Readers first meet the four Heppenheimer cousins in Frankfurt in 1930, where they have gathered for their grandmother\u2019s funeral. Gertrude, the youngest, is just 10 years old, and she\u2019s excited because she\u2019ll get to see her father, Robert\u2014a rare occurrence since he moved to Strasbourg three years ago, after he and Gertrude\u2019s mother, who\u2019s Lutheran, divorced. Trudi and Gustav are both 16, and Bettina is 19; each is the sole offspring of a different Heppenheimer brother. Over the years, they develop a closeness that continues to evolve as they move into adulthood. Along the way, Gertrud and Gustav create a \u201ccousins\u2019 code\u201d; although it\u2019s designed to help them keep secrets among themselves and signal the uniqueness of their relationship, it also enables them to communicate when the Nazis make their lives increasingly precarious. Germany is in a deep economic depression following its defeat in World War I, and antisemitism is rising around the country. When Adolf Hitler comes to power in 1933, the persecution of Jewish people, and anyone with Jewish relatives, increases exponentially. Suchman\u2019s disturbing family drama, filled with long-held secrets, feuds, and resentments, offers readers a visceral, up-close, and terrifying inside view of life in Germany, Belgium, and France for the Jewish characters, and for their spouses and children who don\u2019t or can\u2019t flee Germany before the borders close. Readers, with the benefit of chilling hindsight, will be pulled into the hellish setting as new Nazi regulations come into effect, banning Jewish people from many stores, from owning businesses, or from holding funerals before sunset; later, the characters experience the burning of temples, have their property confiscated, and endure horrific beatings\u2014all before the terrifying deportations begin. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Readers first meet the four Heppenheimer cousins in Frankfurt in 1930, where they have gathered for their grandmother\u2019s funeral. Gertrude, the youngest, is just 10 years old, and she\u2019s excited because she\u2019ll get to see her father, Robert\u2014a rare occurrence since he moved to Strasbourg three years ago, after he and Gertrude\u2019s mother, who\u2019s Lutheran, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4320"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}