Ursula Zilinsky

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this book as some of the GMP books I've read in the past have been pretty strange. Thankfully, this book fell into the more serious category. Middle Ground is a story of Tyl who ends up in a Nazi labour camp at 14 when authorities notice Jewish members in his family tree. He decides to be a survivor, and gets through a couple of years of hard work and a nasty camp commander. After the death of the commander, a new man takes over who knows Tyl's relatives and is therefore inclined to give him perks--lighter duties and a chance to listen to BBC radio, for example, but they come with a price Tyl's mates in the camp are pushing him to accept as normal relations between those in power and prisoners at camps. But Tyl develops feelings for him, and "middle ground" for him is very much about the impossible shades of grey between the absolutes of "guards" and "prisoners", them and us.… (meer)