Set in Poland near the end of World War II, this book is told in three perspectives. An affluent Prussian family, accompanied by a Scottish POW who has been working on their farm, must flee their home as the Russians advance toward Germany. A Jewish man has been hiding in plain sight by assuming a series of different identities in the German military. A French Jewish woman is serving as forced laborer for the Nazis and is now part of group being marched into Germany. These storylines eventually converge.

The brutalities of war are clearly portrayed. The traumatic content is relieved on occasion by the relationships between family members and love developing between the POW and the family’s daughter. The different perspectives highlight the various attitudes toward the Jews. The Prussian family is largely unaware of (or turns a blind eye to) what is happening to their neighbors who disappeared. As with many WWII novels, there is a lot of difficult content, but is consistent with history. I became invested in the story and cared about what happened to the characters. My only slight disappointment is the ending, which strays a bit far afield. I think the author wanted to surprise the reader, but these last-minute twists seldom work well for me. ( )

Bohjalian ventures into the milieu of World War II Germany and tells the story of Anna Emmerich, a German girl living on the edge of Poland and her German family, who are Nazi party members. These are rural German's who are oblivious to the atrocities and turn a blind eye to the disappearances of people around them to relocation. It is the last days of the war, and the family is forced to flee before the oncoming Russian army. Accompanying them is a Scottish POW named Callum Finella who is given to her family to help work the farm, and a Jewish man, Uri Singer, who escapes the Nazi's by cleverly posing as one of them.

The story is unusual in being told from the point of view of the Germans (although this is the second such book I have read recently and not through any design to do so). Perhaps the tales of the Allies and those of the Holocaust victims have been exhausted and at this remove we can be more open to the stories of how the insanity of Nazi Germany affected everyday Germans.

The story is told masterfully, without any feeling that anything included is unnecessary or left out. Bohjalian amazes me with his ability to tell stories from so many different eras, with such disparate characters and yet to always seem knowledgeable and at home with his subjects. Stories such as this must always be told, lest we forget how devastating such a war can be and to help us remember that even among the monsters there are people who are just caught up in the circumstances created by others. ( )

This is one of those books it probably would have taken a while for me to find and read. But A GR's friend raved about it earlier in the year and so I added it. I am so glad I did.

The story takes place at the tail end of WWII and is told from 3 perspectives-A Prussian family, a man who is a Jewish run-a-way and a Jewish French woman who is held as slave labor by the Germans. The first 2 are running West searching for the Allies in hopes of being saved. The French woman is a part of a death march. The writing is honest and hard at times, but parts of the story (view spoiler) are beautiful and worth every minute of reading. And the ending.....it was perfect.

This is one of those books I can recommend to all- I know a lot of people have grown tired of all the HF set in WWII-If you ever change your mind-make this the first you pick up ( )

It's hard to describe a book which describes mistreatment of European Jews by the Third Reich and the horrors of WW II as "enjoyable", but I thought it was. Maybe I should just say I found it both moving and interesting. The story tells a story taking place at the last part of the War through the eyes of a Scottish P.O.W., a Jew on the run masquerading as a German soldier, and a German family who leave their home on the eastern front, trying to stay ahead of the closing Russian troops and reach the British / U.S. forces.

( )

I registered this book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12549030

I picked up this book because I had read Midwives and was impressed by the author's knowledge of midwifery. I was right to think that he'd probably do a good job with this very different subject.

Near the end of World War II, a small village in Poland is threatened by a Russian invasion. The German troops are thinner and thinner on the ground and almost any male who can hold a gun is recruited. Eighteen-year-old Anna is part of a family that lives in this village, far away from the big cities and in many ways ignorant of the real causes of the war. The Germans had captured some Allied forces and eventually farmed them out to villagers to be used as unpaid labor. Callum, from Scotland, works for Anna's family. He is twenty, attractive, and friendly. Quietly, secretly, Anna and Callum become lovers.

But then worse comes to worse. The Russian troops are getting closer and the family has to evacuate. They pack up two wagons and four horses and head out into the snow.

Meanwhile, we meet Manfred, an escapee from a train headed for a concentration camp. He has been on the run for a while when he meets up with the family, and he is dressed in a German uniform stolen from a soldier he killed. The group travels together.

The family meets with some difficult challenges, some worse than others, as the members try to reach the western border of Germany.

I have read a number of books on this war, from different perspectives. This is the first from the standpoint of affluent German citizens living in the countryside. Many of us struggle with the fact that German citizens voted Hitler into office and then turned a blind eye to the atrocities committed by that government. It is sometimes helpful to put ourselves into the position of those on the ground, not involved in politics. It can even be instructive for our own lives.

I felt that Bohjalian did the work. He created believable characters and situations that may well have happened. The fact that this is, too, a kind of love story brings us closer to the characters. ( )