April 2017

I have often wondered what life was like in Germany after World War II. We know of the Nazis and those who joined the resistance, but what happened when those descriptive words no longer defined the day-to-day lives of people? In THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE, Jessica Shattuck tells the stories of three of these women, as they picked up their lives after the war.

The book opens in an ancient castle in Germany where Marianne von Lingenfels, the widow of Albrecht von Lingenfels, is living. He was a resistor who was executed for his role in the plot to assassinate Hitler. When the call to war was building, Marianne pledged that she would look after the women and children of those who were part of the resistance should anything untoward happen to the men.

She takes this role seriously following leads to track down displaced families on her list to take them under her care. Readers are taken on her journey as she searches and finds both Benita Fledermann and her son Martin, and Ania Grabarek and her two sons. As Germany reels from the destruction the war has wrought, the women live together in the castle, rebuilding their lives, united by a common tragedy.

But each of these women harbors secrets of what happened before and during the war, and these secrets have the power to undo the bond between them. Shattuck peels back their stories and gets us well beneath the façade that has been created, and in doing so gives readers a solid view of the complexities that came when the war ended. While the fighting stopped, there were deep scars inflicted on even those who never picked up a weapon in battle. Decisions made in the moment had far-reaching consequences, as did old loyalties.

While these women shared something in common, they experienced the war in very different ways. THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE is a page-turning read as the characters and settings are so well drawn and descriptive. Once I finished reading it, I longed to discuss it with others. It would be a brilliant book for a book group discussion.