The novel opens in a Bavarian castle in 1938, where Marianne
von Lingenfels is hosting a party with her husband, Albrecht (whose family owns
the castle). Her childhood friend, Connie, is there, with his new – very young
– wife, Benita, whom Marianne is meeting for the first time. Despite the
frivolity, guests are distracted by the Nazi regime and the new war, as Hitler
sets his sights on Poland.
From there, the narrative jumps to 1945, after the war has
ended and Germany is left in piles of rubble. Marianne and her children are
back in the castle, which is also in poor shape after the years of fighting.
Albrecht and Connie were both killed in the war, after a failed attempt to
assassinate Hitler. For her part, Marianne promised the brave men involved in
the resistance movement and the assassination plot to do her best to protect
their wives and children. So, she goes about the difficult task of trying to
locate them, from a list she has kept.
She first tracks down Martin, Connie and Benita’s son, in an
orphanage and then finds Benita herself, who was in the hands of the Russian
army in Berlin. With those two in tow, they head back to the castle and set
about trying to make a new life for themselves and heal from their various
traumas. Soon, Marianne also locates Ania and her two sons, and the ragtag
group forms something of a family.
The story follows each of the women and their children in
those post-war years, as they try to move forward while hiding shameful secrets
from the war. Some chapters flash back to their earlier lives so that the
reader gradually gets a more complete picture of each woman. Marianne herself
starts out as a very confident and certain woman, seeing the world in black and
white, but gradually, her views are softened a bit by her experiences with the
other women. The audiobook was very well done, with a German-accented narrator
adding authenticity, though you have to pay careful attention to the changes in
location and date.
This is an engrossing novel that follows the women and
children from 1938 all the way through to present day. Like any war novel,
there are many horrifying things that happen to the characters, but the story
is mainly focused on healing and moving forward. With its focus on women and
WWII and its span of many decades, The
Women in the Castle reminded me somewhat of The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, which I just read in November,
though that book concentrates on women’s roles during the war, while this one
mainly deals with the years after the war. It was an eye-opening and engaging
look at the different ways that women in Germany coped with the aftermath of
the war and put their lives back together – a perspective not often examined. I'm looking forward to meeting the author.
368 pages, William Morrow
HarperAudio
You can listen to an audio sample at the Amazon link below:
I really enjoyed this book, too! I have yet to read The Nightingale--I was supposed to read it this month for my book club, but I just couldn't handle a sad book right now so I stuck it back in the TBR....
ReplyDeleteI hear ya, Melinda - I've kind of overdone the WWII novels recently - definitely need a break! They are usually excellent...but can be tough to read.
DeleteBoy this looks good; I like that it is a different view of the war/post-war era. I'm adding it to my list
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy it!
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