Only I Can Save Them by Imogen Matthews is a powerful dual timeline novel that has its’ roots in facts as we follow photographer Rudolf Breslauer from Leipzig in 1936 and onwards. The second period is in present day and seen through the eyes of Rudolf Breslauer’s great granddaughter.
The novel spans the Second World War years as we follow Rudolf Breslauer and his family from their home in Amsterdam (where they located to avoid the persecution) to the camp of Westerbork, which was a holding camp for Dutch Jews before continuing on to Auschwitz, Birkenau or Theresienstadt.
In present day, a great granddaughter finds a photo of her grandmother aged thirteen in a book. She wants to seek the truth about her grandmother’s family and their wartime experiences.
For all of her life, the grandmother has kept quiet but as she approaches the end of her life, is it now time for the truth to come out?
Rudolf Breslauer did what he could in order to protect his family. He was chosen as the official photographer of Westerbork – but there were only so many photos that the commandant wanted before it would be a one-way ticket to Auschwitz.
While in Westerbork Rudolf Breslauer “knew he had to record the truth.” He bravely took unofficial photographs and cine, hiding it, in the hope that someone would find it and the world would see the truth and not believe the Nazi lies.
We see the truth of the Jewish saying “whoever saves one life saves the world entire” in the number of descendants from Rudolf Breslauer.
Only I Can Save Them is such a powerful tale. It needs to be read in memory of the six million innocents who died and of those who survived.
I received a free copy via the publishers. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

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Book review: Only I Can Save Them by Imogen Matthews.
Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for my gifted ARC.

Let me just say it—this book wrecked me. I went in expecting a moving World War II novel, but what I got was a gut-punch wrapped in sharp prose and quiet fury. Only I Can Save Them isn’t just another historical fiction tearjerker; it’s a full-body experience. It grabs you by the heart, drags you into the shadows of history, and doesn’t let go until the very last page. Even then, you’ll be thinking about it long after you’ve put it down.

Imogen Matthews does something remarkable here: she takes the true story of Rudolf Breslauer, a Jewish photographer forced to document life inside Westerbork transit camp, and turns it into a novel that feels intimate, gripping, and painfully real. Her fictionalized Rudolf isn’t some bold, charismatic rebel. He’s a father trying to stay alive, keep his family safe, and make sense of the impossible. His only weapon? A camera. But what a weapon it is.

Through that lens, we see everything—the fear, the despair, the stolen moments of defiance. Rudolf’s job is to take portraits of the camp’s prisoners, each one marked with a yellow star, each one one step closer to the trains that lead to Auschwitz. The horror is never loud or sensational. It simmers. It builds. And every time Rudolf clicks that shutter, it’s a small act of resistance. He’s preserving truth in a place built on lies.

Matthews’ writing is razor-sharp and emotionally loaded. No fluff, no filler. She knows how to land a sentence like a punch to the ribs. At one point, Rudolf reflects: “I pressed the shutter. The camera clicked. And in that fraction of a second, I stole something the Nazis could never erase—truth.” That line hit me so hard I had to stop reading for a second and just feel it. That’s the kind of writing we’re working with here.

But what truly makes this novel sing is the emotional heartbeat of Rudolf’s family. You feel their closeness, their fear, their hope hanging by a thread. Every scene with his children is a mix of tenderness and dread. There’s a constant ticking clock under every interaction—when will the Nazis come for them? What can Rudolf do to buy them one more day? One more breath?

The tension builds slowly but relentlessly. Matthews paces the story like a thriller, even though there are no chases or explosions—just a man with a camera and a family he’d do anything to save. You find yourself holding your breath, dreading the moment when everything might collapse. And when the call comes—the order to report to the platform at daybreak—you feel it like a slap. You know it’s coming. You still hope it won’t.

The historical detail is woven in seamlessly. No info-dumps, no dry history lessons. Just pure atmosphere. You feel the cold, the grime, the quiet terror in the camp. You see the guards pretending civility while holding absolute power. You see the prisoners trying to stay invisible and still hold on to their dignity. And through it all, you have Rudolf, quietly documenting everything with a camera he barely trusts anymore.

This isn’t a story about grand gestures—it’s about the small ones. A photo. A whispered warning. A decision to look away—or to look closer. Matthews shows us that resistance doesn’t always look like a fight. Sometimes, it looks like clicking a shutter at the exact right second. Sometimes, that’s all there is.

Only I Can Save Them is unflinching, beautifully written, and impossible to forget. It’s not an easy read, and it shouldn’t be. This book doesn’t ask for your attention—it demands it, and earns every second. It settles in your bones and dares you to look away.

Five stars, and then some.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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