My book club read this book and some seemed to think the author wanted to tie in some kind of political "identity-crisis" kind of deal... Esther felt like she didn't belong but couldn't abandon her roots, Karsten couldn't (or didn't want to) hold up his end as the "fearless leader" and thus escaped, and then the interregator (who's name I can't recall because that was an annoying plot and felt really disconnected from the rest of the story)... he was a German-Jew and everyone KNEW he was Jewish but he couldn't stand being "accused" of being Jewish... I think Hess was thrown in there as a representation of the entity that hated the interregator's heritage... I could be wrong...

I thoroughly enjoyed the story of the welsh girl. I did not understand why Hess was involved. Can anyone explain?
John