Katrin Schumann Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Katrin Schumann is a Germany born American author of contemporary, suspense and historical fiction books. Born in Germany and spending her childhood days in London and Brooklyn, most of Katrin’s novels explore the search of a sense of belonging and how we struggle to define ourselves in based on our circumstances.
Her debut novel The Forgotten Hours is a brawl on a New York family after a girl accuses her friend’s dad of sexual assault. Some prominent publications have referred the books as a brilliant debut, gut-wrenching with a heart-pounding finish. Katrin’s second novel is set in post-war East Germany with the main themes being loss and redemption. For the last one decade, she has been working as a writing teacher at local prisons in PEN New England and GrubStreet.

The Forgotten Hours

In her debut novel, Katrin Schumann introduces us to Katie Gregory, a twenty-four-year-old woman who feels like her life’s path is sorted out. She has acquired a good job in New York City, she is finally falling in love with a handsome artist, and the memories of her haunting past are fading away.

It’s revealed that Katie’s life shattered almost ten years ago, during a perfect summer at a family cabin on Eagle Lake when her friend accused her father of sexual assault. Throughout her father’s trials and sentencing, Katie always insisted that her father was innocent; dodging all the reporters and clinging to the memories of the man she loves.

Now that he’s almost out. When Katie returns to the fateful lakeside cabin, the horrors of the fateful night resurface the heat of her first love, the chill of the lake, a bad sting of jealousy. As old memories clash with the new realities, the question about everything Katie thinks she knows about her family, friends and herself. Her life choices will be tested with life-changing consequences.

Lulu and Katie were best friends who spent all their summers together. Besides their shared summers, their family and life situations were very different, and their friendship comes to an end when Lulu accuses Katie’s father of sexual assault.

The novel picks up almost ten years later when the trial is over, and Katie’s father has spent six years in prison for the crime. Katie lives her life like she just lost touch with her best friend, Lulu. She’s moved on, graduated from college, made a new life and a new name while keeping her secrets from her new friends. She is sure that the man is innocent and her friends just made things up.

The story moves back and forth showcasing to the readers the events that tore up Katie’s family more than seven years ago. Now that her old man is finally getting out of jail, she is focused on reuniting her family the way it was before the whole ordeal. However, there are some complications because her father wants her to return to the family lakeside cabin and prepare it for him and this only leads Katie down the path to investigate and figure out what happened years ago and whether it was her fault.

Katrin Schumann does a wonderful job in creating her characters both the primary and secondary cast. Katie is the main focus of the story; she is weak yet strong. She is forced to draw herself in because of what happened to her family. She sees herself as her father’s daughter and for him being sent to prison for something she believes he didn’t do has broken a part of herself. Through the heroine, we also get to know what happened eight years ago when Lulu and Katie were17 and how Katie worshipped her best friend until a young man comes between them. The story switches back an from between the past and the present day.

On the other hand, John Gregory, Katie’s father is a charismatic man. He is the type of man everyone is drawn to and wants to make happy. Even Katie compares him with her mother, and she finds her mom lacking due to her withdrawal from the family. The writing is fantastic, and the author taps into how it is to be a girl and how hard it is to be a best friend with someone. The novel setting switches between London and New York upper state and New York. The ending is bittersweet and it will leave sssyou wanting more from the author.