to check if anything was poisoned. We learn about each girl at the table and their different stories, but the main character is Rosa, who finds her own way to survive what she's going through. Not necessarily the easiest path to choose, but maybe the only one that she could cope with. It was a hard read at times, but coupled with love, care, compassion, sisterhood, and everything else that happened, I just loved it. I learnt a bit more about life in Germany during what was a very hard time for everyone. I'd only heard a brief reference before to Hitlers food testers, so it was fascinating to learn more about their lives. Thoroughly recommended.

A good insight into a part of history I didn’t know about. I didn’t enjoy it as much as some more recent reads in this genre but that’s personal preference in terms of the style of writing.

The story centres on Rosa, who is forced to be a taster for Hitler in case anyone tries to poison him. I thought the two thirds the book was very slow and repetitive, but then it suddenly ends 30 or more years later without fully explaining what has happened between. Sorry, I found this book really disappointing. Definitely not for me. I'm sure others will enjoy it.

This was an intriguing book to read. It has everything, love hunger , survival and sadness. As it was based on real events I learned a lot about Hitler and his life. I do recommend it if you are interested in the past .

A lovely little love story steeped in history and equally sad but real. Fully recommended and looking forward to more from this author

I am sorry to say that without the hook of the title this book would not have had a leg to stand on. It seems to me that there are too many people, likely with the very best of intentions, trying to make sure people do not forget what happened during World War II. From where I stand, this book does not contribute, in a positive way, to that memory.

Emotional moving a book so well written so emotional moving literary fiction that stays with you.Ivwill be recommending this book to my friends and bookclub.#harpercollinsuk.#netgalley

1943 and Hitler is staying at Wolf's Lair in East Prussia. The tide of the war is beginning to turn and He is paranoid that his enemies are getting closer.
10 German women are selected from the surrounding area to be taken to Wolf’s Lair every day to taste the food prepared for him so they, rather than he, would be killed if it were poisoned.
The women are all from different backgrounds and although some of them are devoted to the Fuhrer and would willingly give their lives for him, others are starting to see through the Nazi ideology and resent risking their lives for him.
One of these women is Rosa, Her parents are dead, her husband Gergor is fighting at the front and she is staying with his parents in the country. Fearing for her life, every day Rosa must sit in a room watched by SS guards and eat what is put before her and wait to see if she will die.
Based on the true story of Margot Wölk, this is written in a starkly unemotional way that just made it all the more compelling. No self pity just cold hard facts of what the women had to go through to survive.

It’s 1943 and Rosa from Berlin finds herself in the country, living with her husband’s parents while he’s off at war. One day she is collected and taken to work for Hitler, to be one of his food tasters.

The tasters try all of Hitler’s food an hour before him, an hour in which they wait to see if they have been poisoned. The ten are all very different, from a variety of backgrounds, with different cares and responsibilities.

Who can Rosa trust? She knows the answer is probably no-one, and yet out of the blue unexpected friendships and relationships are formed.

This was an interesting dramatisation of real life events, not too intense, but with enough depth to the characters to begin to care about them.

The Women at Hitler's Table is loosely based on the experiences of Margot Wolk who along with 14 other women was co-opted to taste Hitler;s food when he thought it was likely that he might be poisoned.

It's hard to know what to make of this novel. In an interview the author says she was fascinated by Margot's story (Margot only spoke about her experiences when she was 95) and wanted to meet her before writing her story. However by the time she tracked her down, Margot had died and so the author decided not to write about Margot but instead to make up a character, Rosa. This is fine but she then makes Rosa so similar to Margot (same date of birth, moving from Berlin to the east to be with her husband's parents, missing husband etc ) that it is difficult not to think of the real woman behind the story. She has Rosa take an SS officer as a lover when in fact the real Margot was raped by an SS officer (as well as by Red Army soldiers at the end of the war) and I just think this was a bizarre and uncomfortable choice for the author to make.

It's an ok read apart from that but I didn't; find myself engrossed by the story or the characters. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

The Women at Hitlers table is a book about World War Two about one of Hitlers food tasters (the internet states that its based on a true story). I have never read a book from this perspective before so it offered something different from the war books I've read before.
The first half of the book was brilliant, introducing the reader to the characters, their roles and their experiences of ww2 Germany. Then I felt it became drawn out and slowed in pace.
I enjoyed reading Rosa's story and really liked some of her friends.

This is such a powerful book, which I enjoyed very much and learned such a lot from it. It is a true story about Margot Wolk who is one of 10 women food testers for Hitler, tasting his luxurious food in case it was poisoned before he ate it.

The story is centralized around Rosa Sauer she has no parents and is married to Gregor. who has gone missing presumed dead? His parents live in East Prussia and she goes to live with them whilst he is on the front line.

Some of the women are anti-Hitler but a lot hold him in high esteem and want to get close to him and get to know him.

We read about the plot to kill Hitler by Claus von Stauffenberg, whom Rosa met with.
Even though it would have been odd to leave it out I found the pages of The Holocaust disturbing and hard to read.
All in all, It was an interesting book, with a good insight into what went on behind closed doors.
Thank you, NetGalley x

Thank you Netgalley for my review copy of this book.

(At the Wolf's Table is the alternative title for this book - based on the life of Margot Wölk)

It is always a wonder to me that Hitler stayed in to power so long when his own supporters were as dejected as others in World War II. This book gives you an insight into the system of fear and intimidation that was used.
The group of characters that are gathered around a separate table in a whole different part of his complex are fascinating as a result. A real mixture of supporters and survivors. This leads to much conflict but also the beginnings of friendship through adversity. A whole different side to the struggle of war.
Rosa also has close relationships with the 'high society' through her relationship with the local baroness and a guard at the Wolf's liar which gives us all sides of the story of the German peoples struggles. I really don't know how Rosa coped at that time - she must have been petrified.
If you wish to find out a German perspective to World War II I recommend this book.

Everyone has had a job they’ve found hard and would probably rather forget, but imagine if that job was food taster for Hitler? Talk about a double-edged sword. This is actually the true story of Margot Wolk who died in 2014 aged 96. This was her job and this is the novel of how she coped with such a role in wartime.

It’s a gripping story and we’re taken back to when she lives in Berlin and is rounded up for want of a better word to this dubious role. The story of Germany at this time is neatly portrayed as we see Berlin on its knees after Versailles Treaty, then people suffering from the high inflation which followed and then a certain figure who rounded up and made himself the leader of the new Germany….

What would happen if you tasted his food? He was a high risk for someone to poison him of course. Imagine being the person who had to pass the food that was safe? The very person you hated and knew it would be for the good of humanity if you let any poison end up on his plate. But either way, you as taste tester would die….

A fascinating look at a remarkable lady and what she and others went through. An insight into the inner sanctuary of evil too.

This was an incredibly emotional read. I was completely unaware of the food tasters and it was an interesting piece of history to learn about.

I didn’t want to put this book down but at the same time didn’t want it to end. There was so much emotion in this story that I finished it with tears rolling down my face.

For anyone who likes reading books set in and around WW2 this book is a must read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

This excellent book is based on the true story of Margot Wolk who died in 2014 aged 96, the last of Hitlers poison testers. The central character is Rosa Sauer, the place is Wolfsschanze, the Wolf’s Lair in East Prussia where 10 disparate women become test animals or digestive tracts as Hitlers paranoia extends to concern that his food may be poisoned. Rosa, from Berlin is married to Gregor who is at the front and so she goes to live with his parents in E Prussia, her own being dead. There she is rounded up to become a taster. Rosa tells her story from her early life in Berlin where Germans were licking their defeated war wounds and suffering from the revengeful Treaty of Versailles through to hyperinflation and the rise of Hitler and then to the war years and defeat. Rosa makes it clear she is not a Nazi but yet the war makes her collaborative through force but she even becomes the lover of an SS Officer and that is choice. The story is so well told with the writing flowing extremely well. The style is simplistic but it works very well as it matches what Rosa is reporting. Part of the story is told through food and we learn a lot of things I probably rather wouldn’t about Hitlers digestive tract. Some of the women are ardent Hitler supporters, they see him as the messiah and would marry him if they could - the group called them The Fanatics. Ardent and fanatical Nazism is well described and the novel weaves real events and real people into the narrative. For example, Rosa meets Claus von Stauffenberg and his plot to kill Hitler is included.
A few of the girls like Rosa are there because they are forced to be and they go through the motions in order to survive. Some of these women support each other through the hardships. Rosa’s personality is changed by her experiences and when her husband goes missing from the Eastern Front and is presumed dead, she becomes very detached, feels nothing and cares little if she lives or dies. I think that there are many occasions when Rosa buries her head in the sand, preferring not to know the truth of what is going on, she shuts down and never asks questions, preferring ignorance. I found this hard although I know it’s true and I felt a real jolt when she talks of dictatorship and how they had no alternative, which becomes her alibi. She, like many others, sleep walk through these years for a variety of reasons.
There are many things I admired about this book. I found it very easy to read and horribly fascinating. However, I am uncertain about the final part and the jump in time to 1990. Although this section did tie up some loose ends I think the writing in this section is not as effortless as the rest. I do understand Rosa’s motives for survival lie in letting things rest and I’m certain that is how many went on to cope post 1945. Overall, I think this is an excellent book and I’m glad I got the chance to read it.

I found this story fascinating. It was really interesting to learn about Hitlers tasters and the way they were treated. I knew so little about these women. It was really intriguing to read a story based on fact.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.