Victoria Cornwell in The Wartime Affair, set between 1938-1945, has captured with an immense understanding, the horror experienced by families as they watched their life changing before their eyes, Hitler youth fearing nothing, hatred and violence being spread by the people they knew in their town. This was just the beginning of what was to become far worse, far more destructive, far more horrifying.
It’s the night of 9 November 1938 in Gollnow, Pomerania. The Brownshirts are attacking homes owned by Jewish people, dragging them out into the streets, smashing windows, doors, terrifying everyone with their loud, angry, voices. From that night forward life for Elsa Kalbach and her family would never be the same.
Sam, a British Soldier has been captured and interned at a POW camp in Germany. Through series of appalling circumstances, he now finds himself in a farmers shed, injured, ill and at the mercy of a young German woman with small child, also seeking shelter.
In this heartbreaking, captivating story of survival, acceptance and love, Cornwell tells the story of the many who were forced from their homes, suffered the horror of long, dangerous often deadly treks to seek safety and shelter, surviving on what could be scrounged, offered or stolen.
As Sam and Elsa, along with Klara begin the long journey to Bremen, holding fast to the hope that her mother and sister had managed to make their way to safety, that Sam can find his way back to Britain or a friendly Regiment, they both have to learn that acceptance of each other is crucial to their survival at a time when no one can be trusted.
Rich in detail, drama and the unexpected, The Wartime Affair revisits Germany at the commencement of Hitlers dominance is a story told through the eyes of a young woman who slowly becomes disillusioned about the dogma she had been led to believe was the future for Germany.
Cornwall writes in this poignant tale a story that captures what would have been the reality for so many women, children and elderly left to try and survive in a hostile countryside.
Interestingly, this story woven on history, of a man who rose to power appearing to be unstoppable is repeating itself in clear view today, the lessons of the past laying discarded, as were so many people on the pathway to what they considered a better life.
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