‘The Nussbaums have been with us for nearly fifty years and for two generations. They’re part of the furniture. I’m sure the National Socialists will not be the slightest bit interested in them. And my husband and my father-in-law do have a little bit of influence, you know.’ ‘That may be true, Maria,’ said Frau Böhm, ‘but times are changing, and in modern Germany, things may become somewhat different from the way they are now.’ Ruth couldn’t have explained how she knew, but she realised that these women who, on the surface, were good friends, disliked each other intensely.
