Motherland

This haunting family saga set in WWII Germany illuminates the reality of war away from the frontlines . . . with a compassion and depth of understanding that will touch your heart (People). Inspired by the authors extended family and their status as MitlauferGermans who went along with Nazism reaping its benefits and later paying the consequences. Inspired by the stories told by her father about his German childhood and letters between her grandparents that were hidden in an attic wall for fifty years Motherland is a novel that attempts to reckon with the paradox of the author''s fathera product of her grandparents fiercely protective loveand their status as passive Nazisympathizers known as Mitlaufer.. At the center of Motherland lies the Kappus family: Frank is a reconstructive surgeon who lost his beloved wife in childbirth. Two months later just before being drafted into medical military service Frank marries a young woman charged with looking after the surviving baby and his two grieving sons. Alone in the house Liesl attempts to keep the children fed with dwindling food supplies safe from the constant Allied air attacks and the tides of desperate refugees flooding their town. When one child begins to mentally unravel Liesl must discover the source of the boys infirmity or lose him forever to Hadamar the infamous hospital for unfit children.. Bearing witness to the shame and courage of Third Reich families during the devastating final days of the war each family members fateful choice leads the reader deeper into questions of complicity and innocence and to the novels heartbreaking and unforgettable conclusion.