This never-before-translated masterpiece—by a heroic best-selling writer who saw his life crumble when he wouldn’t join the Nazi Party—is based on a true story.
It presents a richly detailed portrait of life in Berlin under the Nazis and tells the sweeping saga of one working-class couple who decides to take a stand when their only son is killed at the front. With nothing but their grief and each other against the awesome power of the Reich, they launch a simple, clandestine resistance campaign that soon has an enraged Gestapo on their trail, and a world of terrified neighbors and cynical snitches ready to turn them in.
In the end, it’s more than an edge-of-your-seat thriller, more than a moving romance, even more than literature of the highest order—it’s a deeply stirring story of two people standing up for what’s right, and for each other.
Hans Fallada came up in our discussion of In the Garden of Beasts by Larson and I think his book will make an interesting read both in terms of what happened at the time and speaking to the question of how the “non important” person protests what is being done in society by those with more power.
We will meet to discuss the book on January 24th at 3:00. Stop by the library for a copy of the book and plan to join us then.
