The Women in the Castle

Shattuck, Jessica

ISBN 10: 0062834460 ISBN 13: 9780062834461

Publisher: Harperaudio, 2018

Synopsis

Three women, haunted by the past and the secrets they hold

Set at the end of World War II, in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of German high society, a powerful and propulsive story of three widows whose lives and fates become intertwined—an affecting, shocking, and ultimately redemptive novel from the author of the New York Times Notable Book The Hazards of Good Breeding.

Amid the ashes of Nazi Germany’s defeat, Marianne von Lingenfels returns to the once-grand castle of her husband’s ancestors, an imposing stone fortress now fallen into ruin following years of war. The widow of a resister murdered in the failed July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Marianne plans to uphold the promise she made to her husband’s brave conspirators: to find and protect their wives, her fellow resistance widows.

First Marianne rescues six-year-old Martin, the son of her dearest childhood friend, from a Nazi reeducation home. Together, they make their way across the smoldering wreckage of their homeland to Berlin, where Martin’s mother, the beautiful and naive Benita, has fallen into the hands of occupying Red Army soldiers. Then she locates Ania, another resister’s wife, and her two boys, now refugees languishing in one of the many camps that house the millions displaced by the war.

As Marianne assembles this makeshift family from the ruins of her husband’s resistance movement, she is certain their shared pain and circumstances will hold them together. But she quickly discovers that the black-and-white, highly principled world of her privileged past has become infinitely more complicated, filled with secrets and dark passions that threaten to tear them apart. Eventually, all three women must come to terms with the choices that have defined their lives before, during, and after the war—each with their own unique share of challenges.

Written with the devastating emotional power of The Nightingale, Sarah’s Key, and The Light Between Oceans, Jessica Shattuck’s evocative and utterly enthralling novel offers a fresh perspective on one of the most tumultuous periods in history. Combining piercing social insight and vivid historical atmosphere, The Women in the Castle is a dramatic yet nuanced portrait of war and its repercussions that explores what it means to survive, love, and, ultimately, to forgive in the wake of unimaginable hardship.

About this title

Review

'In the wake of the second world war, the widow of a resistor to the Nazi regime offers her home to fellow resistance widows- only to find they may be hiding the truth about their part in the regime'. (The Bookseller)

very moving and a compelling read. An excellent book and I thoroughly recommend it. This isn't just a story about war, whatever side you were on, but is about human beings and their power of forgiveness. (Nudge Books)

This is an astonishingly powerful story...so well written and an important and absorbing story set around one of the most horrific times in history. Highly recommended. (Books and Me)

Shattuck creates three dynamic and complex characters. Completely engrossing, with unforgettable characters, The Women in the Castle is a must read. (Historical Novel Society)

This is an astonishingly powerful story that follows 3 women - Benita, Marianne and Ania - and how their lives are affected before, during and after the 2nd World War in Germany. All of the women face their own personal battles and the author captures brilliantly the position that they are put in, as those around them disappear and new ways of life are forced upon them. (Books and Me)

This book is an astounding piece of work. This book is so thought provoking, insightful, brutal and brilliantly told. I'm fascinated with this era having studied it in depth, but this is the first real text that I've read from the point of the surviving Germans. I urge you to read this astonishing work by Shattuck. (Bookaholics Refuge)

You might think that all the WWII stories have been told by now, yet this novel feels fresh and revelatory. I found it both melancholy and hopeful, with strong characters and a haunting atmosphere (Bookish Beck)

Book Description

Three German women are haunted by the past and their secrets, in the devastating aftermath of WWII. A mesmerising story of resistance, forgiveness and the complexity of the human heart.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harperaudio
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0062834460
• ISBN 13: 9780062834461
• Binding: Audio CD