In a split second, a young girl’s life is changed. Margarete Rosenbaum, a maltreated Jewish maid, takes advantage of the results of an Allied bombing of Berlin to become Annegret Huber, the spoiled daughter of her employer, an upper class Nazi family. As Margaret climbs out of the rubble of her past life, she encounters the body of Annegret and, in a split second decision, takes her papers and her clothing, thus beginning a dangerous life of impersonation, The young girls and women who were admitted there were forced to carry out manual labour while heavily pregnant, give birth alone, and of course, most cruelly; breastfeed and bond with their babies before having them stolen from them and adopted out to wealthy families. They then had to remain in these homes for three years to “repay” the Catholic Church for their stay, unless a family member could cover their costs for them. I enjoyed this book, except at times the writing was choppy and hard to follow. There's also some swearing in it, but not so much or else I wouldn't have finished it. Berlin, 1941: The story opens with a bang - quite literally - an air raid on the city sees the Hubers scrambling to the safety of their cellar. An officer of high standing within the SS, Huber and his wife along with their daughter Annegret push their maid aside in an attempt to save themselves without sparing a thought for her. And why would they? She was nothing but a dirty Jew, employed as a housemaid to undertake their every whim and every chore...ableit unpaid. Her life meant nothing to the superior greatness of the German people. Was one person's life worth more than another one's? And who got to decide which person was allowed to live?"

Then one night in my mind’s eye I saw an Episcopal priest walking down the street. I decided to follow him and see where he went. Well, he went to a dog named Barnabas, they went to a boy named Dooley, and the story unfolded before me. Instead of me driving the story, the story began to drive me! I got interested, wrote a couple of chapters, and there you have it. ETA 2023: I think I paid more attention this time to Father Tim and Cynthia's love story. Each of them was afraid (in different ways) to fall in love. She, because she had been hurt big time when her then-husband had a series of affairs. He, because he had been single all his life and was afraid of sharing his heart and his inner life with someone else. I could identify with both. The older we get, the more difficult (for me at least) it looks to share life with another person. I've been divorced for 22 years, and lived alone for 12. I can't imagine how it would be to try to integrate another person into my life, or me into theirs. And having been abused and severely hurt during my marriage, I don't think I have enough trust to allow someone else to know me again. So it was with understanding that I watched these two characters struggle to give up their fears and take a chance on love again. Many people don’t like to talk about their faith. Why? Why do you think it is socially permissible to discuss sexual behavior, income, politics, and other highly personal matters, yet discussing one’s faith is often discouraged? I still have in me a great love for the agrarian — for what this country was, for what we still are. People say, “Oh well, I guess there’s no such thing as Mitford.” Well, the good news is there are Mitfords all over the country, and there are still great stretches of open land and pastures and meadows and fields. It’s not all bad news. There’s so much left of this country that is reasonable and moral and strong. And that’s the part I relate to. A potom sa všetko začalo pekne komplikovať. Margarete mala čo robiť, aby sa neodhalila. Až nakoniec Annegrete (Margarete) nevystopoval jej brat Wilhelm Huber… a nebezpečenstvo sa len stupňovalo.This is the pontiff who made it possible, in 1947, for nursing nuns to train as midwives. "In my honest opinion," she says, "that was one of the greatest mistakes he ever made. I just don't think nuns and midwifery mix at all."

Many people shelve this series as "Christian literature" and for some reason or another I have never placed it in that category. To be sure, Father Tim quotes plenty of scripture - especially to his big floppy dog, Barnabus (the only way to keep Barnabus from jumping on you is to quote a verse from the Bible; amazingly, Barnabus immediately sits or lies down upon hearing scripture. Barnabus is also fond of Wordsworth!) Even though scripture is quoted, it is not proselytizing. This series is about how the life of a sixty year old stressed out, worn out priest, was infused with new spirit and energy when a dog, a boy and a new neighbor entered his life. It is also about kindness, love and caring neighbors who look after each other. Who wouldn't want to live in Mitford! After the women had given birth, the babies were kept a while, but then were sent by the nuns themselves over to America to be adopted, giving the birth mother no indication of what may have happened to their baby, again, this was done as a form of punishment. Trenchant as she may be, it is a voice from the past. Why did she wait until now to write the book? It cannot be unfair to describe June Goulding as trenchant. Compassionate she may be, especially on the evidence of her recently-published book The Light in the Window, but somehow trenchant is the word that comes to mind as she refers, for example, to Pope Pius XII. June became friendly with a woman living long term in this home who had become institutionalized and just never left after having her own baby there. So much tragic wasting of peoples lives and all for nothing.This is an amazing story of survival on Margarete's part. It's 1941 during WW2 in Germany. She's Jewish working for a rich German family as a maid. She is treated horribly by them and when a bomb explosion happens, the house they are in explodes! This is Margarete's chance to escape because she looks so much like Annegret, the youngest spoiled daughter of the family and there is only a 2 year age difference between them. Margarete switches identity papers with Annegret,who was killed. Reiner and Wilhelm are the older brothers of the family and the only surviving members because they weren't there during the explosion. Ich habe schon viele Bücher gelesen, die in dieser Zeit spielen, aber wenige davon haben mich so wenig überzeugt wie dieses hier. Dabei klang der Klappentext durchaus spannend. Aber spannend war Margaretes Geschichte dann leider nicht, sondern sehr vorhersehbar. Trotz des ernsten Hintergrunds war die Geschichte viel zu seicht und oberflächlich und die Mitwirkenden entweder schwarz oder weiß. I can always count on Marion Kummerow to pen a compelling historical fiction novel that grabs my attention, holds it and rewards me with a plethora of knowledge learned! Compare Miss Sadie’s gift of money to build the nursing home with Edith Mallory’s promise of donations to the children’s hospital. What is each looking for in return for her gift?

I felt incredibly angry reading this book. As a health care professional I can’t countenance this sort of treatment of anyone, but especially pregnant women, who were alone and scared. Father Tim’s personality is far more conservative than mine, but like Father Tim, I don’t know a great deal about having fun. If I get dragged into it, I can always enjoy it, but it’s hard for me to go out and find it on my own. And of course we both share a faith. My books are formed on my connection to God. That’s the seasoning in the stew. In my books I try to depict not a glorious faith with celestial fireworks, but a daily faith, a routine faith, a seven-days-a-week faith. Father Tim’s faith is part of his everyday life. He has simple prayers, not polished, pious prayers. He follows the Apostle Paul’s command that we pray without ceasing. I try to depict how our faith may be woven into our daily life, like brandy poured into coffee. I believe that spirituality needs to be basic, common, everyday. In addition to the fantastic tension created surrounding the identity switch, the plot is well-paced and the characters well fleshed out. Although the ending might not have been what my heart was aching for, it was representative of the times, and I was pacified with the knowledge that a sequel is in the works.

Blog Archive

Until I was twelve I lived in the country, then I spent many years in cities. I think that I was born with a kind of deep affinity for the rural, the rustic. In addition, I’m very drawn to the pastoral novels of the English genre — the village novel where a small group is used to paint a picture of a larger society. As Margerete becomes Annegret, she battles daily with her conscience and her own identity feeling as in doing so she is betraying her people. But Margerete is fighting for her life and before long she finds that isn't the only battle she is up against. Over the weeks they have lived together, Wilhelm has shown her a kindness and respect she does not associate with Nazis. But how is she to survive trusting this man, a Nazi, with the only things she has left? Her safety, her life and even her heart? And instead of the freedom for which she longs, Margerete finds herself trapped with an impossible moral dilemma of love, life and death. They were so vulnerable and alone and without hope. This was the worst aspect of this place. It was all tears and toil and no help or hope and then the final amputation between mother and child, and the mothers never ever knowing where their beloved children went.” You’ve often said how important a rural upbringing was for you. How has it influenced your writing?