I found this book in Borders, and was intrigued, first of all by the cover- a young girl dressed in a red coat with fur collar, fur muff, bright white socks and fancy shoes, holding the hand of an older woman whose face cannot be seen. They are standing in front of a bakery- Anyway, I found the book in the library- 478 pages, but I finished it within days, it was such a good read.
Anna Schlemmer lives in Weimar at the beginning of the war, and forms a relationship with a Jewish doctor, whom she later hides in her own home, and by whom she becomes pregnant. He is discovered and disappears into Buchenwald, a prison camp near Weimar. Anna flees from her father, hides for some time in a bakery, then becomes part of the household and gives birth to Trudi.
Fifty years later, Anna and Trudi are living together in America, brought to Minnesota by an American soldier. Anna and Trudi have a difficult relationship, because Anna refuses to speak of her past. Trudi, who is now a professor of German history, has only one piece of her own past: a family portrait of Anna, Trudi, and a Nazi officer, so she begins a search into the truth of her mother's life in Germany.
This novel depicts quite vividly the sacrifices that women made to protect themselves and , most especially, their children, and illustrates the difficulties that plague these survivors all their lives.
