The search for Die Jägerin

By Ande Jacobson

Kate Quinn is known for her historical fiction, often intertwining vivid fictional characters with real people and major historical events. Her book, The Huntress, is no exception. The main characters are fictional, albeit in some cases composites of various real people. Along the way, historical figures are mixed into the story in more minor roles. The central conceit of the story is a team of Nazi hunters’ search for Die Jägerin, a vicious killer from WWII Germany. The title character; however, isn’t the target of their search. In this case, the huntress in the story is a composite character representing a number of brave women from the infamous Russian Nachthexen or Night Witches, so named by the German forces they bested. Nina Borisovna Markova is the huntress in this story, and while she is a fictional character, her achievements and actions are drawn from her actual “sestry” from the Russian forces. As Quinn illustrates, Russia was the only nation in WWII to eventually make use of women in frontline combat roles, including as pilots, navigators, and mechanics, often greatly outperforming their male counterparts. The Night Witches were a real entity that was key to the allies winning the war against the axis forces. Their inclusion in this story was a handy way to tie together the post war Nazi hunters with their lives during the war, and most importantly, provides the motivation for their somewhat obsessive search for one killer in particular.

Die Jägerin is a composite of two separate women who committed horrible war crimes. While the crimes are mentioned, they aren’t dwelled upon other than to provide background to focus the search. While war crimes can never be excused, they can provide insight into a character’s mindset. Die Jägerin is crafty, and she is drawn as a multifaceted person with hopes, dreams, and depth beyond her horrific actions, although the malevolence she exhibits runs deep. In some ways, her cleverness is her undoing when the right person is there to observe.

As is often the case in a Kate Quinn novel, the story is told in two parallel sequences, one is just before and through WWII. The other is several years after WWII. Quinn dives deeply into the backgrounds of her main characters creating multifaceted individuals that readers come to know and care about. Beyond Nina, readers are introduced to Ian Graham, a former English war correspondent turned Nazi hunter. His interest in the search is very personal. Die Jägerin killed his younger brother Sebastian during the war, and he wants her held accountable. His partner in the hunt is Anton (Tony) Rodomovsky, a former American soldier who didn’t feel he’d done enough once the war ended and wanted to continue to help. They make quite a team with Tony being the personable one as well as the muscle, and Ian being the man in charge. Readers come to find out later that Ian and Nina have history that binds them together very tightly once the hunt is under way.

Across the pond in Boston, MA, a young woman just entering adulthood is conflicted. Jordon McBride has dreams of being a photojournalist, and she’s a very good photographer. Unfortunately, it’s the late 1940s, and her father, Dan McBride, is very traditional about some things. It had just been the two of them for some time after having lost Jordan’s mother some years before. Dan ran his own antiques shop, a shop that he wanted to pass down to Jordan eventually. He assumed that Jordan and her high school sweetheart, Garrett Byrne, would soon be married, and Jordan would be taken care of. Despite Jordan’s dreams of college and a photojournalism career, Dan had other plans. After a while, Dan began dating and eventually married Anneliese Weber, a woman with a mysterious past, and a very young daughter named Ruth. She makes Dan happy, and at least initially, that was enough for Jordan, but something nags at her about Anneliese. Something intangible. Something she captures in a photograph that she hides for some time until the pieces fall into place much later on.

Readers are taken through each of the main characters’ backstories and learn how Nina comes to be a member of the Night Witches, how Ian and Tony team up, how Nina joins them, and how the trio eventually come to meet Jordan and her family. There’s a lot of real history thrown in such as how the Night Witches are formed, who forms their initial regiment, and how they operate throughout the war. There are also real journalists mentioned in the story, including some who Jordan idolizes. Another key figure in the story is Fritz Bauer, an attorney who works with Ian and Tony. Fritz Bauer was a real historical figure who took a very active role in prosecuting war criminals much to his homeland’s chagrin.

Quinn seamlessly combines real life events with her fictional narrative, and in the process weaves a compelling story that takes readers through a fascinating journey. Given this is a war story, there is a certain amount of violence and gore, but only as needed in the course of the events unfolding. Quinn’s focus is on the characters making the story memorable for its depth.

Once the hunt is over, Quinn provides an epilogue to give readers a glimpse into where these characters they’ve come to like and admire end up. Their stories don’t end. Instead, they evolve and continue to grow. It’s left to the reader to imagine what comes after that.

After the epilogue, Quinn gives readers more of the background on how the story came to be. Her discussion of what was real and what was imagined is instructive. Most interesting is her description of where she compressed the timelines for the sake of the story. One thing she discovered in her research is that the real Nazi hunters face a much longer period from the beginning of a search to imposing accountability on those they pursue. While alluded to in the story, the legal battles particularly when extradition is required, are much more protracted than depicted in the story.

As is the case with so many of Quinn’s novels, there’s enough history included to give readers far more breadth of exposure to what happened behind the headlines than they might imagine. The Huntress is a journey, one that readers will be glad they took.

References:

The Huntress, by Kate Quinn
Diamond Eye, by Kate Quinn
The Rose Code, by Kate Quinn
https://www.katequinnauthor.com/book-table/