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Father Anselm Mysteries #1
The Sixth Lamentation
Larkwood Priory, Suffolk, 1995: Following his afternoon confessions, Father Anselm is stopped by an old man. What, he is asked, should a man do when the world has turned against him? Anselm’s response—claim sanctuary—is to have greater resonance than he could ever have imagined, for the man returns demanding the protection of the Church. He is Eduard Schwermann, a suspected Nazi war criminal. Meanwhile, with her life running out, Agnes Aubret unburdens a secret to her granddaughter Lucy. Fifty years earlier Agnes lived in occupied Paris and risked her life to smuggle Jewish children to safety until her group was exposed by an SS Eduard Schwermann.
As Father Anselm struggles to discover the truth about Schwermann’s history and Lucy delves ever deeper into her grandmother’s past, their investigations dovetail to reveal a remarkable story, in which two seemingly unconnected lives shockingly converge. William Brodrick is a master of crisp historical re-creation, precision plotting, and morally complex characterization.
As Father Anselm struggles to discover the truth about Schwermann’s history and Lucy delves ever deeper into her grandmother’s past, their investigations dovetail to reveal a remarkable story, in which two seemingly unconnected lives shockingly converge. William Brodrick is a master of crisp historical re-creation, precision plotting, and morally complex characterization.
433 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 1999
51 people are currently reading
1420 people want to read
About the author
William Brodrick
14 books92 followersWilliam Brodrick was born in Bolton, Lancashire in 1960. Having lived in Canada since he was eleven, he went to school in Australia and England, and went on to take a BA in Philosophy and Theology, then a MTh (Master of Theology) and a Degree of Utter Barrister. Brodrick worked on a logging camp in British Columbia, Canada, before joining the Augustinian Friars (1979-1985). He began his life as a friar in Dublin, Ireland, based on a farm that deployed Iron Age techniques bringing him very close to nature. After several years as a friar, he left the order to help set up a charity at the request of Cardinal Hume, The Depaul Trust, which worked with homeless people. In 1991 he became a barrister. He holds British and Canadian citizenship and is married with three children with whom he lives in France
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 277 reviews
February 7, 2018
Prva knjiga iz serijala o ocu Anselmu... Ostale nažalost nikada nisu prevedene na srpski... Autor koji je za ovaj serijal i nagrađivan... Obratite pažnju na njega ljubitelji priča o zaverama, misterijama i Drugom svetskom ratu...
February 12, 2021
La historia de este libro es realmente muy buena, entre el descubrimiento de un criminal de guerra Nazi en Inglaterra quien fue cabecilla en la persecución de judíos en la ocupación francesa, lo que desencadena que se desvele una cantidad importante de información y de historias aparentemente olvidadas.
En esto se ve envuelto un periodista francés, una mujer de edad que se está muriendo, la Iglesia católica que se ve envuelta de una manera muy peculiar y para ello envía a un monje a investigar la verdad sobre el papel que tuvo la iglesia en todo el asunto.
Más o menos de esto va la historia y entre juicios, desvelar secretos, intrigas, traiciones pasadas, como he dicho, la historia resulta realmente atrayente.
El problema es que me ha costado mucho, pero mucho leer este libro, me parece que el problema principal radica en la estructura que tiene, la manera en que el autor ha decidido poner cada situación, que ya de por si es compleja, la hace una historia donde por un poco más de la mitad del libro cuesta mucho seguir el hilo de la historia y los pensamientos y acciones de cada uno de los personajes.
Pero no es solo la estructura, es que también de algún modo el estilo narrativo no me ayudó, me cuesta explicar la sensación, pero la mejor manera es que sentía como si me estuviera leyendo un telegrama, hay palabras, hay frases, pero es como si hubiera huecos y me pusieran un PUNTO para pasar a otra acción importante.
Aunque los capítulos son cortos, pasan de un personaje, su historia y su propio hilo de acción a otro donde no tiene nada que ver con el anterior, excepto claro que de algún modo todos tienen algo que investigar sobre el nazi, pero entre ellos no hay ni contacto ni historia en común realmente.
Hasta después de la mitad del libro, cuando empieza el juicio a este hombre, se empieza a conocer la historia en común, pero para mi gusto se desvela muy tarde y por lo tanto resulta corto, apresurado y me ha dejado con un sabor de empalago, de incredulidad, tanto sufrimiento para que en un par de días todos se enteren de los secretos, todos lo acepten con mucha calma, se amen, se perdonen y todos felices y comieron perdices, si, me he quedado con una mueca en la cara.
Sin contar que la parte del juicio, algo que realmente esperaba con ansia me ha dejado helada, por dios, cuanta incongruencia y no me refiero precisamente al juicio en sí, sino a que, para ese momento, al menos nosotros los lectores sabemos que sabe cada quien y si esto se supiera, pues entonces todo transcurriría de modo diferente, pero no, todos callan, nadie alza la mano y anuncia o quien es o que sabe y por lo tanto el final del juicio resulta en algo insulso.
No puedo decir lo mucho que me ha gustado el argumento, contra la enorme decepción que me he llevado con la construcción de esta historia.
En esto se ve envuelto un periodista francés, una mujer de edad que se está muriendo, la Iglesia católica que se ve envuelta de una manera muy peculiar y para ello envía a un monje a investigar la verdad sobre el papel que tuvo la iglesia en todo el asunto.
Más o menos de esto va la historia y entre juicios, desvelar secretos, intrigas, traiciones pasadas, como he dicho, la historia resulta realmente atrayente.
El problema es que me ha costado mucho, pero mucho leer este libro, me parece que el problema principal radica en la estructura que tiene, la manera en que el autor ha decidido poner cada situación, que ya de por si es compleja, la hace una historia donde por un poco más de la mitad del libro cuesta mucho seguir el hilo de la historia y los pensamientos y acciones de cada uno de los personajes.
Pero no es solo la estructura, es que también de algún modo el estilo narrativo no me ayudó, me cuesta explicar la sensación, pero la mejor manera es que sentía como si me estuviera leyendo un telegrama, hay palabras, hay frases, pero es como si hubiera huecos y me pusieran un PUNTO para pasar a otra acción importante.
Aunque los capítulos son cortos, pasan de un personaje, su historia y su propio hilo de acción a otro donde no tiene nada que ver con el anterior, excepto claro que de algún modo todos tienen algo que investigar sobre el nazi, pero entre ellos no hay ni contacto ni historia en común realmente.
Hasta después de la mitad del libro, cuando empieza el juicio a este hombre, se empieza a conocer la historia en común, pero para mi gusto se desvela muy tarde y por lo tanto resulta corto, apresurado y me ha dejado con un sabor de empalago, de incredulidad, tanto sufrimiento para que en un par de días todos se enteren de los secretos, todos lo acepten con mucha calma, se amen, se perdonen y todos felices y comieron perdices, si, me he quedado con una mueca en la cara.
Sin contar que la parte del juicio, algo que realmente esperaba con ansia me ha dejado helada, por dios, cuanta incongruencia y no me refiero precisamente al juicio en sí, sino a que, para ese momento, al menos nosotros los lectores sabemos que sabe cada quien y si esto se supiera, pues entonces todo transcurriría de modo diferente, pero no, todos callan, nadie alza la mano y anuncia o quien es o que sabe y por lo tanto el final del juicio resulta en algo insulso.
No puedo decir lo mucho que me ha gustado el argumento, contra la enorme decepción que me he llevado con la construcción de esta historia.
August 25, 2024
The Book of Lamentations in the Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament) consists of five distinct poems, corresponding to its five chapters. Although traditionally ascribed to the prophet Jeremiah, there actually may be multiple authors although scholars are divided over this. In naming his book The Sixth Lamentation William Broderick means to draw our attention to yet another calamity which has befallen the beleaguered Children of Israel, the Chosen People of God. While occurring after the closing of the canon of Sacred Scripture, the Holocaust of the 1930s and 40s merits its own lament.
In The Sixth Lamentation Father Anselm, lawyer-turned-monk, makes his debut as William Broderick’s amateur sleuth when a mysterious old visitor to the abbey asks Father what he should do when the world turns against him. In his answer—claim sanctuary—a traditional Church and monastic response, Anselm never imagines the repercussions which will ensue. This particular man, Eduard Schwermann, ends up being a suspected Nazi War criminal. ‘Dislodging’ him will turn out to be more difficult that anyone can imagine.
Alternating with the story of Father Anselm’s efforts on behalf of his abbey and in pursuit of truth and justice is another related story of a young woman and her grandmother. The grandmother, Agnes, was a young Jewish woman who survived the extermination efforts against the Jewish populations of Europe during World War II. The granddaughter, Lucy, is the one entrusted with most of her grandmother’s story – as much as her grandmother understands of it that is, the rest seems lost in time or buried with those who were sent off to their deaths. Even what Lucy's father thinks he knows about his own mother isn’t true and would hurt him too much to learn.
This is a book which takes you back and forth and back again from confusion to clarity, falsehood to truth, self-delusion to painful awakening, from misunderstanding to understanding, from illusion to revelation. What I liked best, however, was that our ‘sleuth’ was also learning as he went. He did not sit on high, with all the answers, making us—the readers—feel like dummies because he knew what was going on and we didn’t. As much as I love Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot and P. D. James’ Adam Dalgliesh, I find myself frustrated by the officiousness of those detectives and their insufferable habit of omniscience. Father Anselm is more down-to-earth, makes mistakes, sometimes gets humiliated and takes it well when he does. As such he is a very likable hero.
At one point in the story, Father Anselm is quite desperate to locate someone the police are tracking. Once before he asked this particular officer if/when they find an individual—central to the case against the suspected Nazi war criminal—would they please let him know? This time, however, Anselm makes his help conditional on the police doing something for him. Very coldly the police inspector answers she would have helped him with or without his help. He was appropriately chastised and chagrined. This was only one example in the story where Father Anselm shows his monastic vocation is at the heart of what he does. Occasionally his humanity shows through, and he doesn't get things right. He is fallible. But then, who isn’t? His redeeming quality is that realizes when he sins and repents.
The rest of the book was a fascinating story, and I can’t begin to tell you how insightful or fascinating it was. I've already read The Gardens of the Dead, Broderick's second Father Anselm mystery and plan to get the rest of the books.
Edited: August 25, 2024
In The Sixth Lamentation Father Anselm, lawyer-turned-monk, makes his debut as William Broderick’s amateur sleuth when a mysterious old visitor to the abbey asks Father what he should do when the world turns against him. In his answer—claim sanctuary—a traditional Church and monastic response, Anselm never imagines the repercussions which will ensue. This particular man, Eduard Schwermann, ends up being a suspected Nazi War criminal. ‘Dislodging’ him will turn out to be more difficult that anyone can imagine.
Alternating with the story of Father Anselm’s efforts on behalf of his abbey and in pursuit of truth and justice is another related story of a young woman and her grandmother. The grandmother, Agnes, was a young Jewish woman who survived the extermination efforts against the Jewish populations of Europe during World War II. The granddaughter, Lucy, is the one entrusted with most of her grandmother’s story – as much as her grandmother understands of it that is, the rest seems lost in time or buried with those who were sent off to their deaths. Even what Lucy's father thinks he knows about his own mother isn’t true and would hurt him too much to learn.
This is a book which takes you back and forth and back again from confusion to clarity, falsehood to truth, self-delusion to painful awakening, from misunderstanding to understanding, from illusion to revelation. What I liked best, however, was that our ‘sleuth’ was also learning as he went. He did not sit on high, with all the answers, making us—the readers—feel like dummies because he knew what was going on and we didn’t. As much as I love Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot and P. D. James’ Adam Dalgliesh, I find myself frustrated by the officiousness of those detectives and their insufferable habit of omniscience. Father Anselm is more down-to-earth, makes mistakes, sometimes gets humiliated and takes it well when he does. As such he is a very likable hero.
At one point in the story, Father Anselm is quite desperate to locate someone the police are tracking. Once before he asked this particular officer if/when they find an individual—central to the case against the suspected Nazi war criminal—would they please let him know? This time, however, Anselm makes his help conditional on the police doing something for him. Very coldly the police inspector answers she would have helped him with or without his help. He was appropriately chastised and chagrined. This was only one example in the story where Father Anselm shows his monastic vocation is at the heart of what he does. Occasionally his humanity shows through, and he doesn't get things right. He is fallible. But then, who isn’t? His redeeming quality is that realizes when he sins and repents.
The rest of the book was a fascinating story, and I can’t begin to tell you how insightful or fascinating it was. I've already read The Gardens of the Dead, Broderick's second Father Anselm mystery and plan to get the rest of the books.
Edited: August 25, 2024
December 6, 2017
Onvan : The 6th Lamentation - Nevisande : William Brodrick - ISBN : - ISBN13 : - Dar 420 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 1999
March 12, 2024
I was rather torn as to how to rate this book, parts of it I liked very much and parts I didn’t like at all.
It concerns the trail of a suspected Nazi war criminal, Eduard Schwermann, who is brought to trail for his persecution of a resistance group in 1940s Paris. Added to this is the complication of Schwermann’s relationship to the Gilbertine monastery to which the protagonist Father Anselm belongs, why does the monastery appear to be shielding the obviously guilty man?
So far, so good and I do think the plot is one of the strongest points of the novel, but I have more reservations about the way it is written.
As many people have commented it has far too many characters, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Broderick doesn’t develop most of them enough to make them memorable. I found I had to constantly check back to remind myself who I was dealing with and considering he is to be the protagonist of a series of books, Father Anselm remains very shadowy and unengaging.
Without giving away the intricacies of the plot, the novel does become rather bogged down and aimless in the middle and has some rather improbable denouements in its final pages and personally I found the constant cutting from one person’s story to another very distracting.
Broderick’s writing is spare and economically and he does squeeze a lot of story into the 400 or so pages but it is at the expense of other things. There is very little sense of place or time, 1940s Paris, the Central Criminal Court of the Old Bailey or a monastery in Suffolk, it is all much the same in this novel. A few months ago I read Winter in Madrid by C J Sansom and found myself having the opposite issue, wonderful sense of place and history but shaky and unconvincing plot and there were times when reading The Sixth Lamentation that I wanted to squash the two together and make one fantastic novel!
I understand that this is a first novel and perhaps Broderick gets into his stride with the later ones, I would certainly read more of the Father Anselm series but I think I might need more than the plot twists that characterise this novel to keep me reading.
It concerns the trail of a suspected Nazi war criminal, Eduard Schwermann, who is brought to trail for his persecution of a resistance group in 1940s Paris. Added to this is the complication of Schwermann’s relationship to the Gilbertine monastery to which the protagonist Father Anselm belongs, why does the monastery appear to be shielding the obviously guilty man?
So far, so good and I do think the plot is one of the strongest points of the novel, but I have more reservations about the way it is written.
As many people have commented it has far too many characters, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Broderick doesn’t develop most of them enough to make them memorable. I found I had to constantly check back to remind myself who I was dealing with and considering he is to be the protagonist of a series of books, Father Anselm remains very shadowy and unengaging.
Without giving away the intricacies of the plot, the novel does become rather bogged down and aimless in the middle and has some rather improbable denouements in its final pages and personally I found the constant cutting from one person’s story to another very distracting.
Broderick’s writing is spare and economically and he does squeeze a lot of story into the 400 or so pages but it is at the expense of other things. There is very little sense of place or time, 1940s Paris, the Central Criminal Court of the Old Bailey or a monastery in Suffolk, it is all much the same in this novel. A few months ago I read Winter in Madrid by C J Sansom and found myself having the opposite issue, wonderful sense of place and history but shaky and unconvincing plot and there were times when reading The Sixth Lamentation that I wanted to squash the two together and make one fantastic novel!
I understand that this is a first novel and perhaps Broderick gets into his stride with the later ones, I would certainly read more of the Father Anselm series but I think I might need more than the plot twists that characterise this novel to keep me reading.
August 24, 2019
A beautifully written complex tale that requires a thoughtful and careful reading. I have every intention of continuing with Father Anselm in the books that follow this very moving story.
I am so very emotionally impacted by this read that I must now put on my running shoes and work some of this out of my system as I filter through all those brilliantly portrayed characters.
Goodreads is the reason I found this author and for that I am grateful.
I am so very emotionally impacted by this read that I must now put on my running shoes and work some of this out of my system as I filter through all those brilliantly portrayed characters.
Goodreads is the reason I found this author and for that I am grateful.
February 12, 2008
This is a first novel? My gosh...if this is the first, I am eagerly anticipating the 2nd. I started this book at 10 pm and finished it at 1 am. I couldn't bring myself to stop reading - it was that good. Not only as a mystery, but as a novel in general. The ending is a little too formulaic, but a surprise which I must say I never saw coming. The ending is the reason the book gets a 9...I was a little let down at the way things sort of just a little too neatly fit. Other than that, it is a fine,no, an excellent novel. I highly recommend it.
Synopsis:
Set in England, present day, the story opens with Agnes Embleton, an elderly mother & grandmother, who has just received news that she's dying of motor neurone disease. She will, at some point the doctors tell her, lose all of her motor skills including the ability to talk. So before the disease develops into the final stages, Agnes feels this great need to share her past life with her granddaughter Lucy. She writes her story in a series of notebooks that she wants Lucy to read before Agnes dies. She reveals a life Lucy never even dreamed of.
That is plotline #1. Plotline #2:
Eduard Schwermann is a former SS officer who was stationed in France at the time of WWII. He has come to Larkwood Priory in England, and in speaking to one of the friars there, Father Anselm, he asks him what options are open to someone when it seems the entire world has turned against him. Anselm answers that in olden times, a man would claim Sanctuary. So Schwermann does just that. He claims sanctuary at Larkwood Priory, and somehow the media gets wind of the story. The Church realizes they have a dilemma here, so the head honchos send for Anselm, who in his pre-priestly life had been an attorney. They send him on a mission. As he gets more entangled in the lives of those affected by Schwermann, he finds he has a number of questions that cannot be easily answered. For example, why, toward the end of the war, did the church offer Schwermann, a former SS officer, sanctuary? Why did the British government allow Schwermann to get away and even furnish him with a new name? These two stories cross paths throughout the book. The mystery deepens as both Lucy and Anselm try to find the truth of what happened in the past -- but like one character in the novel warns, things are not what they seem.
The author does a great job not only in his characterizations...you never feel sorry for the bad guys here and you get drawn into the lives of most of the people in the novel. He deals with the Holocaust and its effects on his characters with compassion for the victims and disgust for its architects & those who carried out their orders. He also touches upon the role of politics, past & present, in the Catholic Church.
As I said, my only objection to this novel was that the end was a little too pat. Very contrived. The way the book reads, though, is perfect. It starts out slow, builds in tempo as you go along, then you find yourself unable to stop reading as the action builds. Had the ending moved along in this rhythm, it would have been a perfect novel.
Highly highly recommended.
Synopsis:
Set in England, present day, the story opens with Agnes Embleton, an elderly mother & grandmother, who has just received news that she's dying of motor neurone disease. She will, at some point the doctors tell her, lose all of her motor skills including the ability to talk. So before the disease develops into the final stages, Agnes feels this great need to share her past life with her granddaughter Lucy. She writes her story in a series of notebooks that she wants Lucy to read before Agnes dies. She reveals a life Lucy never even dreamed of.
That is plotline #1. Plotline #2:
Eduard Schwermann is a former SS officer who was stationed in France at the time of WWII. He has come to Larkwood Priory in England, and in speaking to one of the friars there, Father Anselm, he asks him what options are open to someone when it seems the entire world has turned against him. Anselm answers that in olden times, a man would claim Sanctuary. So Schwermann does just that. He claims sanctuary at Larkwood Priory, and somehow the media gets wind of the story. The Church realizes they have a dilemma here, so the head honchos send for Anselm, who in his pre-priestly life had been an attorney. They send him on a mission. As he gets more entangled in the lives of those affected by Schwermann, he finds he has a number of questions that cannot be easily answered. For example, why, toward the end of the war, did the church offer Schwermann, a former SS officer, sanctuary? Why did the British government allow Schwermann to get away and even furnish him with a new name? These two stories cross paths throughout the book. The mystery deepens as both Lucy and Anselm try to find the truth of what happened in the past -- but like one character in the novel warns, things are not what they seem.
The author does a great job not only in his characterizations...you never feel sorry for the bad guys here and you get drawn into the lives of most of the people in the novel. He deals with the Holocaust and its effects on his characters with compassion for the victims and disgust for its architects & those who carried out their orders. He also touches upon the role of politics, past & present, in the Catholic Church.
As I said, my only objection to this novel was that the end was a little too pat. Very contrived. The way the book reads, though, is perfect. It starts out slow, builds in tempo as you go along, then you find yourself unable to stop reading as the action builds. Had the ending moved along in this rhythm, it would have been a perfect novel.
Highly highly recommended.
June 10, 2009
This was one of my beach reads--probably not a good choice. It's a very complicated story--the kind of book where I need someone else to read it to see if I "got it." There are several different narrators of this book. I had a difficult time keeping track of who they all were, especially the monks who had similar names. Basically, the plot is that a former Nazi requests sanctuary at a monastery. Then you have a sub-plot of the monastery trying to decide how to deal with this situation. Then you have a sub-plot of a dying woman, Agnes, who decides to reveal her secretive past to her granddaughter. Both these sub-plots tie together. But then you have what seems to be a million sub-sub-plots going on too. It began to resemble a complicated family tree. In addition to all these plots, sub-plots, and sub-sub-plots, nothing is quite what it seems. Everyone has a different take on a situation. Some may be right, some may be wrong, or no one may be right. I'm not sure that I cared for this author's style of writing. It was quite dense and hard to understand. That did not go well with such a complicated plot. If I want to understand this book, I'll probably have to read it again and I really don't want to do that. I want to "get it" the first time around. I like to have everything clear at the end or it leaves me unsettled.
October 8, 2009
In the end what I found interesting was that those who had suffered the worst had the most capacity to forgive.
March 9, 2018
To be honest I didn't give this one a fair read. I wasn't in mood to read it in first place, but since it was a book club choice, I muddled on. My problem isn't with Holocaust Lit; my problem is that I've read so much of it that some starts to sound, God forbid, melodramatic, even cliche, ticking off the usual tropes. After reading Borowski's This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman, Steiner's The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H., and Mulisch's The Assault, where does one turn for thought-provoking and artful explorations of such horrible events?
Nonetheless, the novel gradually started winning me over about half way through with the courtroom scenes. Invoking the infamous case of French collaborator Paul Touvier, who hid out in Catholic monastery for years, added some fascinating historical context and raised larger questions about Church complicity in the Holocaust. (For another fictional account of that case, see Brian Moore's The Statement.) That and scenes of Anselm meeting with Vatican officials were parts of book that engaged me the most.
But then it all fell apart for me in last 30 pgs or so. Brodrick has set up so many plot threads that he ends up rushing through them, revealing one mistaken identity and fate after another. The final, and biggest one, made me roll my eyes. Up to that point, Brodrick works hard to maintain balance between historical and moral themes, and the mystery plot, but I felt like the necessities of solving mystery won out. And it is all quite cleverly designed, but I found it contrived. It spoiled much of what had come before.
At the risk of sounding like a heartless SOB, I found scenes with increasingly disabled Agnes pushing the sticky envelope of melodrama far too much for my taste. If you want to read a truly heartbreaking love story of Holocaust survivors, look up I.B. Singer's short story, "Old Love," about an elderly couple who meet in a retirement condo in America. Singer describes their tragic fate with a searing understatement that gives me chills every time I read it.
(And for a good critical commentary on Holocaust Lit, I recommend Reading the Holocaust, by Inga Clendinnen.)
Nonetheless, the novel gradually started winning me over about half way through with the courtroom scenes. Invoking the infamous case of French collaborator Paul Touvier, who hid out in Catholic monastery for years, added some fascinating historical context and raised larger questions about Church complicity in the Holocaust. (For another fictional account of that case, see Brian Moore's The Statement.) That and scenes of Anselm meeting with Vatican officials were parts of book that engaged me the most.
But then it all fell apart for me in last 30 pgs or so. Brodrick has set up so many plot threads that he ends up rushing through them, revealing one mistaken identity and fate after another. The final, and biggest one, made me roll my eyes. Up to that point, Brodrick works hard to maintain balance between historical and moral themes, and the mystery plot, but I felt like the necessities of solving mystery won out. And it is all quite cleverly designed, but I found it contrived. It spoiled much of what had come before.
At the risk of sounding like a heartless SOB, I found scenes with increasingly disabled Agnes pushing the sticky envelope of melodrama far too much for my taste. If you want to read a truly heartbreaking love story of Holocaust survivors, look up I.B. Singer's short story, "Old Love," about an elderly couple who meet in a retirement condo in America. Singer describes their tragic fate with a searing understatement that gives me chills every time I read it.
(And for a good critical commentary on Holocaust Lit, I recommend Reading the Holocaust, by Inga Clendinnen.)
December 13, 2011
Usually, I'm hard pressed to name a favorite book each year, but for 2011, there's simply no contest. Yesterday I finished The 6th Lamentation, by William Brodrick, and it's one of the 10 best books I've ever read. This is a complex novel, part historical fiction and part thriller, overflowing with compelling characters and fueled by an intricate plot in which nothing is what it seems.
A former Nazi officer, Eduard Schwermann, evaded prosecution for war crimes by escaping to England, where he's lived incognito for 50 years. When his arrest becomes imminent, he seeks sanctuary at Larkwood Priory. Schwermann's case is likely to raise unpleasant questions about the involvement of the Catholic Church, and the Vatican assigns the priory's Father Anselm to look into the possible repercussions. He begins with the sketchy knowledge that Schwermann's escape had something to do with a small French resistance group who smuggled Jewish children out of occupied Paris. As Anselm delves into records and interviews the few now-elderly survivors and their families, an amazing story unfolds.
The 6th Lamentation is both a highly literate mystery and a gripping morality tale, filled with suspense and pathos, misjudgment and misinterpretation, justice and punishment, condemnation and forgiveness. As this book so brilliantly reminds us, the past is always with us, for better or worse.
A former Nazi officer, Eduard Schwermann, evaded prosecution for war crimes by escaping to England, where he's lived incognito for 50 years. When his arrest becomes imminent, he seeks sanctuary at Larkwood Priory. Schwermann's case is likely to raise unpleasant questions about the involvement of the Catholic Church, and the Vatican assigns the priory's Father Anselm to look into the possible repercussions. He begins with the sketchy knowledge that Schwermann's escape had something to do with a small French resistance group who smuggled Jewish children out of occupied Paris. As Anselm delves into records and interviews the few now-elderly survivors and their families, an amazing story unfolds.
The 6th Lamentation is both a highly literate mystery and a gripping morality tale, filled with suspense and pathos, misjudgment and misinterpretation, justice and punishment, condemnation and forgiveness. As this book so brilliantly reminds us, the past is always with us, for better or worse.
June 12, 2015
One of the worst books I have ever read.
It took me an age to finish this book as it didn't grab me at all. I was determined to finish it, eventhough I was thoroughly confused as to who was who by the end.
It took me an age to finish this book as it didn't grab me at all. I was determined to finish it, eventhough I was thoroughly confused as to who was who by the end.
June 17, 2022
3,75 sterren - Nederlandse paperback
Naar dependance Roberts kruidentuin
Naar dependance Roberts kruidentuin
February 15, 2019
This novel is woven around real events in Paris during the early days of the occupation and covers the tragic events surrounding the first deportations to the concentration camps. Agnes is a survivor but believes that her son has been killed, events even the children that she has do not know about until 1995 when an article is published and a war crimes investigation commences. Father Anselm and Larkwood Priory, Suffolk become involved when a man requests "sanctuary". There follows a complex and at times bewilderingly complex tale that I found difficult to follow.
My difficulties were compounded by the tight, formal writing style which reminded me of R.Austin Freeman, rather than a modern author. All in all this took away my enjoyment of the story.
Ended up with two stars, that could have been more with a less formal style and more even plot structure.
My difficulties were compounded by the tight, formal writing style which reminded me of R.Austin Freeman, rather than a modern author. All in all this took away my enjoyment of the story.
Ended up with two stars, that could have been more with a less formal style and more even plot structure.
August 8, 2015
This book is one of the reasons it is great to be a "reader." Beautifully written, clever plot, heartbreaking history, and will make an amazing movie. For the foreseeable future, when I am asked "what should I read?" by a friend, THIS book will be my recommendation. Those who have read Sarah's Key, with greater impression of Vel D'Hiv, will find their hearts torn open again.
did-not-finish
April 29, 2017Why I Stopped Reading on p. 34: Adverb mania, purple prose, flat protagonist whose only purpose, at ten percent in, is to observe others. Every character's words and actions are explained in detail, as if the reader won't understand people's behavior otherwise. The story itself might be great, but I can't keep going.
October 31, 2017
3.5 rounded to 4. Father Anselm, a Gilbertine monk, previously a lawyer, who came to the monastic life late, is tasked by the Vatican to find a collaborator with the Nazis. The story is not really his, but is a Holocaust story of the Resistance and betrayal in Vichy France. Several strands of the story are separate but come together: that of Agnes, once in the "Round Table", a resistance group smuggling Jewish children from France, and who is now dying of ALS [Lou Gehrig's Disease]; her family; a Nazi war criminal; the "Round Table" Much of the book is the courtroom trial of the war criminal. Many of the characters are not who you think they are. Besides this Holocaust story at the remove of many years later, there is the theme of forgiveness.
Well-written novel. Labyrinthine story. Recommended.
Well-written novel. Labyrinthine story. Recommended.
May 30, 2014
I had mixed feelings about this book, which is about a Nazi war criminal who seeks sanctuary in an English monastery, but is eventually brought to trial.
Agnes Embleton, who is dying of motor neurone disease, writes down the story of her part in the French resistance to Nazi occupation, smuggling Jewish children out of France, using a monastery of the same order as that in which the war criminal has sought sanctuary. She writes the story for her granddaughter Lucy, in haste, knowing that she will soon lose the ability to write.
The snippets from reviews quoted in the blurb speak of the "complex" plot, but I was left wondering whether it was complex or just confusing. The behaviour of some of the characters is inexplicable, even when it is explained. It was an enjoyable read, but some aspects were not quite satisfactory. I wasn't sure whether to give it 3 stars or 4; probably three and a half stars, better than six out of 10, but not really deserving 8 out of 10.
Though Agnes is dying, she is not yet dead, yet all those involved in the war crimes trial, the prosecution and the defence, the witnesses and the judge, believe that she died in Auchwitz. Lucy Embleton, sitting in the court observing the trial, knows but will not say that Agnes is still alive, though dying. It seems that this is something only to be revealed after the trial, but why this should be so is never made clear.
Father Anselm, one of the monks at the monastery, is sent to Rome both to report on and find out about the war criminal staying at the monastery, and conducts his own somewhat bumbling investigation, but seems to take everything that people tell him at face value, or else draws the wrong conclusions about what he is told.
So there are lots of good ingredients, but the mixture never quite seems to work. William Brodrick was a monk who later became a lawyer, and so he gets the monastic and the legal bits right. This is his first novel, so perhaps in his second he will get the story-telling bits right as well.
Agnes Embleton, who is dying of motor neurone disease, writes down the story of her part in the French resistance to Nazi occupation, smuggling Jewish children out of France, using a monastery of the same order as that in which the war criminal has sought sanctuary. She writes the story for her granddaughter Lucy, in haste, knowing that she will soon lose the ability to write.
The snippets from reviews quoted in the blurb speak of the "complex" plot, but I was left wondering whether it was complex or just confusing. The behaviour of some of the characters is inexplicable, even when it is explained. It was an enjoyable read, but some aspects were not quite satisfactory. I wasn't sure whether to give it 3 stars or 4; probably three and a half stars, better than six out of 10, but not really deserving 8 out of 10.
Though Agnes is dying, she is not yet dead, yet all those involved in the war crimes trial, the prosecution and the defence, the witnesses and the judge, believe that she died in Auchwitz. Lucy Embleton, sitting in the court observing the trial, knows but will not say that Agnes is still alive, though dying. It seems that this is something only to be revealed after the trial, but why this should be so is never made clear.
Father Anselm, one of the monks at the monastery, is sent to Rome both to report on and find out about the war criminal staying at the monastery, and conducts his own somewhat bumbling investigation, but seems to take everything that people tell him at face value, or else draws the wrong conclusions about what he is told.
So there are lots of good ingredients, but the mixture never quite seems to work. William Brodrick was a monk who later became a lawyer, and so he gets the monastic and the legal bits right. This is his first novel, so perhaps in his second he will get the story-telling bits right as well.
September 24, 2017
Excellent, although it got a bit convoluted at the end and I had to flip back and re-read to make sure I understood what was happening/had happened. Near the end I was so vexed at a certain event that I set the book aside for a couple of days, but then I picked it up again and (much like the events the characters themselves are investigating) it turned out my vexation was misapplied. Positively Dickensian in the way everyone turns out to be connected with everyone else. Loved Brother Anselm and the many philosophical digressions into faith, honor, the danger of assumptions, and the nature of truth and courage and love.
July 31, 2012
I had this book returned to me and I protested that it was not my book. But there was something familiar. So I started reading. Some words and phrases brought back smoky hazy memories - but nothing would stand out clear and ready. So on and on. To the end. I definitely read it before - but had forgotten the main plot and points and meaning. The main message. Damn there was some evil set forth during the 1940s.
March 20, 2017
At a certain point, I couldn't put it down. Motor neuron disease, the Holocaust, 'sins of the fathers' coming home to roost, convoluted entanglements, lies and secrets sound like a recipe for a depressing read but in the end the mood is hopeful. Like the main character Father Anselm, the reader will think time after time that the mystery has all been revealed but the surprises continue to the end and hardly anything is as it first seems. Wonderful insight and literary skill.
February 6, 2021
An excellent piece of literary crime fiction. A very complex, interwoven plot, rich characters, a moral conundrum — rooted in the Nazi past. The book is blurbed by Gitta Sereny. This is my second Father Anselm book, the first written. Both were very good, this one is superior. A bit slow to untangle. So 4.5 stars.
August 13, 2025
In this extremely well-plotted historical fiction/mystery/thriller, tangled storylines intersect in surprising ways and finally converge in a crashing resolution involving war crimes, family secrets, mistaken identities, betrayal, and heroism. The revelations that reveal long-hidden truths begin as a trickle, then continue as an increasing flood that lasts right up until the final pages. The reader is left gasping as the final puzzle pieces fall into place.
A dying grandmother, haunted years later by her experience in Occupied France during WWII; a former Nazi who seeks refuge in a British monastery to escape persecution; a smuggling ring, The Round Table, founded during the occupation to ferry Jewish children out of France to safety, then betrayed; families who have lived with secrets and half-truths for decades - all of these elements are pulled together in an intricate tapestry that is every bit as spell-binding as it is complex.
Trying to weave these disparate strands into a coherent web is Brother Anselm, a monk who is charged by church authorities in Rome with finding the one man who was either a hero or a traitor, whose story can resolve the mysteries that were 50 years in the making, and who yet survives and is living under an assumed name.
This novel is loosely based on events in the life of the author’s mother, who as a young woman was arrested by the Gestapo for smuggling a child out of Holland.
One of its (many) strengths is its exploration of the moral dilemmas that can occur in wartime, the choices we make, and how those choices reverberate through the years. Even more complicated… What happens when people make hidden choices, when they make secret sacrifices that bring no absolution for visible sins? The puzzle pieces that make up human beings rarely fit neatly together; we may think we have the puzzle solved to our satisfaction, but there are often missing pieces that we don’t even know to look for.
“A page-turner that keeps you on the edge of your seat”. Such a cliche. And yet, for me at least, that really does describe my experience of this novel.
A dying grandmother, haunted years later by her experience in Occupied France during WWII; a former Nazi who seeks refuge in a British monastery to escape persecution; a smuggling ring, The Round Table, founded during the occupation to ferry Jewish children out of France to safety, then betrayed; families who have lived with secrets and half-truths for decades - all of these elements are pulled together in an intricate tapestry that is every bit as spell-binding as it is complex.
Trying to weave these disparate strands into a coherent web is Brother Anselm, a monk who is charged by church authorities in Rome with finding the one man who was either a hero or a traitor, whose story can resolve the mysteries that were 50 years in the making, and who yet survives and is living under an assumed name.
This novel is loosely based on events in the life of the author’s mother, who as a young woman was arrested by the Gestapo for smuggling a child out of Holland.
One of its (many) strengths is its exploration of the moral dilemmas that can occur in wartime, the choices we make, and how those choices reverberate through the years. Even more complicated… What happens when people make hidden choices, when they make secret sacrifices that bring no absolution for visible sins? The puzzle pieces that make up human beings rarely fit neatly together; we may think we have the puzzle solved to our satisfaction, but there are often missing pieces that we don’t even know to look for.
“A page-turner that keeps you on the edge of your seat”. Such a cliche. And yet, for me at least, that really does describe my experience of this novel.
August 8, 2025
4 stars. This book was a Richard and Judy UK Book Club selection for 2005 which is why it was on my radar. I finally was able to find a copy of the book and just finished reading it and I'm glad I did. It started slowly, but was worth perservering as the story was multifaceted and very interesting. Father Anselm is at Larkwood Priory where there is a guest in residence, a former Nazi officer, Eduard Schwermann. He is claiming sanctuary and it appears that he might be a war criminal. There is also a woman Agnes Aubret who is dying of motor neuron disease. Agnes has a story, she was in France when it was occupied by the Nazis and she was involved with a group that tried to smuggle Jewish children to safety. She lost a son and was in a notorious prison camp but managed to escape to England. Her grand daughter Lucy becomes involved in the story of her grandmother's past which was also involved with the German war criminal. This was a very intriguing book to read, kind of like peeling the skin of an onion, one revelation at a time, at times changing the narrative with plenty of twists. I enjoyed the read.
August 18, 2020
For the story, given its subject matter, I would only give three stars; it deals uncompromisingly with some difficult issues. For the writing and for the story's depth at least six stars. It fits into the mystery genre but that only gives it a structure; the mystery is secondary to the study of human behaviour.
This is probably not a book to be read lightly as it deals with human frailties, love, fear, betrayal, doubt, ill-health. The writing style is beautiful, the story varies between gentle, terrifying, compassionate, heart-breaking . . . I could go on. It presents a view of the long-term effects of actions being, here, of World War II and occupied France.
It is one of the rare books which make me afraid to pick up another book because I fear it will not measure up. This is partly due to the story but largely to the writing.
The blurb will tell you that it is about the prosecution in 1995 of an alleged Nazi war criminal but the real essence of the book is in human nature in its search for truth and understanding and coming to terms with what that nature is and does.
This is probably not a book to be read lightly as it deals with human frailties, love, fear, betrayal, doubt, ill-health. The writing style is beautiful, the story varies between gentle, terrifying, compassionate, heart-breaking . . . I could go on. It presents a view of the long-term effects of actions being, here, of World War II and occupied France.
It is one of the rare books which make me afraid to pick up another book because I fear it will not measure up. This is partly due to the story but largely to the writing.
The blurb will tell you that it is about the prosecution in 1995 of an alleged Nazi war criminal but the real essence of the book is in human nature in its search for truth and understanding and coming to terms with what that nature is and does.
April 21, 2018
This book is beautifully written, but includes very painful subject matter. I've been to Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sachsenhausen, and Dachau plus the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, and frankly after those visits I tend to avoid books, movies and plays about the Holocaust. But a friend read another book in this series and enjoyed it, and I was looking for a new audio book series. And of course I have to start at the beginning of a series!
All that being said, I still would highly recommend this book (the audio book reader is excellent), but with the caveat that it is not at all easy subject matter. There is much heartbreak, but also some redemption at the end. Brodrick also did a fantastic job with plot twists and kept me guessing.
All that being said, I still would highly recommend this book (the audio book reader is excellent), but with the caveat that it is not at all easy subject matter. There is much heartbreak, but also some redemption at the end. Brodrick also did a fantastic job with plot twists and kept me guessing.
February 21, 2022
A few years ago I swore off reaching anymore holocaust stories. Starting with the
Diary of Ann Frank
, in my youth I read every holocaust novel that came along. In recent years, a new round of authors have found ways to create interesting variations on the theme.
Still, I was disappointed when I found that this Father Anselm mystery, highly recommended, was another holocaust novel.
I have to say: this is not a novel about the holocaust. It's a mystery, a true mystery that unfolds in unexpected ways as the book ends. And the story does not take place during World War II, but rather solves a mystery that had its roots in France among French and Jewish people living in Paris.
I also felt that there was some Christian insights and questions as Father Anselm works through the unraveling of what happened. An enjoyable read!
Still, I was disappointed when I found that this Father Anselm mystery, highly recommended, was another holocaust novel.
I have to say: this is not a novel about the holocaust. It's a mystery, a true mystery that unfolds in unexpected ways as the book ends. And the story does not take place during World War II, but rather solves a mystery that had its roots in France among French and Jewish people living in Paris.
I also felt that there was some Christian insights and questions as Father Anselm works through the unraveling of what happened. An enjoyable read!
August 27, 2024
I read this book quite a few years ago and it left such a lasting impression that I was delighted to put it on my crime book group's reading list. I shall be very keen to hear their views as it isn't the average crime read.
We all liked William Brodrick's writing style, his use of language, descriptions of the Priory and the monastic life and the monks. The court scenes were powerfully drawn and very realistic. Agnes's battle with motor neuron disease was so touchingly told and relationships cleverly handled. However we felt there was altogether too much happening, and too many stories that proved to be distracting and somewhat uneccesary. Still for all its faults the book is well worth reading and I for one found it very moving.
We all liked William Brodrick's writing style, his use of language, descriptions of the Priory and the monastic life and the monks. The court scenes were powerfully drawn and very realistic. Agnes's battle with motor neuron disease was so touchingly told and relationships cleverly handled. However we felt there was altogether too much happening, and too many stories that proved to be distracting and somewhat uneccesary. Still for all its faults the book is well worth reading and I for one found it very moving.
May 11, 2018
I didn’t like this book as much as A Whispered Name, partly because I had trouble keeping the characters and plot threads straight. I suspect this may be more related to my mental capacity than the book itself.
I still plan to give the other Father Anselm books a try.
I still plan to give the other Father Anselm books a try.
February 3, 2020
A well-woven tale with intriguing philosophical musings and illuminated with frequent, sparkling turns of phrase.
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