Germania: A Novel

In their youth Manni and Franzi together with their brothers Ziggy and Sebastian captured Germanys collective imagination as the Flying Magical Loerber Brothers -- one of the most popular vaudeville acts of the old Weimar days. The ensuing years have however found the Jewish brothers estranged and ensconced in various occupations as the war is drawing near its end and a German surrender is imminent. Manni is traveling through the Ruhr Valley with Albert Speer who is intent on subverting Hitlers apocalyptic plan to destroy the German industrial heartland before the Allies arrive; Franzi has become inextricably attached to Heinrich Himmlers entourage as astrologer and masseur; and Ziggy and Sebastian have each been employed in pursuits that threaten to compromise irrevocably their own safety and ideologies. Now with the Russian noose tightening around Berlin and the remnants of the Nazi government fleeing north to Flensburg the Loerber brothers are unexpectedly reunited. As Himmler and Speer vie to become the next Führer deluded into believing they can strike a bargain with Eisenhower and escape their criminal fates the Loerbers must employ all their talents -- and whatever magic they possess -- to rescue themselves and one another. Deftly written and darkly funny Germania is an astounding adventure tale -- with subplots involving a hidden cache of Nazi gold Hitlers miracle U-boats and Speers secret plan to live out his days hunting walrus in Greenland -- and a remarkably imaginative novel from a gifted new writing talent.