The Women in the Castle in MCLS Reading Challenge

Jun 08, 2017 Claire Talbot rated it liked it

I enjoy reading historical fiction, and liked this book, but not as much as I had hoped. It was interesting to read about this period in time, WWII Germany and post war Germany, from a German viewpoint. Marianne annoyed me at times, especially when it came to Benita.

3 likes · Like · see review

May 14, 2017 Stephanie rated it liked it

Shelves: reviewed, review-book, historical, wwii

The Women in the Castle was a unique look at WWII and the aftermath, featuring widows of the resistance. I enjoyed this latest addition in my quest to devour as many WWII books as possible and found it to be eloquent for such a difficult topic.

An old and decrepit castle in Germany at the end of WWII has become home to several widows and their children. After her husband’s execution, Marianne von Lingenfels and her three children have returned to Burg Lingenfels, the formerly grand home of his an The Women in the Castle was a unique look at WWII and the aftermath, featuring widows of the resistance. I enjoyed this latest addition in my quest to devour as many WWII books as possible and found it to be eloquent for such a difficult topic.

An old and decrepit castle in Germany at the end of WWII has become home to several widows and their children. After her husband’s execution, Marianne von Lingenfels and her three children have returned to Burg Lingenfels, the formerly grand home of his ancestors. His involvement in a failed plot to assassinate Hitler has left her a widow on a mission. Prior to the attack, she made a promise that if something were to go wrong, she would protect the other conspirator’s wives: fellow resistance widows. She rescues Benita and her son Martin, as well as Ania and her two young boys. The lives of these women and their children quickly become intertwined in the aftermath of war as they discover each other’s pasts and look toward the future, a future unlike anything they had previously imagined.

I’ve got to start by applauding Jessica Shattuck for her beautiful writing and meticulous research. She brought so much to life in these pages: the fear and uncertainty, the horrors of war, events like “Kristallnacht,” and of course the pinnacle of the story: an assassination attempt on Hitler by a band of resistors.

The story is told with frequent flashbacks, unraveling the past stories of the three women, their husbands, and the children. Much of the story is set in the castle in 1945 after the deaths of their husbands, but I also appreciated the back stories. I wanted to know how they got there, what their lives were like before the complete chaos and devastation took over their homes and lives. You see that, at once, they were ordinary women and ordinary families who were thrust into horrifying situations, propelling them to become exceptional. My admiration continued to grow.

The story could be slow moving at times, but I credit that to my lack of knowledge grounded in history; I frequently had to put down the book so that I could look up a term (many of which were German) or particular event. Though I have long been interested in WWII, particularly the Holocaust, I am not as versed in specifics as I’d like to be. I have made it a personal mission to become better informed about this time period, as it’s the time period I am most interested in learning about when it comes to history. I have several books on the topic and this novel definitely pushed me to want to pick those up ASAP so that I can truly come to understand the devastation of WWII – and this book was another great addition to that learning for me. I never knew much about resistors at all, and this was a fine introduction. I found that pushing through the slower paced parts was well worth it.

Fans of WWII and historical fiction will enjoy this one quite a bit for its unique take on the war. Strong characters add a lot of value to the story, and beautiful writing helps bring their stories to life. ...more

Like · see review

Mar 05, 2018 Amy Lafleur Meyers rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: wwii, germany, audiobook, historical-fiction, received-critic-starred-review, to-review, notes, 2018-read, narr-cassandra-campbell, adult-fiction

Like