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Robert Harris
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Fatherland Paperback – April 1, 1993

by Robert Harris (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 8,370 ratings
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It is twenty years after Nazi Germany's triumphant victory in World War II and the entire country is preparing for the grand celebration of the Führer's seventy-fifth birthday, as well as the imminent peacemaking visit from President Kennedy.

Meanwhile, Berlin Detective Xavier March -- a disillusioned but talented investigation of a corpse washed up on the shore of a lake. When a dead man turns out to be a high-ranking Nazi commander, the Gestapo orders March off the case immediately. Suddenly other unrelated deaths are anything but routine.

Now obsessed by the case, March teams up with a beautiful, young American journalist and starts asking questions...dangerous questions. What they uncover is a terrifying and long-concealed conspiracy of such astonding and mind-numbing terror that is it certain to spell the end of the Third Reich -- if they can live long enough to tell the world about it.

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  1. Print length
    400 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    HarperTorch
  4. Publication date
    April 1, 1993
  5. Dimensions
    4.25 x 1 x 6.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9780061006623
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0061006623
  8. Lexile measure
    720L
  9. See all details
Next slide of product details

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert J. Harris was born and raised in Scotland. He studied Greek and Latin at university and has had a varied career as a bartender, salesman, nurse, actor, game designer, and writer. He designed the best-selling fantasy board game Talisman and is the author of numerous short stories, as well as two historical fiction novels with Jane Yolen: Queen's Own Fool and Girl in a Cage. He lives in St. Andrews, Scotland, with his wife, fantasy author Deborah Turner Harris, and their three sons.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0061006629
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperTorch (April 1, 1993)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780061006623
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0061006623
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 720L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.25 x 1 x 6.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 8,370 ratings

About the author

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Robert Harris

Robert Harris

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Robert Harris is the author of Pompeii, Enigma, and Fatherland. He has been a television correspondent with the BBC and a newspaper columnist for the London Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph. His novels have sold more than ten million copies and been translated into thirty languages. He lives in Berkshire, England, with his wife and four children.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
8,370 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book interesting, compelling, and entertaining. They describe the plot as imaginative, thought-provoking, and a mix of fantasy and history. Readers praise the writing quality as excellent and credible. They mention the pace is fast and pitch-perfect. Additionally, they praise the characters as well-developed and easy to follow. However, some find the pacing boring, depressing, and unrealistically upbeat.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more
ReadabilityPlotWriting qualityPaceCharacter developmentEase of purchaseSturdinessPacing
101 customers mention "Readability"96 positive5 negative

Customers find the book interesting, compelling, and brilliant. They describe it as an enjoyable thought experiment and a good detective novel. Readers also mention the characters are rich and the story is engrossing.

"Fatherland is a great read about a version of Germany in 1964 if it had won WWII...." Read more

"...Either way it's a good story, a bit slow at times but engaging. Recommended for any fan of alternate history stories!" Read more

"...A riveting and well-constructed thriller that will keep the reader captivated throughout." Read more

"Fatherland is an absolutely brilliant novel and one of the most exciting and thought-provoking books I have every read...." Read more

81 customers mention "Plot"71 positive10 negative

Customers find the plot imaginative, interesting, and thought-provoking. They also describe the book as an excellent thriller with well-developed historical mysteries. Readers mention the world the author creates is chilling, believable, and terrifying.

"...Harris‘s display of human psychology is outstanding. Highly recommend!" Read more

"...A riveting and well-constructed thriller that will keep the reader captivated throughout." Read more

"...Her terror is palpable, and so is her strength. "I hated you on sight," she tells Detective March at one point, and means it...." Read more

"...this book is simultaneously a thrilling murder mystery and an intriguing what-if...." Read more

31 customers mention "Writing quality"31 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing quality of the book well-written, credible, and simple. They say it's easy to read and has vivid action or descriptions. Readers also appreciate the attention to detail.

"...Each sentence has a vivid action or description that allows the reader to draw his/her own emotional reaction...." Read more

"...Heydrich and Artur Nebe and also liked how they were included in a very natural and organic way...." Read more

"...Xavier March is one of the most vivid, heroic, and memorable characters I've come across in fiction...." Read more

"This review has SPOILERs.Well-written, careful evocation of 1964 Berlin in timeline in which Germany was victorious in the second world..." Read more

17 customers mention "Pace"13 positive4 negative

Customers find the book fast-paced, pitch-perfect, and compelling. They say it's a riveting narrative built on an appalling counterfactual history.

"...Superbly conceived mystery? You got it. All rendered at a pitch-perfect pace that doesn't drag for a single paragraph...." Read more

"...The novel is fast paced and although the Europe and world we see is not our own it is believable...." Read more

"...It's a compelling narrative built on an appalling counterfactual history." Read more

"Delivered quickly and book is in perfect condition. Thank you." Read more

15 customers mention "Character development"15 positive0 negative

Customers find the characters well-developed, believable, and easy to follow. They also say the plot is fabulous.

"...Xavier March is one of the most vivid, heroic, and memorable characters I've come across in fiction...." Read more

"...into a murder and its a fabulous story with easy to follow characters and plot. A WARNING !!!...." Read more

"...Harris also gives us a real character, Xavier March, to empathize & sympathize with, which I certainly did...." Read more

"...Also well done is the persuasive and excellent depiction of characters and of society...." Read more

5 customers mention "Ease of purchase"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to purchase. They also say the story is engrossing and hard to put down.

"...The characters are rich, the story is engrossing and the book is hard to put down...." Read more

"Great read. Hard to put down" Read more

"A very easy transaction. I saw the movie...I’m curious how the story in the book plays out...thank you again." Read more

"Excellent read. Hard to put down." Read more

8 customers mention "Sturdiness"4 positive4 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the sturdiness of the book. Some mention it will last a long time, while others say it's weak and not in as great of condition as suggested.

"...Harris plunges right into the action and never lets up. Why do I describe the mood as hopeful?..." Read more

"...It's entertaining, but not very good...." Read more

"Great book, great seller, great condition! The book is written in simple language but with a complex and twisting plot...." Read more

"The book was not in as great of condition as suggested. The book is very good, just disapppointed with the used condition that I bought it in...." Read more

8 customers mention "Pacing"0 positive8 negative

Customers find the pacing of the book boring, disappointing, and depressing. They also say the philosophizing seems forced and superficial.

"...Both CV and JC say that the characters are cutouts, flat, they don'e evoke any empathy. Well, that's a personal opinion...." Read more

"...major complaint I had is that I think Harris has an unrealistically upbeat view of human nature if he believes that in his alternate world so many..." Read more

"...Plus the book was really dark, depressing, and boring.But then Again I am born in america, I expect sex, gore, and violence 24/7." Read more

"Not what I expected--long--drawn out and boring." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars If Germany had won the war
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2024
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Fatherland is a great read about a version of Germany in 1964 if it had won WWII. Each sentence has a vivid action or description that allows the reader to draw his/her own emotional reaction. Various German words occasionally appear that underscore the pride so many Germans had for the Third Reich. Harris‘s display of human psychology is outstanding. Highly recommend!
One person found this helpful
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Steven Woodcock
4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Alternative History
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2023
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I've always liked alternative histories, and this is another take on a subject not often addressed.

It's 1964. Germany has conquered Europe and is steadily walking across Russia. Xavier March, a simple investigator with the Berlin police, is brought into what looks to be a simple murder. It turns it to be MUCH more than that, of course, and on the heels with a historic meeting between an aging Hitler and President John F. Kennedy he begins to uncover a very dark secret...

I'm pretty sure I saw this story adapted into a min-series a couple of decades ago with a similar premise; if not it's danged close. Either way it's a good story, a bit slow at times but engaging. Recommended for any fan of alternate history stories!
3 people found this helpful
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Michael
5.0 out of 5 stars A riveting and frightening thriller!!!
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2024
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A fascinating look at an alternative post-1945 Europe in the event of a German victory over Stalin. A riveting and well-constructed thriller that will keep the reader captivated throughout.
3 people found this helpful
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Comrade_Bazarov
3.0 out of 5 stars A fine atmospheric alternate history thriller
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2014
Verified Purchase
I am a fan of historical and what-if novels and I have read some of Harris' prior work, so this book is right up my alley.

Fatherland engages in the classic what-if that we have all engaged in at one point or another - what if Hitler had won WWII - and takes it a few steps further. The time is 1964, twenty years after Nazi Germany's crushing victory in WWII. Churchill and the royal family have fled to Canada, Joseph Kennedy is the president of the US, and large swathes of Eastern Europe are part of the greater German Empire under the iron chancellorship of Hitler. Berlin is the biggest city in the world, a megalopolis designed by famed architect Albert Speer to fulfill the grand vision of the Fuhrer.

In this menacing setting, we meet Xavier March, a detective with the Kripo (Criminal Police). He is ordered to investigate a dead body that has washed up near an exclusive neighborhood, normally home to the elite. He soon discovers that the victim was a very high-ranking Nazi during the war, but just as things are getting interesting, the case is snatched from his hands and given to the secretive Gestapo. March, being the stubborn investigator that he is, doesn't give up and soon finds himself in a far-reaching conspiracy.

Some note on characters. Though March is your typical lone wolf investigator - bad marriage, alienated son, disciplinary issues - he feels like a fully fleshed out character. The same cannot be said about his partner, the American reporter whose name I have already forgotten. She seems to have been introduced largely out of a sense of duty: mystery novels somehow seem to demand a love interest. Her relationship with March seems highly contrived and significantly hampered my enjoyment of this otherwise story.

Harris' Berlin and Germany are very bleak. I don't recall a single sunny day described in the book: it is either raining everyday or it is foggy. I loved the callback to historical characters like Heydrich and Artur Nebe and also liked how they were included in a very natural and organic way.

The 'central mystery' may seem obvious to us now, but you have to place it within the context of the world as it is depicted in the book.
2 people found this helpful
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M. Dog
5.0 out of 5 stars "You throw food to the beast in man."
Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2005
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Fatherland is an absolutely brilliant novel and one of the most exciting and thought-provoking books I have every read. If this sounds like gushy over-praise, please trust me; it isn't. This book simply fires on all cylinders. If you are looking for a thrilling, nail-biter that will keep you turning pages past you bedtime, this is it. If you are looking for a novel with rich characters that will move you in their believability, here it is. If you are looking for a work that will fire up your intellect, order this book now. You will not be disappointed. Superbly conceived mystery? You got it. All rendered at a pitch-perfect pace that doesn't drag for a single paragraph.

Harris is simply a great writer. I don't mean a good thriller writer (though that would certainly be enough); I mean he is a writer that has that little bit extra that makes you remember his work years later. The conception and sweep of this novel is extraordinary. The time frame for the work is the early sixties. Germany has won WWII, and American President Kennedy is scheduled to meet Adolph Hitler at a summit in Berlin to discuss a détente between the two nations. Against this backdrop, Berlin detective, Xavier March, is called in to investigate a death. What happens after that unfolds in ever darkening layers of danger. March begins to move through the bleak, nightmare world of Berlin, where massive, Teutonic architecture towers over the streets and records are kept of skull shapes to insure racial purity.

I don't want to give away too much. This is the kind of work a reader should discover for themselves. When I read the back jacket of this paperback, which describes a "disillusioned but talented investigator" solving a mystery with the help of a "beautiful American journalist," it sounded slightly hackneyed, but it was just a case of some publicity genius at Ballintine underselling both the book's readership and the author. Xavier March is one of the most vivid, heroic, and memorable characters I've come across in fiction. By the end of the book, I was right there with him, pulling for him so hard it made my teeth ache. As for "Charlie" Maguire, her physical appearance is the last thing that comes to mind. What I remember is her quick temper, her stubbornness, and the brave way she manages to control her growing fear as she comes to realize she is onto much more than a good story. Her terror is palpable, and so is her strength. "I hated you on sight," she tells Detective March at one point, and means it. Her growing love for this rigid, Nazi detective, and his need for her, is done in expert, subtle strokes. By the end of the novel, and after considering it for a bit, I realized I had just read one of the most moving love stories in memory.

I found this book, much to my surprise, profound. You will, too. -Mykal Banta
20 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Paprskarova
5.0 out of 5 stars Doporučuji
Reviewed in Germany on January 15, 2023
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Doporučuji.
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Anthony Hogger (Author: Warrior King Legacy)
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping
Reviewed in Spain on November 28, 2022
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As someone very interested in the monster, Hitler’s, war, I found this a marvellous read. Gripping from the first page until the nail biting end. My first Robert Harris novel, surprisingly, it will most certainly not be the last.
One person found this helpful
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almurar
5.0 out of 5 stars Avvincente
Reviewed in Italy on September 26, 2017
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E' un libro che si legge tutto d'un fiato, con una trama per nulla scontata. Siamo negli anni '60 e si sta festeggiando il 75mo compleanno del Fuher dopo che la Germania ha vinto la seconda guerra mondiale...
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Elisabeth Bee
5.0 out of 5 stars Fiction ?
Reviewed in France on November 11, 2016
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A partir de la réalité (Hitler et la solution finale), Robert Harris nous concocte une fiction hallucinante : Hitler est encore au pouvoir en 1964 ! Inutile de dire que que c'est effrayant et qu'on ne peut que difficilement lâcher le bouquin. Robert Harris a une écriture fluide, et il a certainement effectué beaucoup de recherches sur le dictateur et son entourage, ainsi que sur les ravages qu'ils ont commis et les idées nauséabondes qui les portaient. Le monde est en train de changer, et -à mon avis - pour le pire, c'est pourquoi il faudrait sans doute se souvenir des horreurs du passé, encore tapies dans l'ombre et prêtes à resurgir : ce livre nous propose une "piqûre de rappel". On dit souvent que la fiction n'est jamais loin de la réalité... je crains que cela ne soit trop vrai, malheureusement.
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luiz caminha
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb!
Reviewed in Brazil on November 20, 2015
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An amazing book, written with elegance and skill. Robert Harris is not just one of the fine researchers and fictional authors of ancient Rome. With this work (older than his trilogy about Cicero, in fact) he has demonstrated with brilliance how fiction could create a world almost possible –a real possibility in a certain period of WWII– in case Nazis had won the war, rich and believable. A very good story.
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