Josef Jaeger turns thirteen when Adolf Hitler is appointed Germany’s new Chancellor. When his mother dies, Josef is sent to Munich to live with his uncle, Ernst Roehm, the openly-homosexual chief of the Nazi brown shirts. Josef thinks he’s found a father-figure in his uncle and a mentor in his uncle's lover, streetwise Rudy, and when Roehm’s political connections land Josef a role in a propaganda movie, Josef’s sure he’s found the life he’s always wanted. But while living in Berlin during the film’s production, Josef falls in love with a Jewish boy, David, and Josef begins questioning his uncle’s beliefs.
Complications arise when an old friend of his mother’s tells Josef that his mother was secretly murdered by the SS due to her political beliefs, possibly on Roehm’s order. Josef confides in his Hitler Youth leader, Max Klieg. Klieg admits he knows a few things, but he won’t share them with Josef till the boy proves himself worthy of a confidence.
Conflicting beliefs war within Josef until he must decide where his true loyalties lie, and what he really believes in.
Josef Jaeger placed first in the Young Adult category in the 2010 Rainbow Excellence Awards competition sponsored by the Rainbow Romance Writers association.
Josef Jaeger won the Rainbow Award for the Best Coming Of Age/Young Adult novel published in 2009. This is an international competition sponsored by Elisa Rolle’s website.
Josef Jaeger placed thirteenth in the Young Adult novels competition for 2009, sponsored by the Predators & Editors website. This competition included all YA novels published in 2009, not just those aimed at LGBTQ readers.
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