The once rich Von Globigs live in run-down grandeur on the Georgenhof estate, an old shambles of a place not far from the eastern front, bracing itself against the bitterness of a terrible winter. All in all a very professionally constructed novel offering us a story well told.It follows the fortunes of a family in East Prussia, between January and May 1945. This is a good read, well translated, with each narrative line coming to some form of conclusion.
There cannot be many other novels which can offer such a view of Germany in 1945. Each character inserting a sardonic ‘Heil Hitler’ in greetings, which provides a smile of amusement as we read about how a family survives and endeavours to gain a future as the Nazi regime implodes. This is an unusual story which provides an illuminating view of German life under Hitler. The ever present threat of the Russian invasion plays through the book and as events unroll each individual’s life is affected and we follow the primary characters as their lives lead differing sometimes inter-connecting paths towards an uncertain future. Mitkau, the local town, it’s Mayor and the new housing settlement across the road from the Georgenhof, where local party official Drygaliski interferes in everybody’s life, including those at the family Estate all add the intrigue to the plot. This single act proves their undoing, though initially she finds the adventure a thrill. Their lives take a dramatic change after Katharina agrees to help the local pastor and provide overnight refuge for a man. They enjoy a reasonable quality of life considering the Third Reich is collapsing and each story-line reveals more of the lives of the estate’s household. The book opens with episodes of the family receiving and entertaining a few passers-by who also appear briefly in the closing sections of the story. We are introduced to each member and also have an overview of the servants lives and their forays and affairs across the road to socialise in a workers camp. Auntie from Silesia runs the house aided by immigrant servants. His wife, Katharina is a quiet lady who locks herself away in her room while Peter, aged 12, their only surviving child, avoids the Hitler youth. Whilst the main characters are the Van Glubig family, their story evolves in their ancestral estate, Georgenhof.įather Eberhard, is away, based in Italy in a military support roll.
“This novel set in East Prussia in January 1945, and translated from the German, tells an unusual story, or at least for British readers. Alison's bookshop > Ian’s Read & Recommended > “All for Nothing” by Walter Kempowski “All for Nothing” by Walter Kempowski
0 kommentar(er)
