Books Set in Europe: France and Germany

The Art of Resistance, by Justus Rosenberg (2020)

 

The author, Justus Rosenberg, was well into his 90s when his memoir was published.  He was born in 1921 in the Free City of Danzig, a semi-autonomous city-state that existed for about 20 years between 1920 and 1940.  He was immersed in both Polish and German culture.  His grandparents lived in Poland, but his parents had moved to Danzig.  They believed that the Jewish residents of Danzig would be insulated from the rise of Hitler.

 

At age 16, Rosenberg was sent to Paris to further his education.  The rest of his family remained in Danzig.  When the Germans invaded France, Rosenberg’s studies came to an end.  The blond-haired, blue-eyed Rosenburg didn’t “look Jewish” and soon found himself joining the underground resistance movement.  The fact that he was also fluent in Polish, German and English was a major asset to the underground.

 

Rosenberg recounts his imprisonments and escapes in vivid detail.  The book reads like a suspense story.  We know from the beginning, of course, that the author survives, but that doesn’t distract from the tensions of the narrative.

 

After the War, Rosenberg settled in the United States where he became a literature professor at Bard College.  He died in October 2021 at age 100.

 

4 Stars

 

Read: January 2022

 

 

Books Set in North America: United States: Utah

The Glovemaker, by Ann Weisgarber (2019)

 

This is a beautiful novel about a small Mormon town in the late 1880s.  There are only a few families in the town of Junction.  The was built by families who were Mormon; but wanted to separate themselves from plural marriages.  Polygamy has been outlawed, however, some Mormons continued the practice.  Law enforcement officers would seek out families where there were multiple wives.  Thus, men with multiple wives would sometimes travel through Junction on their way to Floral Ranch, a hard to find place in the wastelands of Utah to hide from the law.

 

The novel focuses on Deborah, a glovemaker.  Her husband, Samuel, is a wheelwright who travels several months of the year.  He was due home in December, but by mid-January has not returned home.  It is a hard winter with many snowstorms so Deborah is alone.  Her house is on the edge of town, the first one that a visitor would encounter when entering Junction.

 

One day a stranger knocks on Deborah’s door.  It is odd for someone to be seeking refuge in Floral Ranch in the middle of winter, but Deborah allows the man to spend the night in her barn and the next morning, her neighbor Nels, agrees to lead the stranger to Floral Ranch.

 

Soon, a deputy from Tennessee is at Deborah’s door looking for the stranger.  His appearance in the town has ramifications that will impact the entire community.

 

The Mountain Meadows Massacre, which had happened about 30 years before the events of this novel, foreshadows the events of this book.  I had never heard of this massacre, but in 1857, between 120 and 140 members of a wagon train were killed in southern Utah.  Only 17 children survived the massacre.  The massacre was perpetrated by Mormons, but the Paiute Native Americans were initially used as scapegoats.  The novel explains the Massacre, so one need not have a full understanding of it to appreciate its significance.

 

Read:  June 8, 2021

 

5 Stars

Books Set in Europe: England and France

I'll See You in Paris, by Michelle Gable (2016)

I’ll See You in Paris is loosely based on the life of Gladys Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (née Gladys Deacon; Feb. 7, 1881 ~ Oct. 13, 1977).  A bit of background: Gladys was born in France into a wealthy, but eccentric American family.  When she was a child, her father killed her mother’s lover.  Her father spent a few years in prison, but when he got out, he was given custody of his children.

As an adult, Gladys travelled in an artistic social circle and encountered many major authors and artist of the time.  She became close friends with Consuelo Vanderbilt, who was married to the 9^th Duke of Marlborough.  Theirs was an unhappy marriage.   Gladys became the Duke’s mistress.  It was a happy arrangement for decades.  When Consuelo and the Duke divorced, Gladys and the Duke married, making Gladys the Duchess of Marlborough.

In her later life, the Duchess became a recluse.  She lived in a small village in England with a host of cats and dogs. She was known to threaten visitors with firearms.

This is where the novel begins.  The novel goes back and forth in time and we slowly learn about Gladys’s life.  The novel begins in 2001 with Annie Haley, a young woman newly engage to a marine who has been shipped to Afghanistan.  Annie was raised by her single mother, Laurel.  Annie never knew her father ~ her birth certificate lists her father as being “unknown.”

Laurel has business in England and invites Annie to accompany her.  While her mother is tending to business, Annie wanders through the little village and encounters Gus, an aging aristocrat.  They strike up a friendship over a book entitled The Missing Duchess.  Gus knew the woman who was the subject of the book, although she adamantly denied she was the Duchess.  His recounting of the Duchess brings us to the 1970s, where a young American woman named Pru was hired to be a companion to the aging Gladys.

This was a fun and quick read.  The style of moving back in forth in time, while not entirely seamless, was smooth enough to keep me turning the pages.  It is not necessary to know the background of Gladys Deacon to enjoy this book.  While reading this book, I did a little research to see how closely the novel tracked the life of the Duchess.

Read:  Oct. 28, 2019

4 Stars