Inflicted - Ria Frances

Synopsis

In 1942, as Europe suffocates under the grip of Nazi terror, Anna Levinsky a young Jew, is incarcerated in the ghetto of Theresienstadt. Striving for survival in abominable conditions, during the unveiling of adulthood, Anna's improbable fate hinges on the mercy of others. In the early, wintry days of 2010, sixteen-year-old Theo Drew emerges from a family tragedy trailing a corrosive secret. When guilt threatens to overwhelm him, Theo flees to a deserted woods beside the sea, seeking oblivion. As Anna and Theo’s worlds inadvertently collide and a delicate friendship severs the barriers between age and experience, the truth and the past unravel, revealing the essence of human salvation.

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Review

Inflicted is a memorable and impressive debut novel. I found the story incredibly moving at times, and the narrative is heartfelt and touching. It depicts friendship between an older lady, Anna Levinsky, and sixteen-year-old Theo Drew, a friendship across generations that is borne out of kindness, a need for understanding and compassion. Anna is kind towards Theo, offering him advice about bullies and about the tragic situation within his family. Theo, for his part, provides a listening ear for Anna to share her past, one she has scarcely ever spoken of to others, and listening to Anna's story, Theo is taken out of himself and temporarily able to distract himself from his own burdens.

`...listening to her story jolted him out of the cycle of self-pity that had controlled his feelings for so long.'

Through Anna's story, recounting her harrowing experiences during the Second World War, concentrating particularly on the years from 1942, when, as a young Jew, she was held in the concentration camp in the ghetto in Theresienstadt, we see evidence of the great spirit and strength she demonstrated when younger in order to survive, and through Theo's story we see the guilt he carries with him and the sadness that has torn through his family. As a girl and then a young woman, Anna endures terrible hardship, witnesses horrendous acts and is forced to grow up fast.

`I am now a different Anna to the one who left Prague and entered Theresienstadt; half adult, half child with the adult half forced to emerge and stand to attention.'

As Anna enters Theresienstadt in 1942, we see directly through her eyes the terrible reality of the place;

`...a grid of murky, run-down streets with blocks of non-descript buildings rising from its grimy depths. These edifices, naked in their neglect seemed to hang their shabby heads in shame, capitulating to their decay.'

Ria Frances does not pull any punches or hold back, the honesty in the storytelling was a real strength of the book for me, whether it is the actions and behaviour of Theo's mother, or the lengths that Theo himself goes to in order to harm himself and take his pain away, or the details of what Anna endured in the ghetto, these are people going through pain and anguish of loss, or self-loathing, or horrendous treatment, and their experiences are frankly depicted.

For me the author shows a real insight into what makes people tick, what hurts them and what makes them stronger, the connections people forge, and this comes through in the thoughts and words of her characters.

I don't want to give away anything about the storyline but I would say that although I felt Anna's story was the stronger of the two, and very vivid in terms of detail, evidently well researched, powerful and believable, I nevertheless also found Theo's gradual journey of self-discovery well portrayed.

This story is powerfully told, emotional and very moving, tragic yet brimming with kindness and certainly not without hope, and written with compassion and honesty. I'm very glad to have read it. 

Review copy via amazon vine

Love and Treasure - Ayelet Waldman

'He opened the little velvet bundle, and found a piece of women's jewellery, a large pendant decorated wth an enamel painting of a peacock in vivid purple and green, with white accents...'

Love and Treasure is a novel that spans a century, with a story that begins with a brief prologue in 2013, takes us back to 1945, then forwards again to later in 2013, and back once more, further this time to 1913. I found myself drawn into the story immediately, and was intrigued by what Jack Wiseman had asked of his granddaughter, Natalie Stein, who has arrived to visit him. Jack is very ill now, and Natalie is in an unhappy state after her marriage has ended. He entrusts her with the role of finding the original owner of a pendant which she wore on her wedding day and returning it to them. The first major part of the narrative begins in 1945, where is Jack is an American soldier from New York stationed in Salzburg after the end of the Second World War. 

Ayelet Waldman does a great job with her characterisation; I felt I really got to know what sort of man Jack was through her portrayal of him, and I admired him. I found this first third of the story captivating, and I wondered what would happen between Jack and Ilona, the lady he meets in Salzburg, a displaced person originally from Hungary. Jack is charged with looking after the contents of the Hungarian Gold Train, items stolen from Hungarian Jews during the war and which are being stored by the US in Salzburg after they intercepted the train. Jack and Ilona are both Jewish, but with wildly different experiences of life in recent years. Ilona has lost her home, her belongings, endured the horror of concentration camps and seen most of her close family put to death by the Nazis; she clings on to the hope that her sister Etelka may still be alive. Jack is a warmhearted good man determined to try and do the right thing, and he soon falls in love with Ilona, but always treating her with kindness and gentleness;

'He would just sit here next to her. He wouldn't bother her. He wouldn't touch her or speak to her or force himself on her in any way. He would just sit here and wait and show her by waiting that he would always be here, that she could trust him never to leave her alone.' 

One of the items that Jack notices amongst the thousands of things on the train is a pendant in the shape of a peacock. He finds it in a jewellery case that bears the name of a jeweller in the city where Ilona lived, Nagyvarad. It is this item that is the thread that links the different parts of this novel together, linking the stories of several Jewish people over this hundred-year period. This is what Jack passes to his granddaughter Natalie in the prologue. 

The second part of the narrative brings us back to 2013, and takes us to Budapest, where we find Natalie embarking on her quest to trace the origins of the pendant; here she meets art historian Amitai Shasho, who grew up in Israel and who himself has a keen interest in art and artefacts stolen from Jews during the war. The final part of the novel then takes us back to Budapest, this time in 1913, and features a first-person narrative by a Freudian psychoanalyst. I don't want to give too much more away about the plot here. 

UK hardback edition cover

I think Ayelet Waldman writes passionately about her subjects here, and she has created an intriguing narrative through which she explores many things; aspects of history, the loss of a home and the search for a new one, the differences between people, relationships between men and women, introducing fascinating characters, including strong, determined females in each part of her tale. It's a well-researched and richly imagined historical novel which swept me away, strongly evoking the periods and places featured in each of the different parts of the story. I feel that her portrayal was honest and frank, she doesn't shy away from difficult areas but confronts them as part of her narrative. 


Each part of the story intrigued me, though I must admit that I particularly loved reading the section of the novel involving Jack and Ilona in 1945-6, the compelling portrayal of them living through such difficult days and trying to find the way forward. Love and Treasure depicted aspects of history and politics which I had known little about and I feel like it increased my understanding of some subjects too. This is the first novel I've read by this author and on the basis of this one I'd certainly look out for more of her books. 

I reviewed Love and Treasure as part of the Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tour. See below for more information.

Tour Schedule: http://hfvirtualbooktours.com/loveandtreasuretour

Tour Hashtag: #LoveandTreasureBlogTour


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About the novel

Publication Date: April 1, 2014

Knopf Publishing

Formats: Ebook, Hardcover, Audio

A spellbinding new novel of contraband masterpieces, tragic love, and the unexpected legacies of forgotten crimes, Ayelet Waldman’s Love and Treasure weaves a tale around the fascinating, true history of the Hungarian Gold Train in the Second World War.

In 1945 on the outskirts of Salzburg, victorious American soldiers capture a train filled with unspeakable riches: piles of fine gold watches; mountains of fur coats; crates filled with wedding rings, silver picture frames, family heirlooms, and Shabbat candlesticks passed down through generations. Jack Wiseman, a tough, smart New York Jew, is the lieutenant charged with guarding this treasure—a responsibility that grows more complicated when he meets Ilona, a fierce, beautiful Hungarian who has lost everything in the ravages of the Holocaust. Seventy years later, amid the shadowy world of art dealers who profit off the sins of previous generations, Jack gives a necklace to his granddaughter, Natalie Stein, and charges her with searching for an unknown woman—a woman whose portrait and fate come to haunt Natalie, a woman whose secret may help Natalie to understand the guilt her grandfather will take to his grave and to find a way out of the mess she has made of her own life.

A story of brilliantly drawn characters—a suave and shady art historian, a delusive and infatuated Freudian, a family of singing circus dwarfs fallen into the clutches of Josef Mengele, and desperate lovers facing choices that will tear them apart—Love and Treasure is Ayelet Waldman’s finest novel to date: a sad, funny, richly detailed work that poses hard questions about the value of precious things in a time when life itself has no value, and about the slenderest of chains that can bind us to the griefs and passions of the past.

About the Author

Ayelet Waldman is the author of the newly released Love and Treasure (Knopf, January 2014), Red Hook Road and The New York Times bestseller Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities and Occasional Moments of Grace. Her novel Love and Other Impossible Pursuits was made into a film starring Natalie Portman. Her personal essays and profiles of such public figures as Hillary Clinton have been published in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Vogue, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Her radio commentaries have appeared on “All Things Considered” and “The California Report.”

For more information please visit Ayelet’s website. Her missives also appear on Facebook and Twitter.

Her books are published throughout the world, in countries as disparate as England and Thailand, the Netherlands and China, Russia and Israel, Korea and Italy.

Buy the Book

| Amazon UK | Amazon US | Audible.com | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | IndieBound |

Watch the Book Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PkzVlToRxJg

Virtual Book Tour Schedule

Tuesday, May 27
Review at Kinx’s Book Nook
Review at A Bibliotaph’s Reviews
Wednesday, May 28
Guest Post at Passion for Novels
Thursday, May 29
Review at Mari Reads
Friday, May 30
Review at She Reads Novels
Review at Dianne Ascroft’s Blog
Monday, June 2
Review at Flashlight Commentary
Tuesday, June 3
Interview at Flashlight Commentary
Wednesday, June 4
Review at Seaside Book Corner
Thursday, June 5
Review at Oh, For the Hook of a Book
Friday, June 6
Interview at Oh, For the Hook of a Book
Monday, June 9
Review at Closed the Cover
Tuesday, June 10
Interview at Closed the Cover
Wednesday, June 11
Review at A Bookish Girl
Review at Peeking Between the Pages
Friday, June 13
Review at Ageless Pages Reviews
Monday, June 16
Review at So Many Books, So Little Time
Guest Post at Historical Fiction Connection
Wednesday, June 18
Review at Let Them Read Books
Thursday, June 19
Review at Book Nerd
Friday, June 20
Review at Curling Up with a Good Book
Monday, June 23
Review at 100 Pages a Day
Tuesday, June 24
Review & Giveaway at Luxury Reading
Wednesday, June 25
Review at Lit Nerd
Thursday, June 26
Review at The Little Reader Library
Friday, June 27
Review at Man of la Book
Monday, June 30
Review at A Bookish Affair
Review at Just One More Chapter
Interview at Layered Pages
Tuesday, July 1
Interview at Jorie Loves a Story
Wednesday, July 2
Review at From L.A. to LA
Review at Mina’s Bookshelf
Thursday, July 3
Review at Jorie Loves a Story
Review at CelticLady’s Reviews

The Blue Suitcase - Marianne Wheelaghan

'Everyone is on edge and scared - scared to say what they think, and scared of what might come. Those not killed by the bombing are collapsing in the street from stress and anxiety.'

The Blue Suitcase is a fictional work that was inspired by actual letters and diaries which the author Marianne Wheelaghan found amongst her mother's belongings after her death, and it tells the story of a teenage girl growing up in Nazi Germany. The author writes in her prologue:

'I discovered the story of a vital person, who endured a shocking history, and this is why I have translated everything and put it in book form here. Simply put, her story deserves to be told.'

Written in the form of diary entries by the central character, Antonia Nasiski, as well as letters between her and members of her family, with some entries just a few lines long, others several pages, this is a moving, honest account of several years in a girl, and young woman's, life before, during and after World War II. Antonia lives in Breslau, in what in 1932 was the Province of Silesia in Germany, and is now an area within Poland. The story follows Antonia's life through the 1930s and 1940s, and charts the political and societal changes happening around her and her family, and the way these affect them all.

It's a frank record of turbulent times, when there seemed to be a strong answer to a country's problems but which turned into an horrific, destructive regime. And here is the voice of a girl, growing into a young woman as all this happens, recording her thoughts, her feelings, her reactions, what happens to her and those around her. 

I started reading and felt that the child's voice felt authentic and believeable; her observations suit the age that she is at - nearly twelve in 1932 when the novel starts - with sibling rivalry and jealousy, childlike hope, happiness and indignation at things she sees as unfair. She mentions the changes happening in the world around her, most affected by the fact that the events are causing her family to argue all the time. Antonia's Papa, who was initially not keen on the new leader, remarks that 'All Hitler is trying to do is gain stability. If anyone can hold Germany together, he can.' To which his wife replies 'What's gaining stability got to do with locking up my son and raiding bookshops?' And so we hear about the wonderful authors whose books have been removed from the shelves. Twelve-year-old Antonia witnesses all of this and writes 'I wish they would stop arguing!' This conflict represents the divide between those who believe the changes may be for the better and those who are uneasy or angry about what is happening to their country. It's hard to read about this period of history without thinking about the horrific outcome, but the author portrays here how, at the time, some people were swept up and deceived by the force of change.

Through her diary recording her daily life, including the disagreements between her family, we see the implications of the large scale political changes as they affect one group of ordinary people causing divides and unrest. She writes of the dramatic things that happen to her family. She sees her brothers torn between the extremes, Hubert loyally following Germany's new leader, Hansi sympathising strongly, later to his cost, with the communists. I thought the positions taken by her two brothers, and the paths they followed, made for a very interesting contrast within the story. Her sister Maria is unable to fulfil the ideal role of a mother that society wants her to be. Through Maria's letters we learn of the bombing of Berlin. It was sad to read how Antonia's mother becomes a shadow of her former self. 

The situation grows desperate and frightening for them all. In April 1945 Antonia writes of the way the people are being treated now by the German authorities; 'They terrorise and bully us and don't care if we live or die. How did it come to this?'  She has grown up through such tumultuous times, seen so much distress, we observe the way she has to mature, just to cope, going from a girl who just wanted an enjoyable birthday celebration without arguments at the start of the book, to a woman desperately trying to survive in a city turned to ruins, seeing what was her homeland disappear. I felt the terror and fear as people were ordered to leave Breslau. 

There is so much change, so much suffering and sadness as their lives become more and more difficult, and it's a battle to survive. In taking as its focus ordinary German citizens, this novel tackles an area not always broached in WWII fiction, the author illustrating how war affects people on all sides. I'm reminded a little of the conflicting empathy I felt whilst reading other novels such as The Undertaking by Audrey Magee and The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook.

The writing style, presenting the events day by day and with such a frankness and at times factual tone, yet showing the very personal effects they have, makes the novel very readable and shocking at the same time. Marianne Wheelaghan has taken the personal documents she found, part of her own family history, and combined this with historical research to create a compelling, frank portrait of ordinary people living through a period of huge change and terrible destruction, people surviving at times through awful conditions and changed irrevocably during those dark days. This isn't always easy reading, at times it is uncomfortable and harrowing, but it is fascinating, thought-provoking and hard to put down, I was eager to know what happened to Antonia and her family. I liked the representations on the suitcase on the book cover of the journeys which Antonia makes. 

Thank you to the author for kindly sending me a copy of this novel for an honest review.

There's more information on the author's website about the background to writing this novel.

Author links - twitter @MWheelaghan | website |
Published by Pilrig Press

Wolfsangel - Liza Perrat

'I glance across at my granddaughter, who wears the bone angel necklace these days. She's gripping the pendant between her thumb and forefinger as I used to; as countless kinswomen of L'Auberge des Anges did before us. I touch the spot where it once lay against my own breast, feeling its warmth as if I were still wearing the little sculpture.

I wonder again if my daughter and granddaughter truly understand what that heirloom endured with me through those years of the occupation...'

I really enjoyed reading Liza Perrat's first novel, Spirit of Lost Angels, which forms the beginning of her trilogy, 'L'Auberge des Anges', and I was quickly drawn into this second novel too, soon becoming caught up in the story and reluctant to stop reading. In the opening part of the narrative set in 2012, Celeste Roussel is looking back at the decisions she made in her past which still cause her pain. Then we are taken back to 1943, to the little village of Lucie-sur-Vionne in a France then occupied by German forces. Celeste is one of the local villagers, a brave, clever and determined young woman, yet also at times naive, who wants to assist the Resistance like her brothers, but when she finds herself falling for Martin Diehl, a German officer, she feels conflicted. The bone angel necklace that has been passed down through the women in her family to Celeste is a talisman and gives her strength just has it has done to generations past. 

The novel depicts the bravery of resistance that many ordinary people displayed in those terrible times. The author has evidently researched this period well and has created a vivid, believable backdrop against which her engaging, honest tale is told. I read in an interview with the author that the region of France in which this novel is set was indeed occupied by German forces during WWII. I could imagine in my mind the little village and its inhabitants, I could feel something of the immense bravery required of those in the French Resistance, and I could sense the danger and around them; the storytelling takes you there, into the hearts and minds of the characters. I felt admiration, shock and sadness as I read this story; the awful truth of some events during wartime is not avoided here. This is an absorbing, well-researched and well-written novel ideal for anyone who enjoys reading historical fiction and like Liza Perrat's previous novel Spirit of Lost Angels there are courageous female characters at the heart of the storyline. 

Wolfsangel boasts an evocative, attractive cover design too. Incidentally, I'd certainly recommend reading Spirit of Lost Angels because it's a very good read, and because you'll appreciate the connections of the family and the necklace, but you by no means have to read it in order to read and follow the story in Wolfsangel. Exciting to now anticipate the arrival of the third book in the trilogy! 

Thank you to the author for kindly sending me a copy of this novel for an honest review. 

Author links - twitter @LizaPerrat | website

Published by Triskele Books

Other blog reviews -
Pen and Paper | Jaffa Reads Too | Lovely Treez Reads | Random Things |

Ghostwritten - Isabel Wolff

'...we should embrace all our memories, whether joyful or painful. They're all we ever really own in this life.'

Jenni is a ghostwriter; she loses herself in the details and intricacies of the lives of others partly to avoid facing up to aspects of her own life in the present and the past. At her friend Nina's wedding, Jenni meets someone who suggests his mother, Klara, now approaching her eightieth birthday, may be ready to record her memoirs; she has a traumatic, moving, life story to share, and has thus far never divulged many of the details to anyone else, even her family. Jenni is keen to follow-up on this, but when she discovers exactly where Klara lives, a little village in Cornwall named Polvarth, she hesitates to take the job on, as the place holds distressing memories. 

I was soon drawn deeply into this moving, compelling story, it offered me an insight into a setting and a part of history and the world that I knew little about. Klara was Dutch and spent her childhood in Java (now Indonesia) where her father had gone to run a rubber plantation. She grew up happily there at first, with friends amongst other workers' families and amongst the locals too. Then the Second World War, which at first seemed distant from them, arrived on Java, and brought with it huge changes for them all, and terrifying times, her father taken away, then Klara and her mother and brother Peter interned in a camp and kept there in deprivation by the occupying Japanese troops. I learned about tenko, the experience of the roll-call faced by the women and children, and I read how badly people were treated; some of their experiences are very upsetting and harrowing indeed to read about. I was interested, and saddened, to learn not only of these times, but also the period immediately following the end of the war, when it was still so difficult for some of the survivors to find a place to call home where they would be welcomed - neither Indonesia nor Holland seemed entirely hospitable.

Isabel Wolff has evidently researched the period and the setting thoroughly to authenticate her story of Klara’s experiences. In Klara, she has created a strong, admirable and brave woman who has endured and thrived despite her terrible experiences as a girl. I felt that having read this story I had been through it with her, the time and place is brought to life by the author and I got to know them. The voice is clever too, though Klara is an older lady now, she recounts her childhood experiences very much with that child's voice I felt, which felt right. 

Jenni’s story also grabbed me. I wondered if she would ever be able to discuss and reconcile herself to the events of her past, and move forwards. Would her relationship with her partner, schoolteacher Rick, be strong enough, would they be able to reconcile over the fact that Rick would like to have children and Jenni doesn't. I felt an understanding of her, and also very sad for her, that she still carried such a burden regarding events when she was a child, and that they still affected her life so deeply, keeping her in the background of her own life. The author touches insightfully on the experiences of those with a close family bond as a child versus those who have a lonely childhood.

The friendship and trust that grew between these two women was wonderful to witness, I loved how they got on. They share a common bond, how the past has affected them both; both had aspects of their childhoods in effect stolen away from them and are carrying a deep sadness from the past, and the novel explores the gradual facing up to what happened. Memories are recalled, painful, difficult, at times awful, but there is hope and friendship, love and the opportunity for overcoming loss and tragedy to move forwards. Klara is inspiring to Jenni: 

'She'd coped with her memories, in silence, and despite her sadness had made a good life for herself. I needed to do the same.'

I was impressed by this novel, it was a fascinating, absorbing and well-researched read with the historical and present day aspects combining well, and with two engaging, resilient lead female characters, the kind of story that will linger in my mind. I loved the beautiful book cover design which fitted the story very well. The title is fitting; as well as Jenni's career, there are the ghosts of the past in both women's lives which still haunt them.

Thank you to the author for kindly sending me a copy of this novel for an honest review. 

Author links - twitter @IsabelWolff | facebook 

Published by HarperCollins

Tuesday Intros: The Blue Suitcase by Marianne Wheelaghan

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea - every Tuesday, sharing the first paragraph (or a few) of a book you are currently reading or thinking about reading soon. Visit the blog here to join in.

I'm reading The Blue Suitcase by Marianne Wheelaghan.

First paragraph

'Mum was eighty-two when she died. I discovered the suitcase three months later. Her flat was to be sold. I was waiting for the agent to come and view it. Except for a feather duster forgotten in the airing cupboard, a kitchen chair and the big mahogany wardrobe, the place was empty.'

~~~~~

What do you think, and would you keep reading?

I've nearly finished this book and have found it a very interesting historical read with a compelling voice, namely Antonia's personal diary entries.

~~~~~

Synopsis

It is 1932, Silesia, Germany, and the eve of Antonia's 12th birthday. Hitler's Brownshirts and Red Front Marxists are fighting each other in the streets. Antonia doesn't care about the political unrest but it's all her family argue about. Then Hitler is made Chancellor and order is restored across the country, but not in Antonia's family. The longer the National Socialists stay in power, the more divided the family becomes with devastating consequences. Unpleasant truths are revealed and terrible lies uncovered. Antonia thinks life can't get much worse - and then it does.

Partly based on a true-life story, Antonia's gripping diary takes the reader inside the head of an ordinary teenage girl growing up. Her journey into adulthood, however, is anything but ordinary.

Tuesday Intro: Wolfsangel by Liza Perrat

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea - every Tuesday, sharing the first paragraph (or a few) of a book you are currently reading or thinking about reading soon. Visit the blog here to join in.

I'm reading Wolfsangel by Liza Perrat.

I really enjoyed Spirit of Lost Angels, by the same author, and I've found myself drawn into this story very quickly too and keen to see what happens next. 

First paragraph

'We gather in the cemetery, before the ossuary, with the straggle of other remaining survivors and their families. Our heads dipped, the mayor beings his memorial speech to commemorate the tragedy that became a legend around these parts; the evil that part of me still believes was the result of my own reckless actions.'

Synopsis

Seven decades after German troops march into her village, Céleste Roussel is still unable to assuage her guilt.

1943. German soldiers occupy provincial Lucie-sur-Vionne, and as the villagers pursue treacherous schemes to deceive and swindle the enemy, Céleste embarks on her own perilous mission as her passion for a Reich officer flourishes.

When her loved ones are deported to concentration camps, Céleste is drawn into the vortex of this monumental conflict, and the adventure and danger of French Resistance collaboration.

As she confronts the harrowing truths of the Second World War’s darkest years, Céleste is forced to choose: pursue her love for the German officer, or answer General de Gaulle’s call to fight for France.

Her fate suspended on the fraying thread of her will, Celeste gains strength from the angel talisman bequeathed to her through her lineage of healer kinswomen. But the decision she makes will shadow the remainder of her days.

A woman’s unforgettable journey to help liberate Occupied France, Wolfsangel is a stirring portrayal of the courage and resilience of the human mind, body and spirit.

The Undertaking - Audrey Magee

In the midst of World War II, Peter Faber and Katherina Spinell embark on an usual marriage – they haven’t even met. Peter takes this step to get ‘honeymoon’ leave from the Eastern front, and he travels to Berlin and meets his wife and her family for the first time. For Katherina, it offers a war pension should he die. Before the war a schoolteacher in Darmstadt, now he is fighting in Russia, for his homeland Germany. Despite the unconventional manner of their union, the pair do find they like and indeed come to love one another, making it difficult for them both when Peter has to return to Russia.

The narration moves between Peter’s horrendous time in Russia as his division moves towards Stalingrad, and Katherina’s life in Berlin, where she enjoys a relatively comfortable existence for a time – this is thanks to her father’s close acquaintance with the powerful Nazi Dr. Weinart, who he almost slavishly complies with, even to the point of not defending his own war-damaged son Johannes in front of him. When the war starts to go against Germany, though, both of them find themselves still apart, and in dire circumstances.

The author writes with brutal honesty of the appalling conditions the soldiers endure, and conveys the different views amongst them about what they are actually fighting for, so that as a reader we can conceivably sympathise with Peter despite the outrage we feel at the regime he was fighting to protect. Audrey Magee also convincingly portrays the turbulent change in fortunes for Katherina and her family.

Throughout the novel, much of the narrative is written as dialogue; I quickly got used to this style and thought it worked very well here; the author lets the characters’ thoughts and decisions speak for themselves, directly, rendering their emotions and experiences vividly to the reader.

The Undertaking is a stark, intelligent and powerful debut novel that confronts harsh realities and depicts two ordinary people complicit in terrible actions.  I was impressed by it and I’d love to read more by this author. There is plenty here for reading groups to debate and get their teeth into – morality, greed, war, damage, and love.

Published by Atlantic Books - 6th February 2014

Originally reviewed for Newbooks magazine