THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE by Jessica Shattuck

Yet another WWII-and-after novel - why do I keep reading these I ask myself? The themes are always the same, revolving around the horrific treatment of the Jews, gypsies, handicapped, gays, resisters, and anyone else who happens to be in the way by a nation of people  that seems to have been effectively brainwashed by one crazy man. Do we read them because we wonder how such a situation could ever have arisen? Do we wonder how we would respond or behave if our own society was taken over by a bunch of crazies? What would we do if we were the ones persecuted and hunted? There is endless fascination, which of course is why we keep reading.

So here is another novel of ordinary people during and after the war. Three German women are united by the common goal of their husbands who are involved in the failed 1940 plot to  Hitler. All are executed leaving the women widows. One of the women, Marianne von Lingenfels is given the task by her leader husband to locate and protect the widows and families of the other resistors if anything should happen to the men. Marianne takes this role very seriously and after the war makes her way with her three children back to the family home - an old run down Bavarian castle. She does manage to locate Benita and her son Martin, as well as Ania and her two boys. Marianne's war time experience was comparatively good compared to that of Benita and Ania, one ending up as a sex slave to the Russians, her child in an orphanage, and the other married to a Nazi supporter, being rescued from a refugee camp. Together they find sanctuary in the castle, begin to carve out  a life of normality and routine. But the past has a habit of rearing up, throwing lives into chaos, despair and tragedy.

The plot is a good one, the characters are interesting, well thought out and my attention was held all the way. But what makes this book really stand out is the concept of collective guilt of the German nation in what happened. How did people not know what was really going on, how did they get sucked in so easily? How does a man involved in murders of women and children ever deal with this, how can he love another woman and her children? How do people deal with allied propaganda telling them they are guilty?  How does one justify a murder in self-defence? The author is clearly passionate about this subject and theme, and her writing is exceptional as she ferrets beneath the skin and surface of post-war German society. I especially loved her writing in these parts.

All in all, a good story, greatly enhanced by giving the reader plenty more to think about.