Skeletons At The Feast by Chris Bohjalian – 372 pages
Book Blurb:
In January 1945, in the waning months of World War II, a small group of people begin the longest journey of their lives: an attempt to cross the remnants of the Third Reich, from Warsaw to the Rhine if necessary, to reach the British and American lines.
Among the group is eighteen-year-old Anna Emmerich, the daughter of Prussian aristocrats. There is her lover, Callum Finella, a twenty-year-old Scottish prisoner of war who was brought from the stalag to her family’s farm as forced labor. And there is a twenty-six-year-old Wehrmacht corporal, who the pair know as Manfred–who is, in reality, Uri Singer, a Jew from Germany who managed to escape a train bound for Auschwitz.
As they work their way west, they encounter a countryside ravaged by war. Their flight will test both Anna’s and Callum’s love, as well as their friendship with Manfred–assuming any of them even survive.
Among the group is eighteen-year-old Anna Emmerich, the daughter of Prussian aristocrats. There is her lover, Callum Finella, a twenty-year-old Scottish prisoner of war who was brought from the stalag to her family’s farm as forced labor. And there is a twenty-six-year-old Wehrmacht corporal, who the pair know as Manfred–who is, in reality, Uri Singer, a Jew from Germany who managed to escape a train bound for Auschwitz.
As they work their way west, they encounter a countryside ravaged by war. Their flight will test both Anna’s and Callum’s love, as well as their friendship with Manfred–assuming any of them even survive.
My Review: 5 stars
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This is probably my favorite Bohjalian book in his repertoire. The horror of the Holocaust was strikingly well told as were the characterizations of the motley crew heading West out of Germany. With romance, duplicity and familial love strongly portrayed in between the atrocities of the Holocaust, this book was very well written.
Quotes I liked:
She didn’t care so much whether the world would ever forgive her people; but she did hope that someday, somehow, she would be able to forgive herself.”
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First of all, Chris Bohjalian is one of my favorite authors, and Skeletons at the Feast, in my opinion, is one of his best. I give it 5 stars, too.
Marilyn B.
Marilyn B, Good news! Chris Bohjalian has a new book called The Sandcastle Girls coming out in the summer! He used to hint at writing a sequel to Skeletons At The Feast, wonder if it’s still in the works…