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jennifer_mangieri 's review for:
The Women in the Castle
by Jessica Shattuck
It's remarkable to me that there's anything more to be written about World War II in the historical novel format. But this checked off a very specific box related to the immediate post-war period.
The women: Marianne, Benita, and Ania are brought together in the immediate aftermath of the war. Marianne is from a wealthy German family of near-nobility, and "the castle" belongs to her through her late husband's family. Because of the castle's situation, the Allies want to use it in the immediate post-war years, and they get to do so because Germany is the defeated nation, and it's in one of the Allied Zones of control. While the women are dealing with the issues they already have related to widowhood, survival, and traumatization, they also find themselves hosting Nazi prisoners who are put to work on their land while the Allies figure out what to do with them.
The novel skips around in time a bit - "back story" of the years leading up to the war; war-time; post-war, & finally some 1990s when some of the women & some of their children are reunited. The way the timeline is done is effective & adds to the suspense.
Marianne, Benita & Ania are all portrayed as flawed women, who all did things they weren't proud of. It's easy to put people in "good or evil" boxes, and I enjoy novels that force me to look at gray areas and morally relative choices.
I've done my share of history classes and read books about World War II in plenty, but I never learned much of anything about the German Resistance. I also never thought deeply about the immediate post-war period or the massive movement of people that happened as civilians tried to flee the bombed out cities, escape the last of the desperate Nazis, or find missing family members; as Germany was divided into American, French and Eastern Zones; as German soldiers were trying to go underground & get back to their families or were released from Russian prisons; as Russian soldiers tried to get back east or were released from German prisons. All of that is really brought to life in this novel.
The women: Marianne, Benita, and Ania are brought together in the immediate aftermath of the war. Marianne is from a wealthy German family of near-nobility, and "the castle" belongs to her through her late husband's family. Because of the castle's situation, the Allies want to use it in the immediate post-war years, and they get to do so because Germany is the defeated nation, and it's in one of the Allied Zones of control. While the women are dealing with the issues they already have related to widowhood, survival, and traumatization, they also find themselves hosting Nazi prisoners who are put to work on their land while the Allies figure out what to do with them.
The novel skips around in time a bit - "back story" of the years leading up to the war; war-time; post-war, & finally some 1990s when some of the women & some of their children are reunited. The way the timeline is done is effective & adds to the suspense.
Marianne, Benita & Ania are all portrayed as flawed women, who all did things they weren't proud of. It's easy to put people in "good or evil" boxes, and I enjoy novels that force me to look at gray areas and morally relative choices.
I've done my share of history classes and read books about World War II in plenty, but I never learned much of anything about the German Resistance. I also never thought deeply about the immediate post-war period or the massive movement of people that happened as civilians tried to flee the bombed out cities, escape the last of the desperate Nazis, or find missing family members; as Germany was divided into American, French and Eastern Zones; as German soldiers were trying to go underground & get back to their families or were released from Russian prisons; as Russian soldiers tried to get back east or were released from German prisons. All of that is really brought to life in this novel.