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The Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazi Germany have been mentioned a great deal in American political circles of late because of the supposed similarities of repression and violence in late 1920s and throughout the 30s in Germany compared to what has been occurring in the United States recently.  On a cultural level political figures in both time periods have tried to impact society whether it is on film, changing perceptions about history, literature, religion, immigration, and ethnic-racial relationships.  These time periods lend themselves as wonderful opportunities to create historical fiction.  Today’s obsession with autocracy and the loss of democracy are subjects which in the future will soon lead to many novels, but the Weimar and Nazi periods have already been mined deeply.  A recent example is German author, Daniel Kehlmann’s latest work, THE DIRECTOR which follows other reconceived historical novels like, MEASURING THE WORLD and TYLL in which the writer bases important scenes on real life.

In his latest Kehlmann focuses the famous Austrian filmmaker, G.W. Pabst, who along with Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau were the major filmmakers of the Weimar era.  Pabst began his career as an actor and theater director, before becoming one of the most influential German-language filmmakers in Europe in the 1930s.  With the arrival of sound movies, he made a trilogy of films that secured his reputation: “Westfront 1918 (1930), “The Three Penny Opera (1931), and “Kameradschaft  (1931).  Pabst was planning to develop his career in Hollywood which did not work out so he left for France  when war was declared in 1939.  Finding himself trapped he was forced to return to Nazi Germany.  Under the auspices of propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbles Pabst made apolitical  films for the Nazis, forever complicating his reputation.

In Kehlmann’s novel, Pabst receives word that his mother is ailing, and he travels to Austria to visit her along with his wife and son who now witness the brutal cruelty of the Nazi regime whose Minister of Propaganda wants to enlist him to make pro-government films.  Pabst believes that he has free will and will not have to succumb to Goebbels’ persuasion, but that is a naïve belief.  The novel explores the complicated relationships and differences between “art and power, beauty and barbarism, cog and conspirator.”  Further, THE DIRECTOR is a parable about moral compromise and the seductions of art – and asks the question how far a person would go working with an evil taskmaster.

(Director G.W. Pabst, who briefly worked in Hollywood before returning to Austria and working with the Third Reich, inspired Daniel Kehlmann’s engrossing historical fiction)

The reader is indirectly introduced to Pabst as Kehlmann opens the novel with Franz Welzek and a friend who resided at the Abendruh Sanitorium traveling to Vienna for an interview with Hans Conrad on his “What’s New On Sunday” television program.  Since Welzek had been Pabst’s assistant director at the outset of his career it was expected that his former mentor would be a topic of conversation, but it did not go well. 

Soon Kehlmann leads us to a 1933 scene where Pabst is lounging poolside in Hollywood at a friend’s house ruminating about his idea for a film – “War Has Been Declared.”  A pair of self-assured American studio executives arrive and try to convince Pabst to direct one of their films, but he refuses stating the script is weak.  Instead, Pabst tries to persuade them to make his film, “War Has Been Declared.”  The two ignore Pabst’s request and refuse to take no for an answer, but Pabst holds to his principles and begins to realize that he does fit into Hollywood’s artistical demands.

Fast forward once again and we find Pabst trying to convince Greta Garbo, (who owes the start of her career to Pabst) to star in his new film, but she has doubts and expresses her distaste for certain male actors.  Garbo’s commentary are among the many keen observations that Kehlmann makes throughout the novel about human behavior and how unstable it is.

Pabst feelings about Hollywood are reinforced at a gathering of film directors and producers at Fred Zinneman, the producer’s house as the usual chit chat was ongoing.  Two things emerge.  First, Pabst is convinced he must leave Hollywood and return home.  Second, a guest at the party, Kuno Kramer, a Nazi supporter tries to dissuade Pabst from returning to Vienna and settle in Germany where he would have the freedom to make the films he wants.  A constant undercurrent in the novel is the treatment of Jews in Vienna as guests discuss their plight, and Pabst fears that the Nazis who will achieve Anschluss with Austria shortly will force him to make films for the government whether in Austria or Germany.

With this backdrop the author develops Pabst’s journey to agree to make films for the Nazi regime.  After arriving in Vienna, then part of the Ostmark (Eastern March) as it was referred to after the Nazis seized Austria through the Anschluss of March 1938 Pabst and his family face a conundrum as they arrive at their Dreiturn Castle in the town of Tillmitsch to visit his mother Erika who seems to be suffering from dementia.  Kehlmann introduces many unusual characters, the first of which is Karl Jenzabek and his wife Liesl and their two daughters who are the caretakers of the property.  They are a  strange family who carry on in a mysterious and abusive manner toward Erika and her family.  Pabst decides they must leave especially after enduring a supposed accident on a ladder where he is injured.  In the background Nazism permeates as Karl sees himself as an important local Nazi leader and the anti-Semitic overtones are clear as is his racist hatred of Jews (Pabst is considered half-Jewish).  Pabst’s plan had been to visit his mother, get her settled and move on to Marseilles and travel by ship to New York to renew his film career in the United States.  Hitler’s invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, closes the Austrian border leaving the Pabst family trapped and under Nazi suzerainty.

(Author Daniel Kehlmann)

Kehlmann’s scene construction and dialogue are curious .  When Pabst is on a ladder in his library and Jenzabek slowly moves it in a manner that creates fear resulting in the director losing his balance falling to the floor is puzzling.  When Gertrude, his wife demands that they call the police he refuses as he realizes there are no police for people like them in the Ostmark.  Other examples include Pabst’s interactions with Leni Riefenstahl who he helped begin her career in film and later would be his co-director, which she greatly resented.  Kehlmann’s portrayal of the creator of the Nazi documentary “Triumph of the Will” and Hitler favorite is incisive and reflects her true nature – a woman who did not feel the need for a co-director and things got rather testy when they worked together, to the point she even threatened him with a concentration camp visit.  Other examples reflect on the vapid nature of Nazi society as wives of government officials meet in a book group focusing on the mediocre novelist, Alfred Karrasch, which Pabst’s wife Gertrude attends and tries to gain cultural acceptance.  Lastly, there are many scenes that reflect the technical nature of making films and the role of the actors.  Interestingly, Pabst concludes that directors can be superfluous as the actors and technicians can carry on without them.

Kehlmann integrates incidents that highlight the cruelty of the Nazi regime.  A case in point is Pabst’s son, Jakob’s encounter with friends, one of which is a bully.  All are farm boys and avid Nazi believers, but Jakob comes to the realization that if you can defeat the bully, even by cheating you would be seen as a winner, and this would gain respect.  Once the incident takes place and Jakob is able to beat up his counterpart the lesson is learned.  You must always be seen as a winner, not worrying about how you won, but creating a positive perception by others no matter how you accomplish it.  This is right out of the “autocrat’s playbook” –  sounds familiar.

(Leni Riefenstahl and Adolf Hitler)

From this point on Kehlmann delves into the dilemma of collaboration with a murderous government that is on the verge of genocide.  Pabst is asked to visit the Ministry of Propaganda in Berlin when he meets Joseph Goebbles who creates a moral dilemma, either making films for the government or perhaps he will be taken elsewhere.  The dialogue is fascinating as Goebbels, who is never named by the author, first wants Pabst to admit the errors of his ways and do penance for making communist propaganda and being an enemy of the German people, but he doesn’t know how because he does not believe this characterization of himself.  In their innocuous conversation Pabst finally rationalizes his decision to cooperate with Goebbels forceful requests. One of  Pabst’s film colleagues puts it as best as he can rationalizing that “once you get used to it and know the rules, you almost feel free.”  Pabst wonders if he is losing his mind and hopes to delay making a film until the war is over.  Pabst rationalizes that “maybe it’s not so important what one wants.  The important thing is to make art under the circumstances one finds oneself in.”  He believes in Germany he will have good scripts and high budgets and the best actors, something that did not always occur in the United States and elsewhere. 

In reality he had more creative freedom in the Third Reich than under the Hollywood studio system, but it came at a steep price casting concentration camp victims as extras in a pivotal scene.  He also collaborated with Riefenstahl on her film “Lowlands,” which used prisoners from Maxglan in Salzburg, Austria where more than 230 Sinti and Roma were kept in prison as forced laborers. In Spring 1943, they were deported to an extermination camp.  Wilzek justifies the film telling Pabst that “there’s nothing we can do; we didn’t make it happen.  We can’t keep it from happening.  It has nothing to do with us.” 

Kehlmann’s recasting Pabst’s life through historical fiction is a Faustian tale that explores how far an artist will compromise with the devil to continue to make his art.  In Pabst’s case we must wonder about his rationalizations as he is no better than Riefenstahl as he uses extras from a camp near Prague (probably Theresienstadt) in the last of the three films he made for the Nazis, “The Molander Case.”  Pabst is desperate to complete the film before the Red Army arrives.  He needs 750 extras taken from the camp to play as the audience in a concert hall.  Pabst will murmur to himself that “not a single person.  Will be harmed because of us.  No one has been…the film must be finished.”  For Pabst once again rationalizes that “his art will endure beyond any regime,”  but isn’t this a final descent into complicity?

Kehlmann states “that art might warrant moral compromises, but how far do you go?”  For the author he does not know what he might have done.  In an intellectual exercise you hope you will do the correct thing.

(Nuremberg Party Rally, 1935)

(V2 rocket)

As I wrote in my last review that evaluated Robert Harris’ most recent publication, PRECIPICE, there are few authors of historical fiction that I look forward to reading more.  I have spent many hours engrossed and entertained by his novels and never completed one without feeling totally satisfied.  PRECIPICE centers on the affair between English Prime Minister H.H. Asquith and Lady Venitia Stanley at the outset of World War I that turns into a spy novel.  Among his other novels, are ACT OF OBLIVION brilliantly reimagines one of the great manhunts in English history, the search for two men involved in the killing of Charles I. CONCLAVE which presents the politics and machinations in electing a Pope; MUNICH examines the process that led to the infamous conference that provided Adolf Hitler with the Sudetenland; FATHERLAND, an alternate history with the Nazis victorious in World War II and its implications; ARCHANGEL a novel that is built around a lost diary of Joseph Stalin; ENIGMA, the reader is transported to 1943 as the allies try to break the German code as u boats wreak havoc in the Atlantic;  AN  OFFICER AND A SPY recreates the Dreyfus Affair as a Jewish officer is accused of selling war secrets to the Germans in the 1890s; THE SECOND SLEEP, a book whose power lies in its between-the-lines warning that our embrace of the internet represents some kind of sleepwalk into oblivion; THE GHOST WRITER, a thriller of power politics, corruption and murder involving the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister; finally there are Harris’ exquisite novels that are referred to as THE CICERO TRILOGY: IMPERIUM, LUSTRUM/CONSPIRATA, DICTATOR tracking the orator’s rise and fall, and the stand alone thriller POMPEII set during the Vesuvius eruption. 

As the Second World War was reaching its conclusion in desperation Hitler and his Nazi regime resorted to unleashing its last secret weapon and the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile called the V2 first striking London on September 8, 1944.  This ushered in the missile age with supersonic, silent impacts, killing thousands, with over 500 hitting the city before the war’s end, leaving behind craters and memorials and causing devastating damage to areas of London.  The V stood for “Vergeltungswaffe,” or weapon of vengeance, and was designed to retaliate for allied bombing of German cities.  It was Hitler’s final “secret weapon,” designed to terrorize British cities. It traveled at three times the speed of sound, meaning it struck without any warning—unlike the slower V1 “doodlebugs”.  Hitler believed he could finally bomb England into submission and is referred to in the propaganda of Joseph Goebbles and other Nazi officials as the key to victory when all seemed lost.

(1931, Werner von Braun in the driver’s seat and two colleagues)

V2 is a work of historical fiction set in November 1944 that explores the German rocket program and the British efforts to stop it. The story is inspired by the true history of the world’s first long-range ballistic missile and the extraordinary work of women in the British intelligence service.   Harris was inspired to author the novel because of the work of Eileen Younghusband, a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) during World War II.  After reading Younghusband’s 2016 obituary in The Times, Harris was struck by her work during the war as she was sent to newly liberated Belgium to track mobile V2 launch sites.

(May 3, 1945. von Braun’s surrender to the Americans)

In V2 we are introduced to Rudi Graf, an engineer who always dreamed of building rockets and sending them to the moon.  However, during the war he wound up working alongside Wernher von Braun, a friend he had known since he was sixteen years old launching rockets across the English Channel into London.  Harris explores the moral conflict of scientists working under the Nazi regime through Graf who becomes a protégé of von Braun.  The second important character is Kay Caton-Walsh who volunteered for the Mechelen Project in late 1944, a part of a team of eight WAAFs (Women’s Auxiliary Airforce) that was dispatched to the Belgian town of Mechelen. Their mission was to use advanced mathematics and slide rules to extrapolate the parabolic curves of incoming rockets back to their points of origin.  Walsh’s goal was twofold, first she saw it as an opportunity to put some distance between herself and her affair with a superior officer, second and more importantly to work with colleagues to try and destroy the Nazi launch sites as attacks on London kept increasing.

(Mittelwerk underground V2 production facility)

The novel unwinds slowly as Harris lays the foundation of the story he is about to tell, introducing a number of important characters apart from Graf and Walsh.  The majority of characters are fictitious, but others are true historical figures who are accompanied with brief biographies.  Werner von Braun plays a major role as Harris explores the “Faustian pact” he made with his engineers, who dreamed of space flight but accepted military funding to build weapons of mass destruction.  General Hans Kammler was an SS-Obergruppenführer responsible for Nazi civil engineering projects and its top secret V-weapons program and thought nothing of shooting 500 villagers in retaliation for any resistance actions.  There are cameos by men like Heinrich Himmler and others but other impactful characters include Clarence Knowsley, part of the Defense Fighter Command who developed a plan to track the V2;  Sturmscharfuhrer Biwack of the National Socialist Leadership Office, a fanatical Nazi who is sent to Peenemunde to instill the proper loyalty for Hitler and spy on rocket engineers; Air Commander Michael Templeton in charge at the Mechelen base to locate V2 launch sites; Colonel Walter Huber, commander of the Artillery Regiment located at the Dutch seaside resort of Scheveningen; Barbara Colville, Walsh’s friend and fellow WAAF mate trying to determine Nazi launch sites, and a host of others.

(November 10, 1944, Aldgate section of London. Damage from V2 rocket attack)

Harris alternates chapters centering on Graf and Walsh.  Focusing on the German engineer Harris examines how the V2 was developed, transported to the launch sites, the actual launches, and his role in determining how effective the infrastructure of the rocket worked.  As the launches continued Graf begins to question his loyalty as more and more the SS began to take control of the V2 launches and eventually takes certain steps that brought him to the attention of the Gestapo.  Harris will then switch his attention to Walsh’s role in interpreting photographic intelligence from the Dutch coast where rockets were launched and her reassignment  to Mechelen to try and apply her math skills along with seven other women to determine the launch sites of the V2.

(October, 1945. British soldiers with captured V2 rocket)

Harris is well versed in the history of the V2 program and the historical events that impacted it.  For example, in October 1944 the allied Arnhem parachute landings forced the Germans to pull the V2 launchers temporarily out of the area around the Hague which put London out of range for the rockets.  Unfortunately, Operation Market Garden failed, allowing the Nazis to reoccupy the coastal strip leading to the worst month of V2 bombing of London as in the first week of November twelve rockets hit the greater area of the city, followed by thirty-five the second week, and twenty-seven the third week.  Harris portrays Nazi desperation as accidents at launch sites begin to occur as they push too hard to launch twelve rockets in a day.  The problem Harris correctly points out is that von Braum had over promised what the V2 program could deliver as he built massive factories, living quarters, and launched infrastructure that employed thousands, along with its own railroad.  Harris also introduces the Nordhausen underground factory, a significant historical detail that cost approximately 20,000 slave laborers their lives building the rockets—nearly four times more than the 2,724 people killed by the rockets themselves in Britain. 

Despite the technological brilliance, the V2 program was a strategic failure. Despite the success of the Nazi shell game moving rockets at night, shifting launchers from place to place the rockets themselves were inaccurate, expensive, and could not be fired in sufficient numbers to change the war’s outcome. 

(V1 “Doodlebug” German rocket)

Harris does a credible job reflecting on the issue of collaboration, particularly the plight of French and Belgium women who had relationships with the Germans leading to their being ostracized from their communities and being labeled as their hair was shorn.  The Vermeulen family which housed Walsh when she worked at Mechelen is another example as the parents had two sons one Arnaud who was vehemently anti-Nazi and a younger brother who fought for them.  Once they realized what was occurring and the brother returned home from the Russian front the family hid him – did that make them collaborators?

By its conclusion, the novel goes full-circle as Graf and Walsh meet as British intelligence is trying to convince von Braun and other scientists to work for them, not the Americans.  However, von Braun had worked out a plan to negotiate with the Americans, which he accomplished and was able to offer his services to the United States to build long range rockets which would culminate on the moon landing decades later.  Harris does bring up the issue of the “deals” Washington made with Nazi scientists  which the exigencies of the Cold War rationalized.*  It is a topic that could have expanded the novel and might have been quite fascinating.  However, after a slow beginning, Harris’ effort becomes increasingly interesting and is a strong addition to his works of historical fiction.

*After the war, von Braun and 1600 other German scientists and engineers were recruited by the United States as government employees in a secret program called Operation Paperclip (see Annie Jacobsen’s book of the same name).  By 1960, von Braun’s team had been absorbed by NASA.  In 1975 he received the National Medal of Science.  History is rather interesting especially when people change their loyalties to fit their own agendas.

(V2s were powered by a liquid ethanol fuel which pushed them to the edge of space)

(Henry Asquith and his long-suffering wife Margot. Much of the book relies on her accounts of the war and the pair’s relationship)

There are few purveyors of historical fiction that I await with bated breath until their next novel is published.  One such author is Robert Harris.  I have spent hours reading his novels and never completed one without feeling totally satisfied.  His last novel, ACT OF OBLIVION brilliantly reimagines one of the great manhunts in English history, the search for two men involved in the killing of Charles I.  Others include CONCLAVE which presents the politics and machinations in electing a Pope; MUNICH examines the process that led to the infamous conference that provided Adolf Hitler with the Sudetenland; FATHERLAND, an alternate history with the Nazis victorious in World War II and its implications; ARCHANGEL a novel that is built around a lost diary of Joseph Stalin; ENIGMA, the reader is transported to 1943 as the allies try to break the German code as u boats wreak havoc in the Atlantic; V2 focuses on the German missile campaign during World War II; AN  OFFICER AND A SPY recreates the Dreyfus Affair as a Jewish officer is accused of selling war secrets to the Germans in the 1890s; THE SECOND SLEEP, a book whose power lies in its between-the-lines warning that our embrace of the internet represents some kind of sleepwalk into oblivion; THE GHOST WRITER, a thriller of power politics, corruption and murder involving the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister; finally there are Harris’ exquisite novels that are referred to as THE CICERO TRILOGY: IMPERIUM, LUSTRUM/CONSPIRATA, DICTATOR tracking the orator’s rise and fall, and the stand alone thriller POMPEII set during the Vesuvius eruption. 

In his latest novel, PRECIPICE, like much of Harris’ work is based on historical fact, is set in the summer of 1914 as England and the rest of Europe are moving closer and closer to war.  The novel takes place over less than a year – from July 1914 to May 1915 and involves a twenty-six year old woman, Venitia Stanley, a clever and reckless person who belongs to upper-class bohemians and socialites called “the Coterie.”  In addition, she is having an affair with a man twice her age, English Prime Minister H. H. Asquith.  After World War I finally commenced we learn that Scotland Yard suspects the leak of top-secret documents and assigns an intelligence officer to investigate.  In constructing the novel Harris was given access to an archive of letters, telegrams and official documents in the possession of the Bonham-Carter family.  Employing these documents Harris has created a brilliant storyline about a secret love affair.

(The Prime Minister, Henry Asquith, was secretly madly in love with a woman less than half his age, Venetia Stanley)

The book is a nice blend of historical events and characters revolving around a true story.  The fictional component rests in Scotland Yard’s investigator, Paul Deemer, who is chosen to ferret out where the leaks are coming from and in so doing he is placed in the midst of Asquith and Stanley’s affair.  The love story component traces the relationship of the “lovesick” Prime Minister of England’s and Miss Stanley.  Harris integrates many letters that pass through the postal system that Deemer intercepts in addition to those that passed between the two before Scotland Yard became involved.  The issue is that for some reason Asquith conveys a great deal of strategic and command intelligence to his paramour.  What possessed him to pass along war secrets, possibly a desire to impress Stanley who he was smitten with, but as he did so he engaged in behavior that was not just reckless but downright illegal.  Amazingly, after showing top secret materials to Stanley, Asquith frequently wads them up and throws them out of the window of a car or reading documents to Stanley while going for a walk and then disposing of them in the trash.  It becomes so bad that Asquith’s attention to War Cabinet meetings and details are compromised as he reads and writes letters to Stanley while conducting the government’s war business.  A case in point is the debate in the War Cabinet to implement First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill’s use of the navy to enter the Dardanelles and attack the Ottoman Empire, a plan that was approved and resulted in the disaster at Gallipoli, and the split in the War Cabinet as to whether England should support France and Belgium.  Further Asquith discloses intelligence pertaining to the back and forth between Serbia and Austria, highlighted by the attitude of the Germans when it came to a possible war.

Harris is a master of highlighting social class inequality and the haughtiness of the Edwardian elite when dealing with wartime issues, and the document leaks.  Harris’ uses Deemer as his mouthpiece as he describes certain individuals as people who “seemed to believe themselves above the rules that applied to ordinary citizens.  Anything that might embarrass them was made to disappear.”   It is seen in the Asquith-Stanley relationship, the attitude of a number of characters, court hearings surrounding the drowning of Sir Denis Anson and William Mitchell, and the types of men who enlist to fight in 1914.  Further Harris juxtaposes the English “upper crust” with the soldiers who are off to war, and the English laboring class. 

(Edwin Montagu)

As the novel evolves familiar historical figures make their appearance.  Apart from Asquith and Churchill we meet Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Minister; Bonar Law, the leader of the Tory Party, Lord Herbert Kitchner, British Secretary of State for War, King George V, Lloyd George, Liberal Party politician and future Prime Minister, Captain Holt Wilson, Commander of Special Branch, Vernon Kell, head of intelligence services responsible for internal security, Edwin Samuel Montagu, a liberal politician who would go on to serve as Secretary of State for India between 1917 and 1922,Albert Harmsworth, Lord Northcliffe, newspaper magnate who despised Asquith, among others.

Harris’ work exhibits strong research as he is in full command of historical events particularly the diplomatic game that led to the Austrian ultimatum to Serbia that led to the domino effect of countries entering World War I.  In reading Harris’ account, one might have imagined you were reading Barbara Tuchman’s seminal work, THE GUNS OF AUGUST.  As we are exposed to Asquith it becomes increasingly clear that despite the inevitability of war with Germany, his obsession with Stanley was on the top of his agenda. 

Asquith comes across as a “lovesick puppy” as he writes to Stanley three-four times a day and expects the same devotion from her.  Eventually she will grow tired of Asquith’s controlling behavior and thinking of how to extricate herself from their relationship which leads her to join the nursing corps to help English soldiers wounded in the war.  One must wonder that if Asquith was more attentive to his war responsibilities, and less concerned with his love life, the war may have been less deadly and drawn out.  Stanley comes across as more level-headed than her lover and she realizes early on that he should not be sharing wartime documents with her, going so far as trying to encourage him to stop.  Once she decides she doesn’t want to be a useless rich girl she moves to London to study nursing.  She understands how emotionally unstable Asquith has become and she fears if she breaks up the relationship for good, it could be disastrous for England and its allies.

(Winston Churchill, 1914)

Deemer is the character who should be most admired as he continues his investigation of Asquith and Stanleys’ almost hourly exchange of letters as he worries about the mismanagement of the war and its impact on his brother Fred, fighting as an infantryman in France.  Harris has Deemer and Stanley meet as the Special Branch investigator visits his brother in the London hospital in which she is training.  Deemer is an excellent investigator and figures out how to intercept the mail between Asquith and Stanley, steam open the letters and reseal them so they would not realize that they had been compromised.  Further, it is through Deemer that we learn the lengths Asquith has gone to win over Stanley and the type of information he was leaking.

The novel ends suddenly because Harris is inhibited by the historical record.  The main area that I wish Harris had not shied away from were psychological insights into Asquith’s character and needs.  The novel doesn’t focus as much on the chaotic push toward war as Barbara Tuchman as it focuses more on a man’s emotional collapse who is a prime example of human frailty.  However, the real life story ended with less than a bang, but the novel kept my attention throughout, and I recommend it along with his other works.

(Prime Minister H. H. Asquith)

After being a fan of Ken Follett for decades and enamored with his Kingsbridge series which explored England’s development from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century I couldn’t wait to read a historical novel that offered a story of the neolithic British Isles and the creation of the Stonehenge monument.  Follett’s latest effort, CIRCLE OF DAYS is per his usual rather long, about 700 pages, and it appears very inviting.  However, I must say I am a little disappointed in the novel.  It is well written, it reflects a tremendous amount of research, and has a number of defined plot lines, but at times it seems simplistic, formulaic, and created doubts whether I should have continued reading it.

Overall, I am glad I stuck with the book, but it should not have taken almost halfway through to really foster my interest.  Perhaps it is the names that Follett chooses as you must write them down to remember them from Pia, to Joia, to Han, to Stam, to Troon, to Bez, to Gida, to Dee etc. etc., you get my drift.  To make sense of these characters I had to create a chart in order to keep everything sensible.  Perhaps a list of characters with a brief bio of each in the front of the novel is called for.   Further, the dichotomy of herders vs. farmers is clear, with farmers being misogynistic believing they own their women who have few rights, and herders who treat their women with respect and allow them to freely make decisions.  Farmers are presented as controlling and manipulative, and herders are communal, exhibiting a great deal of empathy, I found this dichotomy difficult to digest.  To say the least the novel is a mixed bag with a storyline that appears artificial at times as we witness a plan to turn a wooden monument into one of stone, but to Follett’s credit around page 350 he begins to pull the story together with a more in depth plotline and stronger character development.

(Straightening a leaning stone at Stonehenge in 1901) –

The story has a number of storylines, but at first, Follett presents his version of what life was like in England during the Neolithic period by inviting the reader into a primitive society and culture and delving into the trials and tribulations that people of that period dealt with on a daily basis.  Follett explores how people survived either as farmers, herders, flint  miners, woodsmen, and priestesses.  We witness the hatred and eventual violence due to the inherent differences between approaches to life that people take.  A useful example is how Yana, who is a part of the farmer society faces the death of her husband Olin, leaving only her daughter and herself to work their farm during an intense drought.  According to custom she must take a new husband within a year, but because of the “Main Man” Troon she is ordered to find a new husband within seven days.  Troon demands she marry his son Stam who is half Yana’s age.  As the story develops Pia, who is in love with a herder named Han, and upon learning she is pregnant escapes the farmer compound and runs away with Han.  Eventually she is recaptured, and Han is murdered by Stam who in the end will be burned alive by the woodlanders led by a man named Bez.  You can see that this is difficult to follow, but it works in the end.

The key storylines revolve around the following.  First, an endless drought affects everyone with food rationing, famine, death, and conflict as its by present throughout most of the novel.  Second, the role of the priestesses focusing on a character named Joia who joined the priesthood at a young age and became a rival of the head priestess, Ello.  It is her goal to replace the wooden monument that is the center of  faith with a stone monument that would withstand whatever the elements would bring.  Her ally in this effort is a carpenter/builder named Seft who is the key to the engineering problem that confronts those who want a stone monument.  Third, there is the constant conflict between farmers and herders and their allies that emerges.   Lastly, the personality conflicts and belief issues among major characters that drive the novel.

(1906)

In terms of being specific the novel comes down to a conflict between Joia, the head priestess, and Troon who is head of the farmers and sees himself as the “Main Man.”  Joia pulls out all stops in trying to move humongous stones across the Great Valley in order to rebuild the wooden monument.  Troon and his “thugs” do all they can to prevent this.  Follett turns to a detailed approach in the last third of the book in describing this conflict.  For Joia it is a means of recovering from the drought and the losses as the Midsummer rites attendance and trade declines.  For Troon, his own Farmer’s Summer Rites attraction has declined as the popularity of a stone monument takes off.  Fearing the loss of revenue and his attempt to be the leader of all in the Great Valley he does his utmost to sabotage Joia’s plans.  In addition to Troon’s machinations, Joia faces internal opposition from certain elders led by Scagga, a jealous individual who resents the power of a woman.

(Experts believe Stonehenge was originally a circle of bluestone pillars)

The key to enjoying this somewhat simplified tale is to surrender to it as soon as possible because the story will mature and eventually keep your interest.  Action dominates each page as conflict is riff, and characters have their own agenda.  Their key is Joia, the priestess who is obsessed with replacing the wooden monument with one made of stone that eventually becomes Stonehenge.  She and the other priestesses believe that the monument is the key to date-keeping, the Midsummer fair, and religious rites.  The problem is how to transport the gigantic stones in a time before wagons and harnesses to the monument site.  This conundrum dominates the third of the novel.

Follett does a workmanlike job creating a society from the 2500 BC period.  He provides useful insights on a regular basis and as a fan of the author, though not his best work, I would recommend his work to others who have the same loyalty as I do.  Relax, and immerse yourself into another world, long forgotten and a story that has a fairytale ending.

(Vatican City, 1945)

Two years ago, I read an impactful novel written by Joseph O’Conner entitled MY FATHER’S HOUSE that centered on the role of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, an Irish Catholic priest and senior official of the Roman Curia who was responsible for saving 6500 allied soldiers and Jews during World War II.  He had the ability to evade traps set by the Gestapo and Nazi SD earning the nickname, “The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican.”  O’Connor’s portrayal is one of suspense and intrigue creating a gripping World War II drama featuring the unlikeliest of heroes who did battle with SS Commander Paul Hauptmann who failed to corral the principled Vatican official.

O’Conner has returned with a strong sequel, THE GHOSTS OF ROME, which mirrors the same approach toward historical fiction dripping with action, and unforgettable characters.  In his latest work O’Conner reintroduces the “Choir,” a ragtag group dedicated to spiriting those threatened by the Nazis to safety.  As World War II winds down, this covert group successfully leads untold numbers of escapees out of Nazi controlled Rome along a secret route called the “Escape Line.”  Once again, Hauptmann is ordered to destroy O’ Flaherty’s underground railroad – this time his family is seized by the Gestapo and imprisoned in Berlin until he accomplishes his task.

O’Conner begins the novel on Ash Wednesday, February 1944 as he introduces an eclectic  group, all members of the “Choir” as they shelter from Nazi aerial bombardment. They are an interesting mix of people consisting of Giovanna Landini, a Countess, leftist who became a Red Cross motorcycle courier when the war broke out;  Sir Francis D’Arcy Osborne a British diplomat to the Holy See; Marianna de Vries, a Swiss reporter writing a book on the “Hidden Rome”; Delia Murphy-Kiernan, the de facto ambassador of Ireland to the Holy See and her daughter Blon, a university student; Sam Derry, a tough British soldier who escaped Nazi imprisonment; John May, a British jazz musician; Enzo Angelucci, a wise cracking newspaper vendor; and Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty.  As O’Conner introduces these characters, another is descending by parachute into Rome trying to avoid German fire as he hits the ground.

(St. Peter’s Square, 1945)

The author offers a series of storylines in the novel.  First, as part of a continuation from MY FATHER’S HOUSE, is SS Commander Hauptmann’s attempt to shut down the “Choir” and its “Escape Line.”  Second, is Countess Landini and Monsignor O’Flaherty’s prolonged attempts to hide escaped POWs, airmen, and others throughout Vatican City.  Third, the battle to try and save a downed Polish pilot named Bruno Wisniewski.  Lastly, the intertwining of the “Choir” and the diverse personalities and beliefs of its members as they tried to reach consensus as to what actions they should pursue.  O’Conner integrates a series of interviews of some of the main characters given a 15-20 years after the war to fill in historical gaps, personal observations, and tightening the story.  These made up texts from letters to memoir extracts to interview transcripts are important for the reader’s understanding.

O’Conner provides a tour of Roman historical sites as the diverse characters navigate Roman streets above and below ground in their cat and mouse game with the SS.  In addition, the author provides a glimpse into the Nazi occupation of Rome which by February 1944 is dominated by increasing black market prices, a lack of food and other essentials including sanitation, constant bombing raids, and the omnipresent fear of being arrested by the SS, interrogated, and executed.  As O’Conner takes the reader through the catacombs of Vatican City, particularly under St. Peter’s one is reminded of the novels of Steve Berry and Dan Brown for plot development and anticipation.

There are two watershed moments in the novel.  The first centers on Heinrich Himmler’s warning to Hauptmann that Hitler wanted the “Choir” to shut down or the SS commander’s family would be the price for failure.  Hauptmann’s wife and children were returned to Berlin where they would be guarded by Himmler’s henchman –  the warning was clear, “smash the Escape Line or face the inevitable.”  The second occurred on March 23, 1944, when the Roman resistance in the guise of pavement sweepers attacked a 156 German troop column with a 40 lb. bomb that killed 30 and wounded countless soldiers.  The bombers would escape, and Hitler ordered 100 Italian civilians  to be killed for every German soldier who died within 24 hours.  Hauptmann would prepare a death list of people who hid POWs, Communists, Socialists, members of trade unions, journalists to be killed in retribution.  Victims were sent to caves where they were shot 5 at a time known as the Ardeatine Massacre.

(The band of the Irish Brigade of the British Army plays in front of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, June 12, 1944).

THE GHOSTS OF ROME do not measure up to MY FATHER’S HOUSE in terms of pure excitement and thrills.  It continues the story but with more dialogue and less action.  It is still a strong historical novel, but with a more laid back approach, though the underlying fears and emotions of the characters easily come to the fore.  As is the case in both novels, O’Conner has the knack for creating memorable characters and scenes.  Perhaps the best in the current story is the character of Manon Gastaud, a medical student under Professor Guido Pierpaolo Marco Moretti, a superb surgeon, who happens to be pro-Nazi.  The conundrum rests on how to save the Polish pilot who was wounded as he descended from his airplane.  Most of the “Choir” members are committed to saving his life, no matter the cost and its is the pugnacious Gastaud who volunteers to operate on Bruno despite the fact she has never performed the type of operation that is needed.  With a lack of medical supplies, an acceptable site to operate, and the fear of the SS, the “Choir” takes the risks necessary to save the pilot.

Important relationships abound in the novel.  There is the haunting connection between Hauptmann and Countess Landini centering on his obsession with her palace which he seized and how she leads him on in the hope of providing misinformation that would work to the “Choirs” benefit.  Another is O’Flaherty and Landini’s bonding and how in another life they could have been more than wartime compatriots.  The commentary of John Moody, an American soldier, and a wisecracking charmer is priceless as O’Conner injects sarcasm and humor whenever possible. 

In terms of historical accuracy, O’Conner does an exceptional job producing the ambiance of wartime Rome, but also the characters of O’Flaherty and Hauptmann.  The Monsignor character as mentioned earlier is based on a historical figure.  The Hauptmann character is fictionalized, but the character itself is based on Herbert Kappler, a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. He served as head of German police and security services in Rome during the Second World War and was responsible for the Ardeatine massacre.  With the completion of volume two, O’Conner’s conclusion is useful as it creates further interest for the reader to continue on to the third volume as it is not clear in which direction O’Conner will go.  Volume one focused on Monsignor O’Flaherty, the second, Countess Landini, one wonders what or whom the emphasis will be on in volume number three.

(Irish author Joseph O’Connor at the Festival of Literature in Rome)

According to Alex Preston in his February 4, 2025, New York Times Book Review, “Escaping the Nazis, With Help From a Priest and a Countess,” O’Connor has often been likened to the great Irish modernists for the lyricism of his voice-driven novels. But “The Ghosts of Rome” — which despite being the second in the trilogy can be read as a stand-alone novel —also situates him within a broader European tradition of memory and moral reckoning, one that returns again and again to World War II.

O’Connor embraces this legacy while transcending its clichés. His Rome is not merely a setting but a crucible, a city where the sacred and the profane collide, where resilience is forged in the shadow of ruins. By crafting a chorus of voices, he ensures that no single narrative dominates, reflecting the messy, multifaceted truths of history — both the way it is lived and how it is constructed in retrospect. What emerges is not just a wartime thriller, though it is that, but a meditation on how we remember, how we resist and how, even in the darkest times, humanity endures.

(St. Peter’s Basillica, 1945)

(A portrait of Chaim Grade Image by Yehuda Blum)

In the tradition of Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer and his younger brother, Israel Joshua Singer, both Yiddish novelists, Chaim Grade last novel, SONS AND DAUGHTERS captures a way of life that no longer exists – the rich Yiddish culture of Poland and Lithuania of the 1930s that the Holocaust destroyed. The novel, which is finally available in English was originally serialized in the 1960s and 70s in two New York based Yiddish newspapers, dissects the lives of two Jewish families in early 1930s Poland torn apart by religious, cultural, and generational differences.

Grade who passed away in 1982 was one of the leading Yiddish novelists of the 20^th century.  His novel, RABBIS AND WIVES was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1983 and his last book was expertly translated by Rose Waldman from Yiddish to English.  SONS AND DAUGHTERS is a sprawling and eventful novel that takes place in the villages of Morehdalye and Zembin and depicts daily life as it unfolds among two families of rabbis that are splintering as they face the pressures of the modern world.  The rabbis, Sholem Shachne Katzenellenberg and Eli-Leizer Epstein possess wonderful reputations as Torah scholars and leaders of their communities.  Interestingly, Sholem Shachne is the son in law of Eli-Leizer, and both belong to different generations and beliefs of their children.  They differ in religious stridency, the grandfather is stricter, but in no means is the son in law lax, even though he is more lenient.  Both expect their sons to become rabbis, or at least Torah scholars, and their daughters to marry men of the same persuasion.  Grade is the perfect novelist to convey this type of story as he was raised Orthodox, studied in Yeshiva as a teenager, but developed a strong secular view of life.  Having lost his family in the Holocaust, he resettled in New York, remarried, and turned to fiction, writing in Yiddish.

The revolt by the younger generation against orthodox Judaism drives the novel’s plot, though Grade doesn’t forfeit his sympathy with old men who are trying to keep Judaism alive. The Sholem Shachne family is developed first as his children rebel against their religious upbringing.  In his discussion with his son in law, Yaakov Asher Kahane we learn how each child rebelled.  Bluma Rivtcha, perhaps the most attractive character in the novel, leaves home to attend nursing school in Vilna after her father fails to negotiate a successful arranged marriage.  Naftali Hertz, the eldest son ran away to study at a secular university in Switzerland, earning a doctorate in philosophy and married a Christian woman who gave birth to a son who was not circumcised.  Tilza, Sholem Shachne’s daughter is married to Kahane, but their marriage has issues as she does not want any more children with her husband as she rejects the life of a rebbetzin.  Bentzion leaves for Bialystok to study business, and the youngest son, Refael’ke wants to join the pioneer Zionists and run off to Palestine.  For their father there is a constant debate in his psyche as to the way his children have rejected the rabbinical life and what role he played in their decisions.  He possessed internal demons, and he had to admit to himself that he had not been successful in instilling in his children the sense and strength to rebuff the modern trends developing in Poland in the early 1930s.

Grade’s writing apart from dissecting the rabbinical community embodied in Jewish family life is also an ode to nature as he describes the weather, the leaves, the trees, the Nariv river, fruit, lush green foliage that surrounded his village.  Grade also describes inanimate objects with the same degree of detail and emotion, items like dishes, cups, glasses, figurines are all part of his approach.  Grade also discusses his characters with the same introspective scope he applies to nature and objects through the diverse personalities he presents which allows the reader to gain an understanding of the Orthodox Jewish world of the period.  In addition, we witness the arguments and disagreements between different rabbis and diverse individuals which at times reflects the similarities between the old world and the oncoming secular environment.

The Katzenellenbog family is at the center of the novel.  The travails brought on by some of the children are fully explored, but Grade integrates the lives of other families, particularly that of Eli-Leizer Epstein, the Zembin rabbi who refuses to allow Jews to travel on the sabbath or attend any form of entertainment.  The conversations between Sholem Shachne and Eli-Leizer are emblematic of the crisis in Judaism as it is confronted by an increasingly secular world.  Both feel betrayed by their children as they torture themselves in trying to rekindle old world beliefs among family members.

Grade does a marvelous job developing interesting characters who epitomize the crisis in Judaism but also the character traits of people who are not part of the rabbinical world.  Chavtche, one of Eli-Leizer’s four daughters despised her father’s third wife, Vigasia, who she believed was robbing her inheritance for her own sons.  Further, she lived off her sister, Sarah Raizel’s money, who had a fulltime job.  When Eli-Leizer wins a lottery much to Chavtche’s chagrin, he and Vigasia decide to devote the money to rebuild the Talmud Torah where orphans had been living in squalor.  Chavtche is a selfish and jealous person emitting the characteristics of many people. 

Refeal Leima is another sibling who left for the United States as he grew tired of the strict religious life fostered by his father and became a rabbi and Rosh Yeshiva of Chicago which practiced a less orthodox approach to Judaism.   Shabse Shepsel, Eli-Leizer’s eldest son suffered from what appears to be a manic-depressive personality with delusions of grandeur as he changed his avocation repeatedly.  He married Draizel Halberstadt because of her impressive dowry.  He would deplete her wealth with a number of faulty business decisions but would move back to Zembin and purchase a house near his father who he disrespected.  Grade uses his character as a vehicle to explain the religious dichotomy that exists throughout the novel.  In fact, Grade describes him as “half demon and half schlemiel.”   It seems that Shabse Shepsel is stalking his father and trying to humiliate him.  But in the contorted logic of the rabbinical student mind, he also defends his father in a dispute over the teachings of the Tarbus school, where one of the teachers described his father an “an old, senile dotard who expects Jews to sit with folded hands here in exile until the Messiah comes and redeems us.”  He further argued that the faithful hide behind their mezuzahs in the hopes it will protect them against the perpetrators of pogroms.  Shabse Shepsel’s dichotomy is on full display as he humiliates his father in private and defends him in front of his congregation leading Eli-Leizer to try and convince his son in Chicago to send for Shabse Shepsel if at all possible due to America’s stringent immigration quotas.

Grade creates a number of important characters apart from the two main rabbinical families.  We meet Rabbi Zalia Ziskind Luria, the head of the Silczer dynasty and father of the protagonist, Marcus Luria. He is described as an ascetic sage, burdened by the suffering of others and trying to keep Judaism alive in a world where the younger generation is rebelling against it. He is a complex character, portrayed with both sympathy and a sense of the harsh realities of the world he inhabits, seeming to absorb the pains of others as his own, reinforcing his depressive personality which fostered hatred on the part of his family.  Further, as a favor to his friend, Sholem Shachne he tutored Naftali Hertz at his yeshiva to try and reinforce Judaism, however, it failed, and he would soon flee for Switzerland where he failed to fully free himself from his intense Orthodox upbringing.   Marcus Luria, however, is a young man who also abandons his studies at rabbinical school after becoming wealthy in the stock market, signifying his rejection of his father’s traditional Jewish path. Marcus is seen as a pawn of trendy ideologies, who unlike his father embodies the younger generation’s revolt against traditional Judaism, and sees himself as a follower of Friedrich Nietzsche, and eventually turns to communism.  Lastly, Grade introduces Khlavneh Yeshurin, an aspiring Yiddish poet, seemingly modeled on himself.  Khlavneh is the fiancé of Sholem Shachne’s daughter Bluma Rivtcha and strongly believes that secular Yiddishists like himself hadn’t rejected Judaism, but rather, they understand religion and Jewish folklife differently than their predecessors.

It is clear from Grade’s portrayal of Judaic Polish society with its petty jealousies, fervent scholars, crooked businessmen, class consciousness, dysfunctional families, constant conflict between religious and secular issues, fears of political movements, in this case Zionism in actuality mirror the same types of conflicts that exist among people in the gentile world.  As a former Yeshiva student, Grade was well trained in the art of Talmudic debate.  Unlike the first half of the novel, which describes the horrible reality the Polish Jews will face on the eve of the Holocaust, the second half of the novel accentuates the philosophical which is highlighted by arguments between Naftali Hertz and Khlavneh.  It is in the protracted philosophical arguments that the author’s talents dominate.

(Jewish Street in Opatów, 1930s. Photo credit: the collection of J. Brudkowski)

One of the characterizations of the rabbinical world that Grade describes concerns Dwight Garner’s label that SONS AND DAUGHTERS is a beard novel.  Writing in his New York Times book review of March 30, 2025, Garner states; It’s a great beard novel. The emphatic facial hair possessed by Grade’s rabbis and Torah scholars curls luxuriously around the margins of nearly every page. Here is a typical sentence: “Eli-Leizer’s mustache was still moist from the meal, and some dairy farfel noodles stuck to his beard.” And: “Avraham Alter Katzenellenbogen’s beard hung stiffly from his chin to his waist, as if it were made of porcelain like a seder plate.  Who can trust these new, clean-shaven, Americanized rabbis? The greats of the Torah had beards so bushy they could hold water.”

The issue of how to raise one’s children emerges in numerous discussions.  Sholem Shachne’s wife, Henna’le complains to her husband that had he been more flexible his children would not have run away.  He wonders: “where they disobeying him because he slapped them too frequently, or because he hadn’t slapped them enough?”  The doubts and inner thoughts of parents reflect this dichotomy which can be applied to modern children as well as rabbinical ones.  Other issues that Grade integrates into the novel include the role of Zionism in Palestine, the ideas of Marx and Nietzsche, the allure of America, arranged marriages, the selling of kosher and non-kosher clothing, the overcrowding in rabbinical homes, what do trees tell us, and the beauty of certain foods.  All are part of an intense examination of the orthodox world but also told with a great deal of humor.  What stands out is a remark by Naftali Hertz who ruminates on children who have been bequeathed an inheritance which is basically growing up in a shtetl, and its impact on their lives which in the end is why they desert their family and home.

As the book begins to wind down, parents and children begin to soften toward each other, but since Grade never finished volume two of the novel (it was to be written in two parts) we do not know how the familial tensions were resolved.  But at the same time modernity cannot be stopped as Jewish socialist youth groups parade through villages, and more concerning, anti-Semitic Polish nationalists mount a successful boycott against Jewish merchants across the region.

In her article describing SONS AND DAUGHTERS appearing in the April 2025 edition of The Atlantic Judith Shulevitz relates that “Toward the end of the book, Grade unites life and fiction in the character of a lapsed yeshiva bocher (student) named Khlavneh who has become a Yiddish poet. He is the fiancé of Sholem Shachne’s daughter, the one who went to Vilna to study nursing. Lest we fail to grasp that Khlavneh is a self-portrait, Grade drops hints. The daughter, for instance—an attractive, spirited woman, perhaps the most appealing figure in the novel—is named Bluma Rivtcha, a rhyming echo of Frumme-Liebe, the name of Grade’s murdered first wife, also a nurse and also the daughter of a rabbi.  Bluma Rivtcha brings Khlavneh home to meet the family. Over Shabbos dinner, the brother who moved to Switzerland and no longer observes Jewish laws ridicules him for writing poetry in “jargon”—that is, Yiddish, the bastard language of the uneducated Jew, “a common person, an ignoramus, a boor”—rather than in Hebrew, and for thinking that he and his fellow Yiddish writers could capture the spirit and poetry of Jewish life without following Jewish law themselves. Khlavneh refutes the brother in a brilliant show of erudition, then concludes: “You hate the jargon boys and girls because they have the courage to be different from their fathers and grandfathers, even to wage battles with their fathers and grandfathers, and yet, they don’t run away from home. The father, who everyone thinks will be offended by a guest’s outburst at the Sabbath table, laughs in delight. Grade, having fashioned a world in which the old fights mattered, now gets to win them.”

Rose Waldman, the translator provides interesting insides in her note at the end of the novel.  She describes Gade’s personal dilemma as he experiences “the tension between his desire to live and write like a secular human being in a modern world and the constant nostalgic pull of his Yeshiva past, the traditional Jewish Vilna of his youth.”  For Grade sees himself as “a thoroughly ancient Jew, while the man inside me wants to be thoroughly modern.  This is my calamity, plain and simple, a struggle I cannot win.”  This dichotomy is pervasive throughout the novel.  Waldman does the reader an important service by tracing the history of the novel’s preparation for publication and the difficulties that arose due to the fact that it was incomplete.  Grade was prepared to write a two volume novel but never completed the second volume.  However, the translator discovered some of Grade’s ideas for the second book and its ending, which she includes in her note which provides the reader with a semblance of a conclusion.

The tortuous rabbinical arguments are on full display throughout the novel as the characters dissect the Torah, Mishna, and Gemora, and other sacred texts of Judaism as they apply them to their modern situations.  These commentaries can appear to be provincial but in their day were the rule of law and every yeshiva bocha (which I was one in the 1950s and 60s!) must conform to.  In the end Grade’s novel overflows with humanity and heartbreaking emotions for a world, once full of life with all of its contradictions, that within a decade of the novel’s setting would be destroyed forever.

In closing, Grade never mentions the coming Holocaust in the book, however its future existence is felt on every page.  According to Yossi Newfield in his February 24, 2025 review in the Yiddish newspaper, Forward;  “In some sense, SONS AND DAUGHTERS can be considered a Holocaust memorial, as the events it describes foreshadow the upcoming annihilation of Polish Jewry. It is this tragic awareness that animates Grade’s questioning and demand for answers from the rabbinic establishment, from the Torah, and from God himself.”

(Chaim Grade wrote “Sons and Daughters” during the 1960s and ’70s.Credit…YIVO Institute for Jewish Research)

(German East African Campaign. A halt on the march from Kisaki to Rufiji River, January 1917. Nigerian Brigade)

Any novel that begins with the following scene has to be an attention grabber and a prelude to a superb example of historical fiction.  “What do you think would happen, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt asked his son Kermit, if I shot an elephant in the balls?  Father, Kermit said, keeping a straight face, I think it would hurt a great deal.”  The former president was with his son on a train on June 6, 1914, in Dar-es-Salaam in German East Africa.  Maybe it is more my “demented” nature, but I thought this opening was quite comical and interesting.  The novel I am speaking about is William Boyd’s AN ICE-CREAM WAR which presents an anti-war message as he explores England and East Africa, the homes of interesting characters whose interactions make the novel enjoyable.

Those who have any knowledge of Theodore Roosevelt’s post-presidency will not be surprised by his presence with his son on a big game hunting expedition in Africa.  Walter Smith, an American, arrived in Africa in 1909 after responding to a Smithsonian Institution advertisement for a manager to run and organize a hunting and specimen collection trip to Africa and would be in charge of Roosevelt’s adventure.  Interestingly, during the expedition Smith dreamt that he found Kermit shot his father in the back.  This nightmare spurred Smith to return to his farm near Kilimanjaro in British East Africa, near the small town of Tavela, a former mission station.

(A colonial Askari company ready to march in German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika), 1914-1918)

In developing his novel Boyd easily captures the ambiance of colonial rule in Africa.  The poor housing, except for the rich Britons and Germans, lack of roads, the role of the military,  the inherent poverty, and the use of local labor in a quasi-slave situation, all endemic to colonialism.  Boyd does well with historical fiction as he nicely blends the major events of the period, the road to World War I, and what took place on the battlefield, concentrating on East Africa, a border area of present-day Kenya and Tanzania, but with repeated reference to battles in Europe.

Boyd’s writing is a blend of sardonic humor, sarcasm, and seriousness hidden amongst the dialogue and the offshoot of the war in Europe that bled over to the African continent.  Some of the scenes border on the absurd and black reigns at times, but there is an underlying gravity to the events depicted and the reaction of the characters.  An example of humor is clear as Gabriel Cobb, the son of a conservative military type who owns the Stackpole plantation marries Charis, his fiancé upon her return from India.  He has no idea why he married her, and Boyd’s description of their honeymoon is both poignant and hilarious.  One week after the wedding, Gabriel is assigned to be part of the Indian Expeditionary Force “B” set to invade German East Africa as World War I breaks out in the summer of 1914.  Another example is when Gabriel’s younger brother becomes infatuated with his Oxford roommates’ sister.  The problem is that Felix has a cold sore on his lip that won’t go away, and his amorous advances are rejected in a chapter that focuses on Felix’s “lip” situation and final rebuff.

The absurdity of war is carefully laid out by Boyd as the British invade the village of Tanga and its environs.  Orders were either not received or when they were finally issued were not very clear.  The racism endemic to the empire is on full display as British forces are made up of black Africans, Indian, South African, and British soldiers who suffer from a strong element of superiority.  As Gabriel’s comments about Rajput Sepoys never being in the places they were supposed to be, and many ran away with the first sounds of German guns and artillery reflected.  The British gave orders in English and many of their allies spoke only their native tongues making for interesting communication on the battlefield.

Boyd explores British society and focuses on the obligations men feel when it comes to war.  Gabriel immediately does his duty and is sent to Africa, but his younger brother, Felix is rejected because of weak eyesight which is humiliating for him.  He decides to attend Oxford as a means of getting away from Stackpole and embarrassment in that he is not able to fight.  His father, Colonel Cobb, is not happy with his son and tells him that at times he is worthless.  Felix’s roommate at Oxford, Philip Holland also is rejected by the military and suffers the same feelings of inadequacy – for him Oxford is also an escape from being with people who look down upon him.

Boyd creates three separate storylines which amazingly come full circle toward the end of the novel.  First, Walter Smith and his spouse Matilda’s farm is seized by the British army for the war effort, and we follow his attempts to protect it and his interactions with his German neighbor across the border in German East Africa.  Second, is Major Cobb and his two sons and the divergent paths each takes, particularly Gabriel who will be severely wounded early in his deployment.  Third, the von Bishops, Erich and Leisl.  Erich, a German officer, had always had his eyes on the Smith farm, and the war provided an opportunity to take it from the British and incorporate valuable machinery onto his own property.  Interestingly, Leisl who is bored by her marriage volunteers at a German hospital and there she meets a new patient, Gabriel Cobb.

A number of situations stand out.  Charis is not happy how her short honeymoon evolved and winds up having an affair with Felix and it will lead to interesting consequences.  Walter Smith became an advisor to the British military since he his geographical knowledge of the region was so valuable.  Finally in February 1916 the British made their move against the Germans at Salaita.  During the fighting Smith leaves the battlefield to check on his farm.  Upon arriving he experiences a horrible smell, and it seems that German troops have defecated all over his house and other buildings, dug up the grave of his daughter, in addition to stealing his expensive Decorticator machine which he could not run his farm without.  Erich von Bishop is responsible.

Charis like many women had married right before their husbands were shipped out to fight.  For many, they really did not know their partners very well which more than likely would lead to marriage difficulties upon their return – if they returned.  The loneliness of these women would lead many of these women to engage in affairs while not knowing if their husbands were alive or dead.  In Charis’ case it would lead to a fateful decision.

Boyd exposes the acute skepticism concerning the war in Africa as more men died of disease caused by unsanitary conditions, lack of food, and poisoning.  Others would succumb to their wounds because of the lack of proper medical care and supplies.  Many would contract PTSD which would lead to numerous complications for those conducting the war.

(Map of the proposed Mittelafrika with German territory in yellow)

The author develops a series of important characters that dominate the story.  Major Cobb, the family patriarch at Stackpole is an ornery man who is a tight fisted individual who possesses little empathy, and each day reads bible verses to his family.  Walter Smith is a well meaning American who settled in East Africa who is obsessed with expanding his farm.  Erich von Bishop has a typical German mentality in that he wants to expand his farm, and his target is “Smithville” across the border.  Of course, there is the relationship between Gabriel and Felix which dominates the story.  These and other characters set the background for Boyd’s real purpose – examine warfare, how people cope with wartime and interact with each other to survive.  The most interesting relationships revolve around the Cobb brothers who love and respect each other, but the outbreak of war changes their dynamic.  Gabriel will spend three years in a German hospital as a patient and then assisting others as he gathers intelligence for when the British army will arrive.  Felix is the opposite of his brother, but by 1917 the British were desperate for bodies to fight so they accepted him as an officer.  He is sent to Africa, and his major goal is to find his brother before he receives a letter from his bride.

Boyd explores a range of human emotions throughout the novel.  Guilt, infatuation, greed, and desire dominate the actions of the major characters.  He will bring together some of these characters in an ingenious manner as they all seem to wind up in East Africa.  Michael Gorra in his February 27, 1983, New York Times book review sums up the importance of the novel and his evaluation of the author.   He writes; “In its treatment of its central theme, it fulfills the ambition of the historical novel at its best: to comprehend the past, not as the colorful backdrop to a costume drama, but as the controlling force in the lives of its characters. Such novels rarely have pleasant things to say about any individual’s position in the large scheme of the world, and ”An Ice-Cream War” is no exception. Its characters – the survivors in particular – are mercilessly knocked about by the force of historical circumstance: by the war, by the problems of commanding men whose culture they do not understand and whose language they do not even speak, by the influenza epidemic that followed immediately upon the Armistice. But Mr. Boyd sees even domestic life, as Gabriel’s and Felix’s mother sees her marriage, ”as a relentless challenge, an unending struggle against appalling adverse conditions to get her own way.” That bleak comic vision suggests the early Evelyn Waugh, and ”An Ice-Cream War” is a good enough novel, for all its flaws, to persuade me that Mr. Boyd, who was born in 1952, may someday write a great one.”

(Advance on Kilimanjaro)

In the opening scene of Joseph Kanon’s latest novel, SHANGHAI, people are crowding on the dock to board the Raffaello, a ship out of Nazi Germany.  Following the destruction, violence, and death against Jews during Kristallnacht in November 1938 it was becoming clear as to what Hitler’s ultimate goal was – the Jews had no choice but to try and get out.  The question was where to go – even if you were able to acquire the proper paperwork.  If you were lucky enough to obtain the necessary documents to leave Germany you would have to relinquish all of your property and possessions by a devalued sale or outright seizure.  You would only be allowed to take some clothing and ten Reichsmarks out of the country.

For Daniel Lohr, whose father Eli, a judge was murdered at Sachsenhausen concentration camp it was time to leave.  He was asked by Leah Auerbach; a person he met on the crowded dock why he was going to China?  His terse answer was “It is not here.”

(Aerial view of department stores on Nanking Road in Shanghai, 1930, via Jack Ephgrave Collection, Historical Photographs of China)

For thousands of desperate people in the 1930s, this Chinese metropolis was a last resort. Most countries and cities had restricted entry for Jews trying to flee violent persecution by Nazi Germany. Not Shanghai, however. This multicultural oasis – that included British, French, American, Russian and Iraqi residents – was among the very few places Jewish refugees were guaranteed to be accepted, with no visa required.

Despite Shanghai being more than 435 miles from their homes in Germany, Poland and Austria, more than 20,000 stateless Jews fled to China’s largest city to escape the Holocaust between 1933 and 1941. Shanghai was not just a safe haven. It was also a modern city with an established community of Russian Jews.

At first, life in Shanghai was peaceful for its newest residents. The Jewish refugees were welcomed by Shanghai residents, and they created a strong community with schools and a vibrant social scene.   What the refugees couldn’t foresee was they would travel across the globe only to fall into the clutches of the Nazis’ most powerful ally. In 1941, Japan seized Shanghai. Acting under instruction from the Nazis, Japanese troops rounded up all of the city’s Jews and confined them in Tilanqiao. Shanghai’s Jewish ghetto was established.

(Blood Alley in Shanghai, 1937 via Malcolm Rosholt Collection, Historical Photographs of China)

Kannon’s effort reads as if we are watching the film, “Casablanca” as everything seems to have an undercurrent as relationships keep shifting and with it events.  For the characters who arrive in Shanghai, they soon realize that Shanghai, the corrupt, violent city with an underclass of Chinese, and Europeans who are living out their dreams are now faced with the Japanese threat as at anytime they can take over the city.

Daniel is lucky because his Uncle Nathan is a character with an empathetic side and a gangster side which at times is difficult to determine which dominates his actions.  In this case he sends the necessary funds and first class passage on one of the great Lloyds of London ships, making the arrangements for Daniel to escape Berlin.  Aboard ship he will meet two of the dominant characters in the story, Leah Auerbach, a beautiful woman who he will fall in love with, and Colonel Yamada, a Japanese attached to the Kempeitai, the Japanese version of the Gestapo.

The book reflects the author’s historical knowledge as throughout the ongoing Sino-Japanese war continues, the fact that Chiang Kai-Shek and his Kuomintang refuse to fight the Japanese, holding back American aid and pressure focusing on the coming Civil War with Mao Zedong and the Communists, and the seamy side of what Shanghai is and will develop into further.  Kannon’s historical reflections are accurate and give the story a high degree of authenticity.

(Du Yuesheng (right), the godfather of the underworld in 1930s Shanghai, via China.org)

Kannon’s description of Shanghai is fascinating as it is unlike any other area of China.  Its European waterfront, neoclassical banks and office towers, and art deco hotels reflected its commercial swagger much like Liverpool, Trieste, and other western cities with its sleek new cars, trams, and Department stores.  However, the underside of the city cannot be hidden with coolies, old men in silk robes, beggars, gangsters, the presence of Japanese warships, and the drive for profit in the guise of a commercial entertainment sector dominating –  this is not a typical European city.

Upon arriving it is clear Uncle Nathan wants to bring Daniel into his business operations – nightclubs, prostitution, laundering money, and other avocations.  Their relationship is a key component of the plot as Daniel slowly is absorbed into his uncles’ world but always keeping a moral compass when possible.  Obviously in this type of environment payoffs, protection money, murder are a daily occurrence.  The term that is used is the “squeeze,” as Nathan and other businessmen must share their profits with the various gangs and their leaders.  In Nathan’s case he is in business with gang leaders like Xi Ling who is in competition with another gangster, Wu Tsai.  Daniel will soon learn the ropes, be educated by his uncle and more importantly become a player in the corrupt night club world, even doing business with Colonel Yamada, who has his eyes on Leah.

The main characters are somewhat formulaic, but that does not distract from the novel.  Colonel Yamada is a Japanese militarist and a hood; Uncle Nathan is like a cat with nine lives; Daniel, starts out somewhat naïve, but soon becomes a major force in his own right; Leah is just trying to survive employing any assets at her disposal; Selden Loomis, the gossip columnist at the North China Tribune who seemed to know everything; and Irina, Nathan’s former lover and loyal bookkeeper are all impactful.

(Cathay Hotel bombing in Shanghai, 1937 via Archibald Lang Collection Historical Photographs of China)

Shanghai can best be described as an oasis protecting people from the ever expanding World War.  The problem is how long will this haven last with the coming Japanese aggression to implement its Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere to dominate Asia, and its alliance with Nazi Germany.  The question that dominates the constantly shifting story of relationships and human depravity is when will Japan shut the door on Shanghai as they have already begun assassinating Chinese Communists and some Europeans who would be a problem once they take control.

Kannon has written a thriller with many layers.  In part, a gangster story, in part a love story that slowly develops between Daniel and Leah, Chinese violence and corruption, and lastly, Japanese ruthlessness.  Daniel’s past is an interesting one in that he left from Trieste to travel to Shanghai due to the fact he had fled Berlin after his group of Jewish resistance fighters had been killed or were being tortured by the Nazis.  His background will reappear in Shanghai under the guise of Dr. Karl Markowski who was one of his compatriots in Berlin.  Kannon has chosen the perfect location for intrigue, danger, and treacherous political dynamics as the International Settlement which he presents contains Europeans, British, Americans, who are trying to do business amid warring gangs in the city.  As Daniel becomes stuck deeper and deeper in the abyss that is crooked and murderous Chinese, and Colonel Yamada, his options become limited and he realizes he must get Leah out of the city, and once Nathan passes after a heart attack he must leave also.

The strength of Kannon’s novel is adroit plot development. With a myriad of twists and turns appropriate for the time period in which the novel takes place.   Returning readers of Kannon’s past novels, and new readers will be entertained and should enjoy a gripping plot.