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I fell in love with Marion Kummerow's writing style with "Not Without My Sister". While her stories are set within a much written about time period, the concepts with which she portrays them are so unique and wholly original. They are not your usual run-of-the-mill tales re-telling the plight of the Jews. The premise of A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW was certainly an intriguing one that promised a fascinating tale to be told. This is the true account of nurse June Goulding who took a position as a newly qualified midwife for a year between 1951-1952 in an Irish “home for unmarried mothers”.
My books are about relationships. With rare exceptions, the scenes are all one-on-one relationships: Father Tim and Dooley, Father Tim and Cynthia, Father Tim and Emma. There are times when I step away to the Grill where three or four people are in a relationship. Basically, I try not to waste the reader’s time with descriptive narrative, details of what people are wearing, how they look, how tall they are. It was society's fault," she says now. "No one wanted to know, not clergy, politicians, families. It was the times that were in it: there was no crime worse than having an illegitimate child. I worked in the hospital, with the new mothers and their babies, but I went to Mass in the convent where they lived after their confinement, and I counted at least 300 women in the church. Držala som palce Margarete, aby sa jej podarilo zachrániť sa. Bolo mi jej ľúto, ale fakt som celý čas myslela len na to, aby ju nikto neodhalil. Doslova tancovala po tenkom ľade. Margarete bola Židovka. Slúžila v jednej rodine, ktorej členovia po zbombardovaní zahynuli. Napokon prevzala totožnosť dievčiny, ktorej telo ostalo pod troskami domu. Tak sa z Margarete Rosenbaumovej stala Annegrete Huberová. It sounded amazing and intriguing and the plot was a fascinating idea. I'm just not sure if I liked how it was executed. The story follows Margarete a young Jewish woman in WW2 who takes the identity of her employer's dead Nazi daughter to avoid prosecution and her relationship/connection with the son of the same family who is also an SS member. 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.Berlin, 1941: Margarete Rosenbaum is working as a housemaid for a senior Nazi officer when his house is bombed, leaving her the only survivor. But when she’s mistaken for his daughter in the aftermath of the blast, Margarete knows she can make a bid for freedom… 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. stars. This may be a Father Tim year. I love these characters so much, and they get better with time. So many laughs and smiles inside this one.
That's the worst of it, maybe, but it's also the tip of the iceberg. Goulding rapidly realised that nursing at the convent was going to bear little resemblance to the standards of care she was used to. The sister in charge had the final say, and her focus was punishment. That meant: insufficient rations, and hard physical labour while acutely pregnant, and no painkillers, and no stitches no matter how badly a women tore during birth, and no calling the doctor, and on and on it goes. I learned about how the Nazis forbade the Jews from using public libraries, from shaking hands with Aryans, held public book burnings and created lists of books to be burned. I was unaware that the Gestapo had their national headquarters in Leipzig in the national library where they oversaw the banned book business and kept a meticulous record of those who requested banned books. I was in awe when I read that a book from my Grade 9 English curriculum was on the list – All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque!This life-changing moment spins into a fascinating narrative that leads this brave young woman to Leipzig and then to Paris, resulting in narrow escapes and a life-threatening emotional attachment. The story is too complex and interesting to summarize but needs to be experienced first hand. I know the world was a very different place when the events that took place in the book occurred, but I could still slap the face of the Nun who condemns the girls and women who come to the convent to be hidden away while they are pregnant and to give birth. This is a story of strength, courage and survival. A story of determination against all odds. A story that highlights the prejudices and bigotry whilst reminding us that there is hope. But it is also a love story... I wouldn’t say that the ending particularly leaves you on a cliffhanger, but it does make you want to find out what happens next. I am glad to have noticed there will be a sequel to this book! Páči sa mi, ako sa zmenil charakter Wilhelma. Na začiatku bol rozmaznaný syn dôležitej rodiny, ale keď sa jeho okolnosti zmenili a on si musel prispôsobiť svoj život, videli sme ho, ako sa pýta, čo robí, a začína mať pocit, že chce Margarete chrániť aj keď okolie ma na židov iný pohľad. Margaretin neustály strach, jej morálne dilemy, ktorým čelila, sa nečítali ľahko a boli srdcervúce.
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! June is a young midwife in Ireland when she accepts the post of midwife in a home for unwed mothers. It was an honest read and must have been a challenge for June to write. She describes her role and her inability to challenge the ways of the home, without trying to paint herself as a hero - it is quite clear that she was complacent, she was young and inexperienced and was tied up in the horrible well established system. It was a different era after all, one where religious figures were the highest authority and young midwives did as they were told. I particulary found her discriptons of the nuns 'after hours' interesting. You can't help but assume that women who did what these women did would be rotten and bitter to the core, yet after hours June gave us an account of the nuns that was playful and frivolous as they fussed like excitable teenagers whenever June had a date with her long time boyfriend. 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. I haven't re-read this book for some time and found it as moving and emotionally frustrating as when I first read it.As for her husband's part in this? Also a medically trained man, whose protests against this institution went as far as a few cross words, tuts, eye rolls, and slight indignation at the sight of pregnant women doing manual labour...by tarring the hot road round the corner from the home. June does very little to paint him in a good light in this respect, but he must have been worth it as she managed to buy him gold cufflinks on Christmas, while buying nothing at all for any of own family, instead guiltlessly swanning past the working mothers in the greenhouse to collect dozen chrysanthemums with the Sister to take for her mammy.
Jan Karon says there are Mitfords all over the country. Do you live in one? If so, why do you think your community is like Mitford? Is Mitford necessarily a small town? Discuss whether it might also be a close neighborhood in a large city. I see everyone as unusual. Most everyone seems to have an extraordinary life story. “I just love people,” was my grandmother’s saying. Casting the writer’s light on ordinary people makes them appear extraordinary. This story follows Margarete from Berlin to Leipzig to Paris and the French Countryside. She is living as a Aryan German, but in her heart she is still a Jew. What will she do to survive? I loved Margarete's character. She is a strong woman wit courage, conviction and compassion. She has a moral dilemma which many people faced in war, "is saving many worth killing one?" The other characters were well developed and it was easy to dislike the ones we were meant to dislike. This book was emotional, as well as gripping. Some of the chances Margarete took had me sure she was going to be caught. Reading about how brainwashed the German officers and some civilians were difficult to believe, but I know it happened.I really loved Not Without my Sister by Marion Kummerow. So, when I saw that Kummerow had a new book release, A Light in the Window, I knew I had to read it as I really enjoy her writing style and how easily Kummerow can draw you into her stories. The village is indeed idyllic; the characters charming, quirky and lovable. However, as the series continues, Father Tim's life, even though more and more fulfilled, also becomes more and more stressful. These books give me new appreciation for the busy and often stressful life of a parish priest, especially a kind, empathetic and giving priest like Father Tim. The author creates realistic characters, exposes the diabolical Nazi belief system and its devastating effects, especially for its primary victims, the Jews. Marguerite lives both sides of the Nazi-Jewish experience as she struggles to stay true to her heritage while still maintaining credibility as a daughter and sister of members of the Nazi hierarchy.
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