A review by janetlweller
Motherland by Maria Hummel

3.0

This novel tells a World War II story from the perspective of non-Jewish Germans living in the heart of Nazi Germany. It certainly asks the question what did ordinary Germans know, I am not so sure that the author makes the case that they really knew as little as she seems to say. If you leave out that quibble (which I feel is a pretty big one), it is a very engrossing story of a family during war. Lisel is the second wife of Frank (his first died in childbirth), and while he is working as a doctor near the front, she struggles to raise his three young sons. The story alternates between Frank and Lisel, and I found Lisel's story much more compelling. It is a very fascinating story, and apparently based on some letters belonging to the author's grandfather, but I was not so convinced that this family (especially Frank) knew as little as he claimed he did.