The Women in the Castle: A Novel

I would like to say that I read this book nonstop but that would not be true. I had to pause, several times, to think and reflect, over the circumstances that these women endured. Shattuck writes about three different women whose common thread is that they are the widows of men who attempted to assassinate Hitler. A German aristocrat, an ingenue, and the third, a mother with two sons, falls somewhere in between. Their time together provides a photograph of daily life under Hitler, from its rousing beginning through his eventual defeat. Shattuck's story still lingers in my mind. I think about conduct, values, morality and what is means to be a citizen of the world in the 21st century. Through her characters, Shattuck raises issues that society continues to confront, topics that need to stay on the front page of our global community.

This was a powerful story about three German women in post-WWII Germany.  Marianne, Benita, and Ania (pronounced Anya) are widows of resisters executed after the failed attempt to assassinate Hitler in July, 1944.  The story begins six years before this, when the aristocrat Marianne pledges to her husband and to Benita's husband, her childhood friend to take care of the widows and orphans should the plot fail.  True to her promise, she locates Benita's son Martin in a Nazi orphanage and Benita in a Russian brothel, and brings them to her husband's family's castle, (the fictional) Berg Lingenfels.  Although much of it is a shambles, with no running water or power, it's a shelter, and it's surrounded by land to grow food and trees for firewood.  Soon Marianne, her three children, Benita, and Martin are joined by Ania and her two boys.  After the initial extremely difficult postwar years, life gets somewhat better in the 1950s, when things happen that tear the three women apart.  The story ultimately ends in 1991.

Author Jessica Shattuck also gives us the backstories of these women, so readers have three different representative types, all with flaws:  a true resister, a clueless and somewhat selfish young person, and another who sees the growing horror too late.  Shattuck modeled the latter character on her own German grandmother, who, with her husband, joined the Nazi Party for idealistic reasons.  Shattuck did much research, and I learned a lot about what show more happened in postwar occupied Germany.

Cassandra Campbell was an excellent audiobook reader.  She used German accents when the characters were speaking, and her normal soft voice for narration.  Its gentleness drew attention to the moral dilemmas of the story, as well as the beautiful descriptions.

Definitely recommend this one.

© Amanda Pape - 2017

[This e-audiobook was borrowed from and returned to a public library.] show less

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of novels that occur before or during World War II and cover Hitler’s rise to power and his “Final Solution.” Some are excellent, others are decent. All arouse disgust and horror at the atrocities man is able to commit against his fellow man. Yet, very few explore the war’s aftermath in war-torn Germany, let alone the idea of countrywide guilt, even though it is the natural segue for such stories. After all, the Allies decimated the German countryside as they advanced towards Berlin and the images of bombed-out towns and women picking through the rubble are indelible images from that era. They also fail to cover denazification process and the sticky ideological issues this raises. This lack of insight into this post-war period, as told from a German perspective, makes Jessica Shattuck’s truly excellent The Women in the Castle an excellent source to fill the void.

Marianne, Benita, and Ania are three very different women, so much so that you would think that living together in a decrepit old castle would cause friction. The only things these women have in common are the fact that they are all war widows and mothers, wives of the men who attempted to assassinate Hitler in an effort to end the war and save their country. Marianne is the natural leader of the group, a woman who does not take no for an answer and with a strong belief system that sees no shades of grey in any situation. Benita is the follower to Marianne’s show more leadership, the peasant to Marianne’s royal bloodline, and the beauty to Marianne’s brains. Ania is the quiet tie that binds the women together, neither peasant nor royal, and educated in the ways of making something out of nothing. Together, the three women raise their children and deal with the ravages of the country and to their identity as German citizens.

Told in four major sections – pre-war, post-war 1945, post-war 1950, and 1991 – we see the women’s journeys from the beginning to the end. We see what brings them to the castle, what they experienced before they arrived, and how they handled the burgeoning German economic improvements. The character development is strong, and all three women are vibrant and damaged and worthy of attention.

This is not just a story of survival though. It is also an exploration of guilt, individual and collective. Through the women’s experiences, we see a country trying to make sense of the atrocities done in their name and by their own. The three women are a microcosm of the German citizens, and their own individual levels of guilt mirror that of their countrymen. As they wrestle with their own sense of purpose in light of such senseless violence and loss, one gets a greater understanding of just how complicated post-war Germany was. Ms. Shattuck handles such difficult scenes with care, allowing readers to follow along on the women’s psychological journeys and form their own opinions about guilt and innocence during a time period when it would be so easy to proclaim all German citizens guilty for the war and the Holocaust.

For every person who has ever wondered just how someone like Hitler could rise to power or how German citizens could let the Holocaust happen, The Women in the Castle is for you. Granted, the story occurs AFTER the end of the war, but the three women provide insight into the typical German mindset during Hitler’s rise to power as well as during the war. Where the story shines though is the war’s aftermath as seen through three widows. Their collective story shines a light on one country’s collective guilt and the lasting psychological damage the wartime atrocities wrought on an entire generation. show less

Women in the Castle opens with finely defined contrasts between good and evil, Nazis and invasions, against the commonplace of serving harvest party guests in the countryside.
Humanity and cruelty, friendship and betrayal intersect constantly all the way to the ending.

Marianne von Lingenfels, widow of one of the men executed for the attempted assassination of Hitler,
returns with her children to her husband's Bavarian castle at the end of the War. Honoring a pledge to be "commander of wives and children" that she had made to her best friend, Connie, another of the executed, she seeks other resistance widows and their children to give them a safe life in the castle.

She finds only two, Benita and Ania.

Though many enemies approached the castle, the women, somehow miraculously without weapons,
convinced them not to rape and murder everyone and steal all the food.

It is compelling literature which
inspires readers to get back out there to end new wars and to figure out
how to lessen the hatred, racism, and nationalism that fuel them.

Like FIRE BY NIGHT and ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE and too many others, after smooth beginning chapters, the plot sequence jumps back and forth in time, making it hard to track and care about individual characters.

A few mysteries remain: why did Franz Muller not tell both Benita and Marianne what role he
actually played in the east as a Nazi? This makes no sense. Simply telling the truth would have changed Marianne's feelings somewhat about the proposed show more marriage and Benita would not have murdered herself. It also would not have harmed anyone.

Also, Marianne treats her interference in their marriage very lightly despite ruining lives.
Nowhere does she offer that Benita deserved to make her own choice about marrying an ex-Nazi
simply because she was so royally deceived by Connie who should have informed her that
her life was in danger by marrying him.

And, how does Marianne manage to stay rich when so many others had everything confiscated?

What will forever burn in the hearts of many of us are the German Catholics returning to their churches to worship a Jewish Rabbi whose children they have tortured and murdered. show less

A fascinating look at the psychology of perception through the experiences of three women of unequal social standing and disparate political views brought together by the realities of their experiences as German widows in the Second World War. This book made me rethink the current political situation in the US and how I had been judging those whom I believed to be "stupid" in light of what was going on, not looking at how their own experiences colored their views of right and wrong, just as mine have impacted my own views. The book gave me pause as to how otherwise enlightened individuals can be drawn into believing that a person or political party has the power to somehow "save" them from destruction. A book well worth reading during the current divisive political landscape that is America in the 21st century, providing both a cautionary look at how people can be deceived, and an understanding of the gray areas that our society must operate in.

This is a unique, fascinating, and engrossing novel that places the focus on the lives of ordinary people, living at a difficult and rarely described time: the end and aftermath of Word War II. The story focuses on 3 women whose husbands were killed for engaging in a plot to kill Hitler. The aftermath of that plot involves the lives of the families they left behind, and this novel takes us into their lives.

I found this book remarkable in the way it focuses on a perspective we rarely see and brings us face to face with the unknown everyday, regular people, the people who were not soldiers, not fighters, not heroes, but mothers, children, wives, plain people of the countryside who are just living to survive the horror they find themselves in, through no fault of their own. The fighting lurks in the backdrop here but the war's effects have spread to every person in every level of society. The three women here are very different, with different backgrounds, but they are drawn together for survival and a united vision. They each, however, have very different stories, hopes and dreams, and histories, and some secrets, too. I found the story fascinating, the characters heartbreaking (poor Benita!) and the realism jarring.

The novel raises thought-provoking, deep questions about good and evil, the role of the ordinary citizen, and how likely it is that anyone -- you, me, your next-door neighbor -- can become caught up in evil masquerading as the right thing to do.

Marianne von Lingenfels is a strong controlling German woman who instinctively knows how to navigate around obstacles to gets things done. After WWII she finds 2 of the widows and children of resistance fighters and shelters them at her family’s disintegrating castle. Very clear on right and wrong; she is furious at her fellow Germans’ denial of their complicity in the murder of millions of innocents, and emphatically expresses her disdain and indignation to them.

But while Marianne sees the larger picture of life, she misses key details about those she is sheltering and others. She doesn’t realize that Ania and her sons, and Benita feel they cannot confide in her.

Later she learns how her repressed feelings of attraction toward her childhood friend, Connie and her jealousy of Benita for marrying him, little grief or mourning for Albrecht, her husband, her cruel interference in Benita’s life caused irreparable harm. And her judgmental behavior toward Ania on seeing Brandt at the castle was responsible for an unnecessary many years rift between Ania and herself. She is remorseful and tries to make amends but realizes that she needs to start over in another country.

Very readable yet filled with lots of well-described personalities, thoughts and action.

Leaves me with questions about traditional gender identity, social responsibility, can a whole nation show remorse, and why were former nazis NOT PROSECUTED and allowed to return to their regular lives?

Historical fiction centered around the families of the resistors that attempted to assassinate Hitler. Marianne, widow of a resistor, has promised to take care of their families if something goes awry in the assassination attempt. Of course, we know it does and the resistors are executed. In the immediate aftermath of WWII, while refugees are fleeing, Marianne locates two other widows (Benita and Ania) and their children, and brings them to her vast family estate, now mostly in ruins, where they become a quasi-family unit. The author is adept at describing the dire physical circumstances as well as the mental quandaries the characters encounter.

This is an interesting and provocative story of how the average German citizen enabled the rise of Hitler, by denying, ignoring, or going along with his political rhetoric. This book examines how the women made choices under extreme duress, sometimes causing them to veer from their closely-held beliefs and values. Readers learn of the personal anguish involved in decisions made during Hitler’s tenure. Throughout the novel, readers are led to question what he or she would do under these terrible circumstances, to what lengths would we go to protect ourselves and our families? Themes include the good vs. evil, repercussions of choices, moral accountability, secrets, guilt, and regrets. For me, the only drawback to the book was the part that took place in 1991, as it slowed the tempo and didn’t answer some of my questions to show more arrive at a sense of closure. Overall it is a well-written, realistic, and thought-provoking account of one of the most difficult times in history. Highly recommended to readers of historical fiction, especially the WWII era.


Meaningful quotes:
“We are not all thugs and villains. But we will become these, if we don’t try to make change.”

“He was a body washed up in her mind, dragging the tangle of her own bad choices like so much kelp.”

“She will rue her lack of curiosity, her ability to see things only as she wanted to, for the rest of her life.”

“Sometimes it is easier to see clearly from a distance. And what is up close… is hard to make out.”

“All a question gets is an answer, and in her experience you don’t always want those.” show less

There are so many WWII novels out there and so many being released all the time, that it seems as if there's no possible way that every aspect of the war hasn't already been covered and mined for stories. But then comes a novel like Jessica Shattuck's The Women in the Castle, where the focus is not only on the women and children left behind when the men fight the war but more specifically on the widows and children of a small portion of the conspirators who came so very close to assassinating Hitler that July of 1944 in Operation Valkyrie after the war is over. With this novel, another aspect of the war and life after it comes a little bit more into focus.

Opening with the incongruity of a lavish party held at Burg Lingenfels, an impressive but crumbling castle in Bavaria, on the evening of what would come to be known as Kristallnacht, when Marianne von Lingenfels goes looking for her husband and her old friend, both missing from the party, she hears of the night's atrocities and the men's growing suspicion that assassinating Hitler is the only solution open to the resistance. And it is that night that, despite taking offence at the seemingly offhand and unimportant title of Commander of Wives and Children, laughingly bestowed on her by her husband, Marianne promises her best friend she will take care of his young fiance and their unborn child, come what may. After the war is over, Marianne works to honor her promise, finding six year old Martin in a children's show more re-education home and his mother Benita being used by the Russians in Berlin and takes the two of them to Burg Lingenfels where her own children are living. Eventually she finds another resister's widow, Ania, and her two children at a displaced persons camp and brings them to the castle as well. Life is not easy for anyone post-war and definitely not for the three women with their very different personalities and their secrets from each other. As the full truth of the Nazis' monstrousness comes out, Marianne, uncompromising and morally absolute, leans on the rightness of her husband and his friends' cause, even if they failed in the execution. Benita, pretty and young and sheltered from any knowledge of the work her husband was doing, just wants to move forward, to forget the past and make a new life with her precious son. Pragmatic Ania stays mostly quiet on the past, focused on day to day survival, unwilling to stir up the ghosts who always hover just over her shoulder.

The women are very different, having different backgrounds and personalities, their only obvious commonality that of their husbands' participation in the attempt on Hitler. The narrative time line jumps back and forth from each woman's past to her life as it unfolds after the war in the company of the other two and the narrative focus also moves back and forth amongst the women as they grapple with what a life moving forward will look like. The differences in the women stand in for the larger idea of how to remember, honor, and mourn but also go forth and embrace the future. Can we forgive? Should we? What would either of those look like? And who decides which of these options is the right one? All of the women are pretty set in their individual characterizations and the conflicts that result are realistic and nuanced. The relationships between the women are tested and forged in shared hardship and these alliances are heavyweights, uneasy, and breakable, so very different from many tales of women's relationship. The jumping narrative and the dominant characterizations of the women might make this a harder read for some but those looking for a differently focused book set mostly in the aftermath of the war will find this novel of moral obligation, remembrance, guilt, betrayal, and rebuilding something worth reading. show less

I have done some good reading this year but The Women In the Castle was the best so far. Jessica Shattuck told a deeply engaging story that got at the complexities of war and peace, specifically the actions and reactions of ordinary Germans to the horrors of World War II. She tells the story of three women and their children as they live through the chaos that was the end of the war. The women, wives of conspirators whose attempted assassination of Hitler failed in summer 1944, each bring secrets with them to the old castle, the ancestral home of one of the conspirators, where they struggle to make a life for themselves and their children. At times a painful read, the book explores survival and shame while depicting the strength of the women when faced with unimaginable horror and adversity.

Even if you think you’re sick of World War II novels, try this one because THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE is more than that. Jessica Shattuck has assembled what SEEMS to be a story of three German women, survivors who were married to heroic men of the Resistance. But little by little we learn these women’s secrets.

Together, Marianne, Ania, and Betina, the women in the castle, survive the aftermath of World War II. Their stories continue through 1991, all the while revealing Betina’s and Ania’s secrets and those of the people they were and are involved with. THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE examines guilt and moral culpability. It is not as simple and cut and dry as Marianne believes.

THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE goes back and forth in time, but it is not confusing if you pay attention to chapter headings. Rather, you will find, when you are taken back in time, you will understand more. You may find that you identify with Marianne and see German guilt for what they did or didn’t do before, during, and after World War II, even for just what they thought, in a new light.

Splendidly written story of Germans at the end of WWII which helps the reader process how an nation could have followed Hitler into the depths of hell exterminating millions of people that he deemed unfit. Based on true stories including a group of men who attempted to assassinate Hitler in 1944 and the wives and children they left behind after they were caught and killed after not succeeding. Even the morally higher group, and the one wife who knew what they were up to, made compromises. It explores the compromises and disregard of what was going on and willingness to belief lies and what we now call fake news. People felt helpless to fight the bully culture of the Nazis and in many ways there was no black and white morality, but rather shades of gray and small measures to not directly participate in the exterminations. A thought provoking read that is relevant today with fake news, lies by leaders, and a culture of exclusion that has built in the US and around the world. Citizens must rise up against these tactics early on before they snowball into the kinds of major exterminations we have seen in recent years in Uganda, Bosnia, Syria, and many other places. In the mid-1930s, if strong leaders would have risen up against the Nazi bullies they might have been stopped.

This is not the story of WWII nor is it the story of the holocaust, although those events are responsible for this story. This is the story of survival and friendship in the aftermath of a terrible time in history. Jessica Shattuck tells the story of three German women whose husbands were resistors and were killed for planning the assassination of Hitler.

When we meet Marianne von Lingenfels it is at her husband's aunt's annual party at the Castle, on the night that will become known as Kristallnacht. She happens upon a meeting of her husband and several other resistors plotting against Hitler. "Connie" Martin Constantine Fledermann, her childhood friend jokingly appoints her Commander of wives and children. She is annoyed, but this title and promise is what brings these three women together. After the war ends, Marianne finds Martin, Connie's son and Benita his wife, both in unsavory locations/situations and takes them with her to live in The Castle. Shortly after, she receives a call from an American Officer that they have located another wife and children of one of the names she gave them. She moves Ania and her two boys to The Castle from a Displaced Person's Camp. The story tells about the trials and tribulations these women and children had to deal with during this period. The dangers from roving Russian soldiers, the lack of food and water as well as other creature comforts, yet they were better off than many others. As the story unfolds we learn about their past show more and how it brought them to where they were and what will become of them in this "New Germany".

This story is one that needed to be told. I had not heard about what the citizens went through after the war. The scars that they had and the animosity between the resistors and the Nazis. Marianne was a strong woman who took a stand and helped others to the best of her ability. She was not perfect, but she was human. The plot had some slow spots but overall, kept me engaged and I enjoyed this story. A good one for historical fiction lovers. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley. show less

Fantastic book about three very different women caught up in the difficult world of Nazi Germany. Marianne returns to the grand castle of her husband's ancestors. She is smart, educated, and confident. When she promises to take care of the wife and child of a dear life long friend, she rescues young Martin from a Nazi reeducation center and then his mother, beautiful Benita. Even though Benita was born into meager circumstances and is young and naive, her only wish had been to escape her small town and live a good life. As Marianne undertakes to rescue more of the families of the Nazi resisters, she finds Ania and her two boys. Ania is practical and becomes a great help at the castle as the three become close while attempting to maneuver through the war including the invasion of the Russians.

There are many acts of bravery in this story but no heroes. Each woman brings her own guilt and faults to the situation Marianne is often too confident and has strong ideological beliefs against the Nazi. Benita is not in the least political but is sensitive and wants to find love. Ania is practical above all else and eventually marries a nearby neighbor insuring her sons have an inheritance.

The novel does not follow a chronological line but tells the story of the three together and then back tracks to their earlier lives. Each woman has a different relationship with their own children and each woman reacts differently as the war closes. Marianne makes a decision that ruins the hopes show more of Benita; Ania's background as a former Nazi eventually is found out.

The last chapters of the book take place in more contemporary times with Marianne living in the United States as does Martin, Benita's son. The castle in Germany is transformed into a center for the study of peace bringing together diverse peoples living in relative luxury. How much do the children really understand the sacrifices and difficulties that each of these women endured? What happens with ideology is more important than relationships?

This book is beautifully written and each of the characters are very believable. There are no black and white answers. Loved it

Reread for book club: Still loved it. show less

This was the story of three German women - widows of men killed for their role in the plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler - who come together in the aftermath of World War II and attempt to rebuild their lives.
This novel is best described by a line near the end "The whole murky, impulsive side of human interaction, the tangled knots of influence and emotion". There are strong and very interesting characters in this book. Marianne, the central character is a strong, straight forward person who sees all in black and white until that leaves her relationships in a mess. Benita, beautiful, silly, empty headed and ultimately so tragic.Mysterious Ania, who's past we don't know until the end and we learn of her involvement in the Nazi world from a new perspective.
I greatly enjoyed this novel.

It is November 1938 and in Burg Lingenfels the elderly countess’s annual harvest party is about to get under way. As she is now wheelchair-bound, she has relied on Marianne von Lingelfels, her niece-in-law, to organise it and to perform the role of hostess. Along with a group of close friends at the gathering, Marianne’s husband Albrecht, feels deeply concerned about the power of Hitler and the Nazi regime; they are all fearful of the future and are actively involved in the resistance movement. During the party news of the organised and co-ordinated destruction of Jewish properties, later to become known as Kristallnacht, reaches the castle. This information reinforces the fears of all those resistance members present that their own lives, and those of their families, are in grave danger if they continue with their opposition; in spite of this they remain committed to opposing, by whatever means they can, the destructive regime. Connie, a long-term friend of Marianne, has recently married Benita, a young woman from outside the aristocratic circle they belong to and, even though he is aware that she doesn’t approve of his choice of wife, he implores her to look after her should anything happen to him.
When Marianne and Benita are widowed following their husbands’ involvement in the failed July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler, Marianne feels duty-bound to keep this promise to help Benita, as well as any other resistance-widows in need of refuge. She eventually show more manages to find Benita, who was being held as a sex-slave to the Russians. She also tracks down Benita’s young son Martin who, as a result of Connie’s part in the plot, had been taken from his mother and placed in a children’s home. Them, some months later, the American Army, working from the list Marianne had given them, put her in touch with Ania and her two sons, who had escaped from a Polish work camp for political prisoners. These three, disparate women and their children find refuge in the by now rundown Bavarian castle as they attempt to forge new lives for themselves, whilst attempting to come to terms with their individual experiences of the war.
The story moves backwards and forwards, from pre-war Germany to their lives as the post-war decades move on towards the 1990s, exploring how each of the women deals with their experiences and find ways to reconcile their past behaviour with their desire to move forward. Marianne’s dream that their shared experiences will forge a strong bond between them is soon threatened; she recognises that she risks alienating Benita and Ania as she tries to dictate how they should behave, but struggles to relinquish her desire to control how they should face the future. However, the women do find some feelings of safety and security within this makeshift family and there are as many examples of love, support and generosity as there are of antagonism and resentment.
Once I started this novel I could hardly bear to put it down because it so quickly and powerfully drew me into the lives of three women whose experiences of the Nazi era, and its aftermath, had as many differences as similarities. The intricate story-telling, with its many surprising twists and turns, movingly captured the way in which, in order to survive the war, each one of them had faced difficult decisions but, post-war, often felt haunted by the choices they had made. Marianne had been vehemently anti-Nazi from the start but Benita had been, albeit rather indifferently, a member of a Hitler Youth Group before her marriage to Connie and remained apolitical, whilst Ania’s sentiments had, before her gradual disillusionment, been actively pro-Nazi. I thought that the tensions between the moral certainties of Marianne and the more complex moral struggles faced by Benita and Ania were very well highlighted and explored as the story developed. I frequently found myself alternating between outrage and sympathy at the choices each of the three characters made and how they attempted to justify their decisions. Each character had her own secrets and nightmares, but the ways in which each attempted to reconcile them made for a very thought-provoking and, in many ways, disturbing reading experience. I have never been faced with life-threatening dilemmas so found myself wondering how I would have behaved; would I have been able to live up to my principles and ideals, or would I have been tempted to compromise them in order to survive? I hope it would have been the former but the truth is that none of us can possibly be certain until we have had to face those choices. I thought that the power of Jessica Shattuck’s story-telling enabled me to experience, in an almost visceral way, the struggles of her characters with the moral dilemmas they faced; to simultaneously feel horror at some of their decisions and yet still feel some empathy with their behaviour.
The story explores, through the three women as well as through the behaviour of people in the wider community, the complexities of how the people of Germany struggled to acknowledge and come to terms with their individual participation in what happened during the Nazi period. Some people wanted to deny that they were aware of any of the horrors being perpetrated; some wanted to just be allowed to move on, to try to forget the past; whilst others were unable to move forward because they were haunted by their past behaviour. However, whatever their personal inclinations, the outside world remained ever ready to remind them of the weight of their history. The story raises questions about how, both individually and collectively, people are able to reconcile a horrific past with moving on to forge a positive, productive future. The exploration of how the children of the three women dealt with the past and their own struggles to come to terms with what happened in Germany in World War II, as well as with the decisions their parents had made, added another layer of moral and emotional complexity to this thought-provoking story.
I enjoyed Jessica Shattuck’s writing style, which I found elegant, fluent, unhurried and compassionate. In her story-telling she delved deep into the complexities of lives lived in times of crisis. Although she didn’t shrink from describing some of the true horrors of a brutal war, her descriptions and reflections were always within the context of the experiences of her characters and never felt gratuitously vicarious. Her intimate knowledge of Germany (her mother is German and she made frequent holiday visits to Germany to see her grandparents) clearly contributes to the fact that the whole story feels authentically realistic.
I think that this is a moving and memorable novel, and I know that all the characters, as well as the challenging themes which form the foundations of the story, will remain with me for a very long time to come. I think it would be a wonderful choice for reading groups because it raises so many issues which are as relevant in today’s world as they were during the Second World War.
My thanks to Nudge/newbooks for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. show less

Guess Im bucking the trend of all these 5 star ratings, but this one didnt get there for me. Yes, its beautifully written and the back stories were compelling (I learned alot about WWII, despite having read countless other books about it). But the character development was weak. I understand the main characters' inability to connect with her "friends" was a major theme, but the readers need to connect with them. Or her. Or just even one of them or their family members!

I found this book fascinating because it was mainly about what happened in Germany after World War II. Even though it did have flashbacks to the war itself, the plot concentrated on the three widows of Nazi resisters who inhabited castle Von Lingenfels after they were left to try to make it on their own amidst the destruction of their country and former lives. It makes for a plot that is filled with characters who are not black and white or evil and good, but rather many shades of gray. Shattuck treats the Nazi soldier who is horrified with his former life with as much respect as the limousine liberal Prussian duchess who takes in all of the widows at the end of the war. In the end, all people's stories must be told and judged individually.

Marianne is the widow of a man who helped to plot Hitler's death. The plot, rather famously, failed, and Albrecht and his co-conspirators were executed horribly, their families were torn apart, wives imprisoned, and children snatched away. But Marianne is tough and stubborn. She resisted Hitler before and during the war, and after it, she is determined to find the remaining families of those conspirators, and offer them what aid and sanctuary she can.

She finds three widows and their children, and brings them all together in the castle that belonged to her family. Together they navigate the post-war years in spite of being essentially very different sorts of people. And its those differences which informs much of the conflict of the novel.

I haven't often come across books which tell the story of post-war Germany from the viewpoint of ordinary Germans. Pre-war, wartime, post-war non-fiction discussing the fate of the men who drove the Nazi agenda, yes. But just people scraping by, trying to cope with the guilt or anger of having been part of one of the most horrific events the world has ever seen? Not so much. And that makes these stories that much more compelling, because along with the secrets, the personal tragedies, and the conflicts that ultimately arise between people, there is an additional layer of conflict. Participation guilt, survivor guilt, wholly understandable rage at having been forced into a situation in which everything you value was stolen from you. It's show more harrowing.

It's also a thoughtful, sensitive study of how different people approach moral quandaries. Marianne is a black-and-white thinker with a clear moral compass. Her confusion when that compass points her in the wrong direction is painful. Benita has simple desires, yet somehow she is never able to have the few things she feels would make her happy. Ania does what she can to protect her children from a secret life that might devastate them. Their friendship is ultimately a recipe for disaster. That there aren't more victims is a tribute to the ability of people to learn and change.

Shattuck's writing is strong and direct. She doesn't flinch from talking about painful things, or prettify evil. She does allow us, though, to view her characters with empathy and to understand why they have done the things they've done. She lets us watch them grow and come to understand their existences in a deeper way. That's the best any of us can hope for, I suspect, so Shattuck's novel can give us hope as well as a remarkable story. show less

I've never read WWII from the point of view of three ordinary German women--none of them Jews or high-ranking Nazis. The book's major selling point is its three contrasting perspectives: one a German of low birth, little education, and less interest in politics; one in the "middle class" with innocent dreams of a better Germany and a better world; and one highly educated member of the elite very aware of the global political situation and shouldering responsibility on the macro as well as the micro level. (I have to admit, I saw a bit of myself in Marianne.)

I liked each of the women's stories separately. Together...well, it felt a bit forced. I would have liked this book well enough as a set of interwoven novellas or short stories, even without the final conclusion that brings everyone back together. But then, the point of the story is that we’re able to contrast the three women’s perspectives. I don’t know, as much as I loved the pieces that made up the story, I wasn’t wholly satisfied with the way they fit together.

Shattuck does a superb job giving the three women independent personalities and opinions, even if all have opinions that we modern readers can sympathize with. There’s little to challenge us that isn’t answered for in the adjacent paragraphs. Shattuck does play around with time a bit within chapters, especially Ania is reminiscing about her time during the war—so it’s possible that the reader is meant to understand that the “answers” are show more things that the characters have thought about themselves, the way that they’ve justified the events in their own heads.

I liked Shattuck’s writing style over all, but there were a few places where the language felt a little bit too self-consciously literary. There was a chapter-opening line somewhere in there about how the white-capped waves on a lake looked like an audience’s clapping hands. Um, what?

But setting aside the particulars of this finicky, over-read bookworm, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history, particularly that of WWII, and/or how the past might apply to what’s happening in the world right now. Yes, like all books about Germany in WWII this one brings out the biggest questions about action and inaction—but unlike so many other books I’ve read, it actually offers some answers to get us on our way. This is a deeply educational book, for all that it’s fiction--maybe even because it's fiction, because it is so explanatory without being heavy-handed. That quality will make this an incredibly popular book with book clubs and probably some school classes as well, both history and English. I look forward to hearing others' thoughts about this book when it publishes in April.

Quote Roundup

(75) So many little lines in this book were eerily similar to things that are being said these days, but this one in particular hit home:
“Many of their friends had known Hitler was a lunatic, a leader whose lowbrow appeal to people’s most selfish, self-pitying emotions and ignorance was an embarrassment to their country. They had watched him make a masterwork of scapegoating Jews for Germany’s fall from power and persuade his followers that enlightenment, humanity, and tolerance were weaknesses--‘Jewish’ ideas that led to defeat.”

(95) I didn’t know that the Allies forced Germans to attend viewings of films that showed the concentration camps, but it seems like a very good idea. It’s hard to imagine, in this day of brutal media and blunt reporting, how shocking these images must have been at the time. But it’s important for the citizens of a country to be aware of their whole past—the glorious times as well as the dark ones. The US could do with taking a leaf out of its own book to highlight for students a few key episodes of genocide perpetrated in its own history.

(125) I think it’s a bit too easy for a reader to dislike Marianne’s personality, but it is important that Shattuck takes the time on this page to show how even the enlightened who spoke out against Nazism still benefited from it.

(149) Shattuck has some lovely language here about how art is central to humanity—“not a luxury but a compulsion”—but what I find more interesting is that it’s in contrast to some earlier thoughts from another character who found during the war that the artistic spirit she thought so strong withered and died.

(208) “For me, shame is the only right way to live.”
Said by a very low-ranking Nazi who was far enough from the worst action to explain away his guilt—but could not.

I found Ania’s story as a middle-class German with high ideals and enthusiasm for self/country-improvement the most interesting and compelling, the most relatable of the three wartime narratives. It’s here that we get an idea of how everyday Germans might have reacted to the changes taking place in their country from the end of WWI (237) through WWII, and to the call for accountability in the aftermath. Ania is the kind of person that I think most people would find themselves to be in this kind of situation: focused on the good, focused on survival, and then wracked with guilt over some actions and lack thereof for the rest of their lives.

(254) This comment surprised me in its simplicity and its obviousness:
“She has never been taught that drawing distinctions between races is dangerous. In Germany, there is no great history of equal rights.”
It seems strange that I haven’t heard an explanation like this before!
And this comment gnaws at me for how familiar and applicable it is to myself:
“And, really, Ania is busy with her own life.”

(259) (261) Through Ania, Shattuck addresses some common questions about how Germans could just ignore stories of what was happening in the concentration camps.

(322) [A writer] was drawn especially to the story of Marianne as a woman in a man’s world, though Marianne herself never felt particularly constrained by this. After all, as she pointed out to Claire, if she were a man, she would be dead.

(334) Germany has become the agricultural wonder Hitler always imagined, every meter planted with crops or windmills or endless flats of solar panels.
Ah, what supreme irony.

(354) What is meant to be a moving scene to close the book was ruined by my trivial knowledge. If you carve something in the bark of a tree, it won’t move up as the tree grows up—bark widens, which is why it cracks on so many trees, so the image would be the same height even if it ended up looking broken. Which could have been symbolic in its own way. Alas, it seems that not the author, editors, copyeditors, proofreaders, etc., knew this fact. What stupid little things distract me. Curse you, Encyclopedia Brown! show less

This novel is about three very different women, the choices they make during and immediately following Hitler's rule, and how they try to come to terms with their actions. I found it captivating.

I thought the characters were well written. Principled Marianne was my favorite, but I didn't always agree with her. I didn't like self-centered Benita, but the author still managed to make me feel sorry for her.

I wouldn't have minded if the book had been longer, especially if I could have read more about Marianne's work or more about Ania's time right before Marianne found her.

Early on, Ania and Marianne had a scene standing together, united in purpose, and though the book soon skipped ahead in time, I could picture a friendship growing between them from that moment. I wish there had been some sort of bonding moment like that between Marianne and Benita. As it was, I never saw a closeness between those two. Marianne kept her promise and became protective, even motherly toward Benita. Benita, meanwhile, went behind Marianne's back and said things just to be hurtful, very much like a child. They thought of each other as friends, but I never saw or felt it. I wish I had as I believe certain events would have affected me even more.

I would read this book again and, in fact, have already reread several parts. I look forward to the author's next work.

Thank you to the publisher for this ARC.

This was the story of three German women - widows of men killed for their role in the plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler - who come together in the aftermath of World War II and attempt to rebuild their lives.

The German perspective on the war is one that I haven't read much about, and many passages in this book were really beautifully written. But for some reason I just didn't love it. I never once felt emotionally involved in what was going on and the pacing seemed to drag. There were just too many characters and too much jumping around in time. This might be one of those books that grows on me after I have a chance to think about it.

So like any other book, I picked this up, started reading and learning about the characters then all of a sudden about 50 pages in I realized I was completely lost inside this book and nothing else around me existed. I'm not sure at what point this happened. Maybe right from the start? But I was engrossed into the lives of these people. While I had nothing in common with them, they were my people and I needed to keep reading. The writing is flawless. Every sentence moves you forward in the story and brings you deeper into their lives. So beautifully written. I won't ever forget these women.

The story begins November 9, 1938 - a day the world will come to know as Kristallnacht. The setting is the Countess' famous Harvest Party at the Castle the reader will come to know as Burg Lingenfels.

This is a story of three women, three widows, who seek refuge at the Castle during and after the horrors of WWII. They are: Marianne, the wife of Albrecht von Lingenfels, who was the heir to The Castle, lawyer and one of the resisters who plotted to kill Hitler; Benita the beautiful bride of Constantine (Connie) Fledermann, married to a resister while not one herself and Ania Grabarek wife of a Polish government functionary whose story is woven into the story later in the book.

Jessica Shattuck has created a story based on one woman's commitment to save and protect the wives and children of the resisters. The story of each woman's background is plumbed in depth and provides a convincing portrayal of what she is to endure and become. We know each woman, we have met someone like her. We wonder how she could do the things perceived necessary to survive in a time of brutality and unforgiving and ultimately we understand the choices made.

Shattuck explores the depth of commitment to a promise, a righteous belief, and the destruction and salvation which result.

Thank you Bonnier Zaffre and NetGalley for an Advanced copy of The Women of the Castle which has been retitled The Women In the Castle.

I have read so many excellent stories of World War II, and after a while they seem to blend into one another with just a few of them remaining especially memorable. Also just a few have brought real tears to my eyes as I don't easily cry over books. This was one, and I already know it is going to be a story I remember and think back on for a long time to come. The writing is so gorgeous and wrought with emotion, and the characters are so very real and sympathetic.

Marianne is the niece-in-law of a German countess, living in a castle in the woods of Bavaria when her husband and best friend from childhood, both men in the German Resistance, fail in an attempt to assassinate Hitler and are themselves killed. Marianne keeps her promise to her friend to find his wife Benita and son afterwards and keep them safe once the war is over. Not only does she find them, but another widow named Ania and her children also come to live in the castle. Ania is quiet and secretive but turns out to be a good housemate, and the three women form a type of life taking care of each other.

Marianne is one with a good heart, and good intentions that will end up going wrong. The story takes many turns, some quite sad, some just heartbreaking. Once Ania's true past is revealed about three-fourths into the book, I became glued to the pages. And from there it just got better and better. Very powerful and impactful, it delves into how the people who remained in Germany after the war were affected. Those show more who were displaced, left with nothing, and those who cared enough to help their fellow citizens. I also hadn't read many books on the German Resistance, so found that fascinating and relevant.

I won an ARC copy from LibraryThings that never arrived so then was grateful to obtain a finished copy direct from the publisher. show less

The Women of the Castle
By: Jessica Shattuck

I received an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I cannot stop thinking about this book. I finished reading it several nights ago and have been trying to organize my thoughts. I'm just having problems coming up with the right words. All I can say is that this book has consumed my mind and thoughts.

Basic Plot:
The story is about the widows of three members of a plot to assassinate Hitler. What led them to this time? What happened to the women directly after the war? How do these decisions affect the people around them and their future lives? I know there are many books about WWII because this time period is so intense. In other war stories people are either their best or worse selves. We see heroes and villains. This book is different in that, under the guise of telling a story about brave Resistance heroes, it explores the realm of the average German and their culpability.

Setting and Structure:
This book starts out in Germany post-WWII. The story is divided into four sections which each focuses on a period of time (with occasional chapters meandering back and forth). The chapters alternate between the three main protagonists (Marianne von Lingenfels, Benita Fledermann, and Ania Grabarek). We see the three women immediately post WWII, in the 1950's, pre-WWII, and 1991.

Characters:
Marianne is the moral core of the story and our first narrator. She is a high-born German countess and was tasked with looking after the show more other Resistance wives and families. She takes her role seriously. We learn immediately that Marianne can always be relied upon to do the right thing. To be honest, I found her character self-righteous. If you make each woman a type, Marianne is the one who does everything right (through the scope of history). She hates everything about the Nazi party and is rigid in her determination. Interestingly, most Germans (even after the Allied victory) view her and her family as traitors. At the conclusion of the war, she is one of the few people who does not need to feel any guilt about her personal behavior during the war. However, her strict moral code has several painful consequences. She alienates friends and in the end causes a very grave and irredeemable reaction from a friend which results in real guilt for Marianne. Is this life changing for her? No, she is still her same maddening self. It does, however, make her more self aware. In the 1991 section, we see that Marianne's moral rectitude has actually morphed into an entire institute. At the end of the book, the old castle (yes, the one from the title) has become an institute dedicated to studying morality.

Benita is perhaps the weakest character and the one which shows the least development. We often hear Germans from that generation explain that they didn't know what was really happening during the war. Benita is that character. She is so self involved that she has empathy only for herself. Post war, she only wants to move forward and be happy again. Is this possible without first addressing the past?

I loved the moral complexity of Ania. When I read The NY Times article about Ms. Shattuck's grandmother (after completing the book) I realized many of Anita's thoughts and actions were taken from this real life person. She had run a youth camp and had assimilated Hiterl's grand ideals for Germany while not seeing (or choosing to not see) the ugliness of his plans. The author does not make excuses for Ania. In fact, she is harsh. Is this sort of behavior forgivable or even understandable in someone we truly love? There is no easy forgiveness for the characters in this book only a stark retelling of their experiences and a chance for them to move forward.

Grumps and Conclusion:
My only complaint is that the ending (1991 section) is too clean. All past sins/ poor behavior/ lies/ misunderstandings are, if not completely forgiven, at least out in the open and being discussed like adults. What I did appreciate at the end was the palpable love between all the characters. I myself felt such a bond with these strong but human ladies that I can't remove them from my head. I also wish there was more character development amidst the next generation. I was especially drawn to Ania's daughter. Their relationship, the bit we see, is so strong and the dynamics seemed real. Together they were heartbreaking and beautiful all at the same time. I guess that actually sums up the book for me - heartbreaking and beautiful.

My References:
NY Times (Online edition)
I Loved My Grandmother. But She Was a Nazi.
By JESSICA SHATTUCKMARCH 24, 2017
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The Plot to Kill Hitler
By: Patricia McCormick
This is a true story of the Hitler plot and is gripping. The author perhaps errs on the side of "heroes and villains" style of writing but as Ms. Shattuck's says at the end of her novel, "the world needs heroes".

--------------------
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club (Bccb Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award (Awards))
By: Phillip Hoose
My daughter and I just read this story together. She and I were both intrigued by this true story of young people and how they could fight against evil. show less

I must begin with the following words: I have been fascinated by this book!
Usually, when I read about the Second World War and especially about the Nazis, I am used to treating the Germans as the villains of the story, but here, in this book, I was surprised by the intensity of the story, which is also described by another side throughout this war. The book deals with the struggle of the women left by their husbands who made an effort to end the war by sacrificing their souls and their families (by actually betraying their homeland.) The sign of disgrace that these heroes marked their families remained, even after their death, to accompany their surviving spouses. This is the core of the story, which is beautifully told and written in my opinion. I loved the characters very much, and I was sorry with them, I immersed in the plot and didn't want to put down the book until I finished reading it.

*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through Goodreads. This is an honest review.*

The Women in the Castle follows the experiences of three women before, during, and after World War II. Told in separate points of view, this book shows what it was like to be German during this point in history.

I enjoyed that we got to see three completely separate experiences of World War II, and they were shared with great compassion and understanding for what the world was at that time and what the people were going through. Marianne was steadfastly against Hitler and his ideas from the beginning; Benita didn’t mind either way because it didn’t affect her personally, and she had other concerns; Ania was so ready to believe in the best of Hitler’s ideals and disillusioned to find what his words truly meant.

Through this, we’re able to get a more complete picture of the German experience during Hitler’s regime and what they dealt with during the war, which was interesting. Shattuck approaches it not through facts but through characters and people, showing the very human side of a war we have all learned so much about. That, more than anything, I appreciated so much. It put a much more understandable, relatable face to events.

This is a tough read because it takes on so much, and it didn’t go by quickly for me, but I was completely immersed in this story and in these character’s lives. I was moved by these characters’ stories and the struggle they have to show more build lives for themselves after the war. It’s the sort of book that even when I put down to go about my day, never really left me, and sort of hovered in the background, continuously in my mind, waiting for me to return to it. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book like that, and I love when stories are able to hang in my mind like that.

The Women in the Castle is the sort of book that makes me reflect on my own life and that of my ancestors’, thinking of what they’ve gone through that I’m completely unaware of, and how much I take for granted today. It explores the relationship between friends and family and how duty, gratitude, affection, and even regret binds us together in ways that shape our whole futures.

This would be an amazing book for a book club; it lends itself well to discussion and reflection. I also think it’s a story that tackles important issues that everyone should be thinking about, especially in modern times. I highly recommend.

Also posted on Purple People Readers. show less

This is the story of three German women and their children coming together after the fall of the Third Reich to survive and put their destroyed lives back together. The three are widows of men executed (hung on meat hooks, according to the author), after the failed Hitler assassination attempt in July 1944. The wives were imprisoned; the children sent to special orphanages dedicated to the reeducation of traitor's children.

Marianne von Lingenfels had made a promise to her husband that she would try to find and care for other wives if the assassination went wrong. Once released from prison, she began her search and found the widow of her childhood friend's - a peasant girl who had married into the nobility. She was also able to find a widow of a man she didn't know. She brought them and their children to live in her husband's family castle in Bavaria.

Their lives are not easy; they are haunted by ghosts and secrets of their pasts, and marked by what they have endured. More secrets accumulate as they survive in the post war days.

Well written and interesting, with what was for me, a unique view of post war Germany.

This was a different look at World War II and post-war as it deals almost exclusively with Germany. The saying "To the victors go the spoils" could be amended by adding "and the book deals".

When a group of Germans plot to assassinate Hitler during WWII, it is the men who carry out the plot but the women are affected by the aftermath when the plot fails. The men are killed but some of the women are imprisonted and their children are taken from them. When the war is finally over Marianne von Lingenfels vows to carry out her duties as "the commander of the wives and children". She moves with her own children into the old and decrepit castle belonging to her husband's family and then sets out to find the widows of other resistors. She manages to find the son of her friend from childhood (Connie Fledermann) and then his wife Benita. Benita was one of the women imprisoned and at the end of the war she was passed from one Russian soldier to another. Benita thus owes a large debt to Marianne. Another widow, Ania, is discovered by sympathetic American soldiers in a nearby displaced persons camp and she joins the household. Ania is competent and realistic and helps Marianne run the household in ways Benita can't. On a night when a large group of starving Russian soldiers descend on the castle grounds it is Ania who sits up with Marianne. And Benita almost makes the situation much worse when she goes to warn a former Nazi prisoner who helps out cutting wood about the presence of show more the Russians. Benita never has the antipathy to Nazis that Marianne feels so her feelings for the former Nazi tend toward friendship and then love the more they are together. As Marianne learns more about her fellow widows and their secrets she cuts off ties with them. By the end of her life (and the end of the book) she realizes that there is quite a bit of grey and not everything is black and white. show less

The Women in the Castle - Shattuck
Audio performance by Cassandra Campbell
4 stars

An alternate title for this book could have been ‘The Women in the Ruins’. Although, the time setting wanders through the 20th century, it is for the most part a post WW2 story. It is about three German women trying to make sense of the devastation while they put their lives back together. These are the women left to deal with the consequences of men making war.

Marianne, Benita, and Ania are ostensibly the wives of heroic men who participated in a failed plot to kill Hitler. In some ways they may be among the few Germans in a position to hold their heads up with pride. But, as it turns out everyone has some blood on their hands. This is a book of character studies. I like Marianne’s determination. I felt Benita’s despair. I respected Ania’s practical approach to survival. I saw much of this story as a cautionary tale for our century.

“And it means reasonable citizens must take action,” Connie continued. “We are not all thugs and villains. But we will become these, if we don’t try to make change.”

“For so long Marianne and Albrecht and many of their friends had known Hitler was a lunatic, a leader whose lowbrow appeal to people's most selfish, self-pitying emotions and ignorance was an embarrassment for their country.”

Germany was being run by a loudmouthed rabble-rouser, bent on baiting other nations to war and making life miserable for countless innocent citizens. show more And here they were, drinking champagne and dancing to Scott Joplin.” show less

This is a book that takes some time to read and digest to fully appreciate what the writer is saying. There is a very engulfing story, a compelling view of a nightmare and a study of man's inhumanity to man and those who are capable of rising above it through love and compassion for others. Like a fine wine I relished each word, each sentence and each page.

This story presents the reader with a very different prospective of Germany and those who were willing to resist the Nazis; the consequences, hardships and what happened to those few who survived. The writing is outstanding and it is almost as if each word was carefully chosen to create an image of the isolated world in which the survivors existed. Part of the defeated population of Germany but still not accepted by the people surrounding them. In conflict with both the winners and the losers and supported only by the will on one woman. Sometimes the hero or heroine are those who stood by, supported and loved those who were willing to sacrifice all to stop the terrible wrong they are seeing.

For anyone who appreciates compelling stories of post war Germany I believe this is a must read, and excellent well written story.

Book on CD narrated by Cassandra Campbell

Three German widows are brought together shortly after World War II ends. Marianne von Lingenfels returns to her deceased husband’s ancestral castle – now in ruins. He had conspired with other resisters to assassinate Hitler and was himself murdered. But Marianne had promised her husband’s conspirators to find their families and help them, so that is what she sets out to do. First she rescues Martin, the young son of her childhood friend, from a Nazi re-education camp. They then find Martin’s mother, Betina, a beautiful but naïve, young woman. Finally, Marianne locates Ania, a quiet, resourceful and determined mother of two boys who have been in one of the many refugee camps that house the many citizens displaced by the war.

I liked the idea of this novel’s story more than I liked the actual book.

Make no mistake, there are some interesting and thought-provoking themes here. How does one move on after enduring such traumatic events? How do we recognize the ways we may be complicit – by willful ignorance, by standing by, by NOT making waves – and atone for that? Can we “allow” someone else to find happiness (let alone celebrate it), when we are so angry, hurt, fearful, ashamed? Can we allow future generations to NOT carry the burden?

However, on the whole I found the novel completely forgettable. I’m sure this is ME and not the novel. I’ve only just now looked at the back cover with all the blurbs by authors I show more love, singing Shattuck’s praises. And, of course, many people whose opinions I trust have rated the book highly. Perhaps I’m just completely over the desire to read about WWII and its aftermath.

Cassandra Campbell did a marvelous job performing the audiobook. She’s a gifted voice artist and has become one of my favorite audiobook narrators. show less

This saga begins in 1938 and it doesn’t end until 1991. There are flashbacks and jumps forward as the author tells the story of three very different women united by a war. The widows of resisters in a failed plot to kill Hitler, they must now make their way in a ravaged country, to save themselves and their children. Their story is a captivating one, made even more so by the revelations that are finally exposed in their back stories. It’s not so much a story of the war itself, but rather of the ordinary people caught up in something they really didn’t understand, at least, not at first. It’s a of secrets and of trust, of honor and dishonor, and of survival and giving up. The characters are compelling and their story, though just plain dreadful at times, is beautifully told.

This book is quite remarkable in many ways. It is about post WWII Germany and depicts a number of fictional characters who were German citizens who hated the Nazis and Hitler. Most of this group were German aristocrats, and actually it was real German aritocrats who plotted an assination attempt on HItler in July of 1944. The real historical plot was a failure, and it was also a failure in this book, and a lot of the members of the German Resistance who participated in it were either hung as traitors or sent to concentration camps. So Ms. Shattuck has explored what could have happened to the wives and children left behind after the arrests of these resistors. In this book, three women and their children make their way back from bomb damaged Berlin to a decrepit Bavarian castle owned by one of the women's families. They attempt to make a life for themselves and their children in a Germany that is trying to recover from all the physical damage inflicted on their country at the end of the war. It is a Germany that will never be the same. This book is breathtaking in scope. The timeline for the book is from 1944 to 1991. The majority of the book is centered in Germany at the von Lingenfels castle where Marianne has assembled her small group of refugees. Marianne von Lingenfels' husband was involved in the July 1944 assination plot and he was hung by the Nazis. She and her three children, along with the wife of her best friend and their son are the first to arrive. Not long show more afterwards, another woman finds her way there with her two sons. These strong, remarkable women endure hardship and privation, but still manage to make lives for themselves and their children in the old castle. This is an important book because Shattuck's beautiful prose and the clear direction of her plot illuminate this not very well known timeframe and setting. The story of these brave women is one that should be read. It makes us fully understand the strength and determination of the human race and what can be accomplished with hard work and conviction. show less

Too many books covering WWII, but so many perspectives on that event. This story presents the story of three German women before, during, and after WWII. The reader meets Marianne, Benita, and Ania, and their children as Marianne attempts to hold this group together and survive the devastation during and after the war. This story reminds me of Motherland by Maria Hummel, which shows the hardships suffered by Germany after the war. Both expose that when the war ends, the suffering does not stop immediately. Jessica Shattuck creates Marianne, a woman enduring all to help everyone recover dignity.

This book has a fairly simple plot, but very complex themes which roil around as the plot unfolds. In 1938, a group of German men come to the realization that they can no longer stand aside as Hitler and his henchmen destroy their country with their perverted ethics and beliefs. These men see what is unfolding every day and will not be complicit. They recognize that they will likely bring retribution down on the heads of their families, and ask that Marianne, the wife of another resister, become the savior, gathering the wives and children together and protecting them from Hitler's wrath. By the time that Marianne is able to begin her search for the women, she can find only two who, with their children, go to live with her within the crumbling walls of the family castle. Over time the stories of the women are revealed, along with the hardscrabble life in post-war Germany.

Shattuck's writing is beautiful and assured. Her research was clearly evident and much appreciated. Here are some of my favorite sentences:

"But Connie had given up on the law, increasingly castrated as it was under the Nazis."

"The religious pleas of her youth had returned to her in prison and served as an anchor in the endless sea of silence."

"They were harnessed to their mother's lies."

There's a lot of WWII era fiction out there these days, but I haven't read many pieces focused on German women. The women in question here are three German women with three very different experiences of the war, brought together initially by their shared status as widows of resistance fighters. The truth is considerably more complicated then that, and their relationships change over the years as each tries to find a path to survive in a very different post-war world. I found it difficult to stick with this book initially - it's just rather bleak in the beginning, but once I reached the midpoint I finished it in one sitting. Ania's story, in particular, was fascinating to me. I thought I knew where things were going with her, but the truth of her past was far more interesting then I was expecting.

Two of the biggest publishing sensations of the past few years are Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale and the Pulitzer Prize-winning All The Light You Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Both dealt with people trapped by the horrors of WWII in France and Germany.

Jessica Shattuck's new novel, The Women In The Castle, tackles that same era and will definitely appeal to readers who were so moved by those two books.

The story opens in November of 1938 at Burg Lingenfels, a castle in Bavaria, where the Countess' annual harvest party is about to begin. We meet Marianne von Lingelfels, the Countess' niece-in-law, who will act as hostess to the party. She is married to Albrecht von Lingelfels who fears that the Nazi regime and Adolf Hitler have become too powerful.

Albrecht is disgusted by the actions of Hitler, and actively participates in the resistance movement along with others, including Connie Fledermann, a man who is always the charming life-of-the-party and Marianne's dear friend. Connie is married to the beautiful, young Benita, and if Marianne admits it, she is a little jealous.

The action moves back and forth in time, and a few years later we find Marianne and her young children living in the castle, a shadow of its former grand self. Marianne has promised Connie that she take care of Benita and their young son, and along the way also picks up Ania, a refugee with her three children.

The three women and their children band together to survive the horrors and deprevations of war. We show more learn where Benita and Ania were before they came to Burg Lingenfels, and what they had to do to survive.

We see the horrors of war through their eyes, and some of the scenes are so jarring, such as the one of Ania and her friend seeing what they believe to be sacks of food piled high on open air wagons. As it gets closer they realize that the sacks are actually people. There are more than a few heartbreaking scenes in this searing novel.

The story moves along, following the war's end and what happens to those who survive. Some do their best to move on, forget the past, while others are haunted too much. Marianne does her best to live up to her high principles, even if that hurts those she loves, while others do whatever it takes to survive. Which way is right? That is the big question to be answered.

The women face many moral dilemmas, and the reader is left to wonder what she may have done in their situations. Shattuck does an admirable job of putting the reader in their shoes, making us identify with these women, creating empathy.

The Women In The Castle is a haunting story, one that you cannot rush through, but must read and contemplate. These characters' stories will stay with you for a very long time. Fans of Chris Bohjalian's The Sandcastle Girls and David Gillam's City of Women should put this one on your TBR list as well. show less

This is a very powerful book. It covers a difficult time in history even though it doesn’t delve too deeply into WWII the impacts of Hitler and his policies are felt throughout. The book opens in the time just as Hitler is coming to power and some people see his danger and others don’t. A group of friends come together for what will be one of the last parties together before their worlds implode. As the men fight to defeat Hitler the women do what needs doing to survive.

After the war Marianne comes back to the castle that had been in her husband’s family for generations to regroup and to try and find some of the other widows of the men who tried to kill Hitler. She finds her best friend’s widow Benita and their young son Martin. They join Marianne and her sons in creating the best life they can although Benita is not as introspective as Marianne and she just wants to move forward and forget. Marianne never wants to forget so it doesn’t happen again. She keeps searching and searching and soon a third woman joins the family. They don’t all agree or even get along but they do survive – sometimes through the shear force of Marianne’s will.

The characters in this book are all very well defined and very well drawn. When your story depends so much on personalities and how they interact it’s important for the fictional characters to come across as real to the reader and they all do in this book – from the most significant to the face in the crowd. There are a show more number of different subplots that help to define each character and a couple of them truly surprised me. The only story that disappointed was that of Benita but I always do have problems with people who live a clueless life. I found myself thinking about this book for days after I finished it. show less

This was a book for our library book club. I enjoyed the story about women during WWII from Germany side. Most of the books I have read that are historical fiction are usually about the Polish, Jews, etc. Tis was the first one that I remember reading that took it from the German side and the resistance that could of happened or that did happen.

Marianne is the main character. She was a person that you could like and also dislike at the same time. There are certain things that she did and ways that she dealt with other women that made you question her ethics. She was sometimes very rigid in her decisions. Some of the other women like Benita and Aina had dealings with Marianne that made them question themselves.

The one thing I did not care for in this book was the way the chapters/sections went. You would read one chapter/section and be in 1938 and then the next chapter you are in 1945. Then go back to 1939. That made it hard at times to figure out what was happening or even confusing. The book was well written and kept my interest.

Three women who have lost their husbands during WWII find themselves living together in a once grand castle, attempting to make sense of the aftermath of war while trying to pull their lives back together. While on the surface they seem to share a common bond, each has their own history which prevents them from forming a tight bond of friendship.

This novel does shift back & forth, both in time and in point of view. It's a relatively slow story that gradually unfolds. It is beautifully written, yet I feel as though I was waiting for a climax that never quite arrived. But I think that's my own fault, as this just wasn't that type of novel. It's a story of lost childhoods, mistakes made, personal reflection, and redemption. There is not a lot of action in this novel, but it does effectively portray the brokenness of a war-torn nation and its people struggling to return to a "normal" life.

Three women are bound together by fate and their husbands choices made during World War II. The husbands of Marianne von Lingenfels, Benita Fledermann and Ania Grabarek were all involved in the failed plot to assassinate Hitler in July of 1944. Appointed "the Commander of Wives and Children" by her husband, Marrianne takes her duties seriously and decides to round up those she can find in the aftermath of the War in the relative safety of her family castle, Burg Lingenfels. While Marianne succeeds at the impossible task of finding the dispersed women and children, her harsh steadfastness combined with Benita's gentle inward intuitiveness, Ania's survival drive and the children's collective shock makes for a difficult group to have under one roof. The secrets that each woman must keep combined with their sense of camaraderie creates a very different post war experience for Marianne, Benita and Ania.

The Women in the Castle is an epic story that creates a great range of feelings and complicated and scenarios. It also shines a light on the role of women and children before and after the war, but more importantly, the resistors. In thinking of the heroes of World War II, I don't often think of the Germans who were strong enough to resist Hitler's pull, even in little ways. All of the women's characters were strongly developed and I enjoyed that they showed their strength in different ways. At first, I was pulled toward Marianne's conviction and dedication to her task, but as show more each woman's story unfolded and the layers peeled away, I felt more and more connected to their stories and understood their reasoning. The writing does jump back and forth through time and each woman's perspective. Keeping track of the time jumps and point of view can become a bit confusing; however, you do learn things at appropriate times instead of being bombarded with too much information at once. There are many, many more things I could say about this book, but most importantly, it provides a different perspective of World War II, and comments on the importance of friendship, compassion and resistance. show less

A light read this was not, but oh what a read. When I first started reading this book I thought I wasn't going to like it, but by the third chapter I was hooked. I at first thought this was going to be a romance, but while there were small elements of such, this was not by any means a romance.

Three women are the focus of the book. Marianne who is privileged, takes the other two, Benita and Ania, along with their children in after the war as part of a promise she made to her husband and a friend who sacrificed their lives in an attempt to kill Hitler.

I found that each character made me feel compassion toward them as flawed as they were.

Few books give you the understanding of what it was like for the Germans who lived through WWII as this book did. The author, Jessica Shattuck, gives readers a more humanistic view of the Germans.

Three women, Marianne, Benita and Ania, from different walks of life, but all have one thing in common. They have survived the holocaust, the plot to kill Hitler which took two of their husbands and for Ania, the evil in which she found herself involved. It is the immediate aftermath in Bavaria, of this terrible and horrific time, a promise made by Marianne will bring these women and their children together where they now must depend on each other for all their survival.

Although this is a novel in which the holocaust and Hitler play a prominent role, it is a novel of friendships forged during a time of great peril and stress. It features two strong women, and one just trying to come to terms with what has happened to her, and a way to future happiness. Life of course never turns out exactly as planned, and eventually secrets exposed, and the ending of something important will divide these women, one will pay a terrible price. It does show, as has happened many times, exactly what woman left alone while men plotted or went off to fight, were exposed to, faced, the danger, food shortages and the many things they had to do to survive. These are German women so it was very interesting to read their stories, haven't read many books showing how they lived, what they believed, how they felt about what was happening in their country.

A solidly written and well told story, of course not very uplifting though this author does leave us with hope. The next generation and their quest show more to understand the difficult decisions that were made, to not judge but to forgive what these women went through. To show love even though they may not have agreed with some of their choices. show less

The Women in the Castle, Jessica Shattuck, author; Cassandra Campbell, narrator
It is 1938. The place is Burg Lingenfels, in Germany. A traditional yearly party is being planned by Marianne von Lingenfels for her aunt, the countess, who is confined to a wheel chair and no longer able to supervise the arrangements for this yearly festive celebration at the castle. It is also a terrible time of foreboding for certain segments of the German population. Hitler is in power and is being extolled and lionized, more and more, by his followers. The worst is yet to come as he puts his plans in motion. Some Germans sensed the approaching onslaught and wanted to do something to prevent it. Others faced the rumors of German brutality with disbelief, and there were some who were simply in denial because it served their purpose to pretend blindness and reap the benefits of German cruelty and injustice. Others outright supported his plans for a “Final Solution”. Who was guiltier? Who was free from guilt? The story seems to be an attempt to understand and humanize Nazi sympathizers. They had their reasons for doing what they did, and in the end, didn’t they suffer as well?
Three women are the main characters. Marianne, the niece of the countess, is married to Albrecht von Lingenfels. He is of the aristocracy, wealthy and well thought of, and he is very much involved in conversations about setting up a resistance movement against the policies of Hitler, but he needs some additional show more convincing.
Another is a beautiful young woman, Benita Fledermann, the wife of Connie Fledermann a man who actively pursues the effort to resist Hitler and hopes to create a resistance movement. She, however, is a Nazi sympathizer. She met Connie when she was 19 and was the leader of a group of young girls in the Bund Deutscher Madel, the BDM, Belief and Beauty, a branch of the Nazi Organizations Female Youth Group.
The third woman calls herself Ania Grabarek when she meets Benita and Marianne. She was once the wife of Rainer Brandt, a leader of a Landjahr Lager, a place where German youth were trained to become part of Hitler’s new agrarian society. When she met him, he persuaded her to join the Nazi Party. When she met Marianne, she was pretending to be a displaced person rather than someone who had once been a Nazi sympathizer married to a devout Nazi. She had become disillusioned with Hitler when she witnessed atrocious behavior by his followers and had taken her children and run away from her husband and the Party.
Circumstances evenutually placed all three women together, sharing a living space. Each had a different agenda and hidden secrets. Each had a different way of looking at life, of surviving during and after World War II. Marianne believed in doing the right thing, in honoring the memory of the resisters, in helping those who were hurt by Hitler’s minions. However, she was self righteous and cold hearted at times, unable to forgive the things she did not approve of or to accept the wrongdoing of others, for any reason. She did not want the black deeds of Germany to be relegated to the forgotten shelves of history. Was she self-serving? Belita wanted to go forward and to lose the burden of her memories and her pain. She wanted to begin again, to have a new life, forget the past, but would it be possible? Ania wanted to escape from her past. She had always disregarded her own deceptions and created a false history, distorting the things she had done in order to excuse her own complicity and guilt. When she could no longer do that, she reversed course and wanted only to remember and would not forgive herself for her sins. Was that the right path?
While the story is interesting as it presents the effect of Hitler on Germans of all backgrounds, rather than only his specific targeted victims, it attempts to make those complicit with his ideas sympathetic in some way. I could not do that, perhaps because I am Jewish. I know the impact of the monster named Hitler, and his followers, on real people. There was no one who was truly blind to his madness, as far as I am concerned. There were simply those who chose to turn a blind eye to it because they saw only benefits for themselves and saw no downside.
Perhaps the author wanted to figure out what it was that created the Nazi or how it was possible for Germans to go forward with such a stain on their country’s history. What was the motivation for their brutality, what was the reason for their acquiescence, their hate? In a simplified explanation, perhaps it was because Germany had suffered a devastating defeat after World War I and was totally strapped and shamed. It was a self-inflicted wound to a country that had sought once again to overpower weaker neighbors. So, perhaps Hitler was the result of a disastrous economy and humiliated citizenry. They were demoralized. However, couldn’t it also be blamed on jealousy and greed, on a lack of a moral compass, on religious bias, and pure prejudice, coupled with a disregard for the lives of humans they decided were worth less than themselves. More likely it was about a pervasive ignorance of common decency and the Germanic personality which was orderly and cold, rigid and mechanical. Emotional responses were not highly valued. Little compassion was felt for the victims because the end result was considered good for Germans and Germany.
I simply cannot feel sorry for their suffering, therefore, which I feel was truly deserved because of their own belligerent, reprehensible behavior. Their actions were the harbinger of their own disaster. Where did they think the empty apartments came from? Where did they think that the clothing that was dispersed came from? Where did they think the people were resettled to? How did they not notice the cattle cars, the smell of burning flesh, the people who suddenly disappeared? Where did they think the disabled and mentally deficient people disappeared to? Why did they even think the Jews needed to be removed? What did they think would happen to their possessions that were left behind? Did they not notice the slave laborers who looked like zombies, the emaciated people marching through town? Who did they think were filling the jobs at the factories?
This is a story about Germans before the war, and in its aftermath, and it is an attempt to explain the way they became the people they were, but it is also the story of all of us, as cruelty still abounds and a lack of personal responsibility flourishes even today. Far fewer fought Hitler than complied with his ultimate plan. Perhaps it was greed at first, and fear of Hitler, later on, that made so many go along with his diabolical ideas, but that only explains the motivation behind their behavior, it cannot and does not justify the things that the Nazi sympathizers did or ignored. They did everything they could in order to benefit and preserve their own families, even as they tolerated the injustices done to the families of “others”. They did not recognize their own complicity in the contemptible policies of Hitler. If we look around today, we will see evidence of the same kind of blindness, the same pattern of blaming others for one’s own failures, the same inability to judge one’s own behavior honestly.
I can out Germany’s tragic history behind me, and surely history will, but I wonder, should they be forgiven? Would forgiveness open the door to the idea of forgetting and perhaps to another Holocaust? Perhaps the answer is to accept the fact that it happened and to work to prevent it from ever happening again, to anyone, and to understand that we are all valuable. None are less or more than any other. Will the strong continue to prey upon the weak, the wicked to do evil if we don’t continue to remember? show less

I don't know if I would have finished this book if it had not been an audio version. There was quite a bit more description than I usually put up with when I am actually reading. HOWEVER, this was a beautifully written book and also beautifully narrated. Its the story of three different German woman and how they dealt with the second World War and its aftermath. The story spans many decades, going back into the women's childhoods and then into their future in the more modern world. Nazi Germany was a horrific place for not only the Jews and other so-called "undesirables" but also for some of the German people themselves. Not every German believed in Hitler. Gave me a new respect for the time period as the story was told from an entirely different perspective than what i've experienced previously. Great historical novel!

Joy's Review: Widow whose husband was a part of the plot to kill Hitler finds widows of co-conspirators and shelters them in the family castle at the end of WWII. Only one of the widows stories was interesting to me and that was of the imposter whose husband had worked training Nazi youth. I found Shattuck's writing shallow, doing little to highlight and explore the moral, ethical, and survival dilemmas presented to Germans during and immediately after the war. In the hands of a better and more nuanced author, this story could have been worth telling. As is, it was a bit of a waste of time.

Begins with an annual party preparation in a long past its prime castle, “an elephant dressed to look like a fairy” and the beginning of plans to assassinate Hitler by a small group of resisters.

In the early stages of Hitler’s reign, I was struck with how horrifically his rhetoric scripts like today’s news. The promises of betterment for all, making Germany great again, etc.

Marianne has been relegated the protector of the widows left behind when their resister husbands were killed. She sets out to find their absconded children and rescue the mothers, if still alive, from whatever camp or prison they were assigned to. Told in clipped eras via the memories of these women who fled and the children they risked so much to keep safe. The war is now over. The Nazis have fled. It is safe.

Glimpses of the atrocities Hitler befell unto to Jewish communities are rehashed and instilled in the children’s souls, so as not to forget the horrors inflicted nor how easily people could be forced or merely influenced to commit such vile acts on other human beings.

Marianne is a stalwart of justice, since early childhood days, and holds firm to her beliefs. She teaches her children, encourages her friends, and dogmatically lives her life. But the past steps in to state its own intentions and Marianne is left to question whether, even though she pledged to do so, she really have the right to “protect” the women from their own intentions.

Through inevitables, they all drift apart, show more save but for the children. Secrets are stored, buried or conveniently forgotten. After too many added deaths, those remaining, those so inclined, reunite at the castle, now institute, for the launch of Marianne’s biography. There, much is painfully revealed. New wounds opened, closed, and left to heal. Then, like a Fleur-de-lis, they spread out, leaving again but forever connected.

An important book, even fictional, to read of this horrid time in humanity and remember how easily even good people can do bad things, if they think the reason is sufficient. show less

After reading All the Light We Cannot See, I avoided historical fiction of this time period for a while. It was such a beautiful book, I thought it would be a disservice to another book, so I held off on reading this one for a while. The two books are very different, but I think I enjoyed them both much more because of the distance between the readings.

The Women in the Castle is a story about the wives and children of Nazi resisters after World War II. Marianne von Lingenfels makes a promise to her husband and friends that she will look after their families if their assassination plans should go awry. Marianne keeps her promise and the story follows her and two other wives as they navigate the post-war world.

I wouldn’t say that I read this because of the time period in which it was set, so any historical inaccuracies there may have been didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story. I picked it up because of the female relationships it promised and in that respect, it did not disappoint. The three women are not always depicted as the best of friends. They annoy each other and disagree with one another’s choices. But all three contribute to the other’s survival. They make choices for the good of their families. They are strong, flawed, well-written characters.

Begins with an annual party preparation in a long past its prime castle, “an elephant dressed to look like a fairy” and the beginning of plans to assassinate Hitler by a small group of resisters.

In the early stages of Hitler’s reign, I was struck with how horrifically his rhetoric scripts like today’s news. The promises of betterment for all, making Germany great again, etc.

Marianne has been relegated the protector of the widows left behind when their resister husbands were killed. She sets out to find their absconded children and rescue the mothers, if still alive, from whatever camp or prison they were assigned to. Told in clipped eras via the memories of these women who fled and the children they risked so much to keep safe. The war is now over. The Nazis have fled. It is safe.

Glimpses of the atrocities Hitler befell unto to Jewish communities are rehashed and instilled in the children’s souls, so as not to forget the horrors inflicted nor how easily people could be forced or merely influenced to commit such vile acts on other human beings.

Marianne is a stalwart of justice, since early childhood days, and holds firm to her beliefs. She teaches her children, encourages her friends, and dogmatically lives her life. But the past steps in to state its own intentions and Marianne is left to question whether, even though she pledged to do so, she really have the right to “protect” the women from their own intentions.

Through inevitables, they all drift apart, show more save but for the children. Secrets are stored, buried or conveniently forgotten. After too many added deaths, those remaining, those so inclined, reunite at the castle, now institute, for the launch of Marianne’s biography. There, much is painfully revealed. New wounds opened, closed, and left to heal. Then, like a Fleur-de-lis, they spread out, leaving again but forever connected.

An important book, even fictional, to read of this horrid time in humanity and remember how easily even good people can do bad things, if they think the reason is sufficient. show less

*I received a copy of this book through the publisher.*

I love the first third of this book, the portion which takes place directly after the conclusion of WWII, and I liked the rest of the novel somewhat less so. The atmosphere and desperate energy of the first portion so vividly captures the spirit of that time following the war that it is almost disappoint to see it fade as the novel moves forward in plot and time. Overall, this book is well worth the read and offers a fascinating and nuanced look at the impact of Nazi Germany on its female citizens.

I won this book through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program, but never received it. This review is for the audiobook checked out from my local library.

The feeling inside me as I read this book was akin to the relationships of the women in the castle to each other, in that sometimes they had to choose to work to continue for it wasn’t all warm and fuzzy. The struggle of these anti-Hitler widows, continuing on with what life had dealt them in the midst of their convictions, was a tale well told by this author.

The Women in the Castle is a gorgeous historical piece. Author, Jessica Shattuck breathed such life into the characters and story. Instantly, I was transported back in time. Additionally, I fell in love with the women in this story...Marianne, Benita, and Ania. Although, Benita took a little longer to warm up to. Not that this is an excuse that she went through a horrible ordeal and was recovering from it, but I found her weaker. Marianne is the rock and glue that holds the women together.

As I mentioned before, the storyline is strong. Getting lost in the storyline traveling from time period to time period and growing so close to the women really did warm my heart. There was not a weak point in this book. The ending was a good one. There is nothing worse than reading a book only to get to a bad ending. I am going to check out more books by this author.

This book tells the stories of three women and their children living in Hitler's Germany. Their husbands were part of the resistance and were executed after being caught plotting to kill Hitler. The hard choices they made, some of which were purely for the sake of survival, still haunt them years later. The writing is intimate, compassionate and thought-provoking. I would recommend this book.

In the weeks just before World War II, a group of upper-class Germans gathers at Burg Lingenfels, a castle owned by one of their families, to discuss plans for resisting Hitler and the Nazi government under the guise of throwing a party. As they are meeting, word comes that Kristallnacht has begun, and they know their plans are more important — and more dangerous — than ever. Skip forward and World War II is nearly over when Marianne, the wife of one of the conspirators, makes her way back to the castle. She's lost her husband and most of her friends to the resistance, but she promised the men she would gather as many of their families as she could to face post-war life together. Eventually, three women and their children take up residence at the castle, where they must navigate a post-war Germany that is still grappling with feelings of guilt, shame, and defiance in the wake of the Nazi defeat.

I enjoyed it mostly for the unique (to me) perspective of exploring the lives of ordinary Germans after the war. I found Marianne to be a bit one-dimensional but the dynamic between the very different women was compelling. Together they are forced to contend with a rogue troop of Russians and a village filled with locals who were and remain sympathetic to the Nazi cause, and who look with contempt on those who took the other side.

“The Women in the Castle” tells the story of how three German women were thrown together and survived WWII. Aptly named, these women camped out in a castle previously in main character Marianne’s family. Marianne was a force to be reckoned with from the beginning. In a time where women were kept in the dark about “men’s work,” Marianne was the only wife to know about her husband’s plan to take down Hitler.

Marianne’s husband Albrecht worked with a large group of like-minded men within Germany that formed a resistance beneath Hitler’s rule. When it became clear that Hitler could not be stopped, they set out to assassinate them. Their failed attempt triggered their executions and Marianne’s endeavor to protect the wives of the other resistors in Albrecht’s network. Marianne brings together two other women – Benita and Ania – and their respective children. This makeshift family grew together over the years and were bound together long after the war ended.

An acclaimed author, Jessica Shattuck delved into a narrative that has rarely been discussed. Most novels focus on the allies and those who opposed Hitler, but very few that I’ve read so far go behind enemy lines to talk about life from a German standpoint, particularly for a group of women from various backgrounds.

Of course, “The Women in the Castle” was exceedingly compared to “The Nightingale.” “The Nightingale” is quite possibly my all-time favorite book, but this comparison has show more increasingly become a pet peeve of mine because it sets up unrealistically high expectations and the only common thread is that they are both novels about women surviving during WWII.

The two books are wholly different and “The Women in the Castle” focuses more on family and friendship than heroic acts of defiance. It’s easy to understand how Marianne and “her women” became a family during the war, but the most interesting part of this novel to me was the years after the war and the friendships that developed. Seeing how each woman changed, evolved, and tried to move on from their pasts was incredibly moving and realistic. The story lagged at times going into an in-depth history lesson, but one that is so important to read and understand because it is so seldom considered.

For this and other reviews: https://thebookbasics.wordpress.com/ show less

The Women in the Castle is a fascinating glimpse into what it might have been like to live in Germany during WWII. Told from the perspective of 3 women who one way or another find themselves living at Castle Lingenfels. Each of them have a unique story of how the war has changed their lives. How well can a person know another person? The story ends with a look at a few of the children and grandchildren. A new generation looks back on the times of the resistance. Our lives are a "collection of choices and circumstances". What mark do we make on the world?
"For so long Marianne and Albrecht and many of their friends had known Hitler was a lunatic, a leader whose lowbrow appeal to people's selfish, self-pitying emotions and ignorance was an embarrassment for their country." A timely statement!

I really enjoyed this book. I typically love WWII novels, but tend to avoid them due to the horrors of the concentration camps. I think it's an important part of history which should never be forgotten otherwise we risk repeating history.

What I really loved about Jessica Shattuck's book was the telling of a different side of the war, what is was like to be a German resister living in Germany. Each woman had their own distinct personality and flaws which added to the overall beautiful and heartbreaking story. I loved the setting of the castle and I really feel like Jessica did an excellent job in explaining how and why people living in Germany tolerated and turned a blind eye to the horrors of Hitler and his Final Solution.

Highly recommend!

THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE
Jessica Shattuck

MY RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▫️
PUBLISHER Bonnier Zaffre
PUBLISHED March 28,2017

SUMMARY
November 9, 1938, the Countess Von Lingerfel and her niece-in-law Marianne were hosting the bohemian annual harvest party at the old family castle in Bavaria. It was perhaps a final night to enjoy some reasonable company. Germany was on the verge of disaster. During the party, Marianne's workaholic husband, Albrecht, and a small group of friends, critical of the Nazi's had gathered in the castle library. They had just heard the news of Goebbels' order to insight rioting and destroy Jewish property. Decisions were made in the library that night to actively collude against the Hitler regime. Something had to be done. Marianne was asked to take charge of caring for the wives and children of these men should something happen to them.

The resistors' July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Hitler failed. All the resistors who had been in the library that night were exterminated. It was Marianne's time to act. First, she was able to rescue the once beautiful and naïve Benita from Russian soldiers in Berlin, and she then found Benita's son, Martin, in an children's home in Thuringa. Sometime later, Marianne located Ania, and her two boys, Anselm and Wolfgang, who had been languishing in the Tollingen Displaced Persons Camp. Marianne, Benita and Ania and their six children, made their home within the kitchen of the ancient, crumbling castle, Burg show more Lingenfels. They formed a unique family, each full of deep pains and dark secrets. All three women desperately tried to grasp onto that which would help them recover from the choices and actions of the past several years.

REVIEW
The Women in the Castle is a must read for historical fiction fans. It's focus is the recovery of the most tumultuous period in the 20th century. It's a dramatic story of loss, survival, recovery and strength of three very different women with very different experiences. The relationships of the women are complex and poignant.

Shattuck's writing is clear and wonderfully descriptive. Her elaborate descriptions of the castle the night of the harvest party and then in the postwar refugee period were impossible to forget. The stories of Marianne, Benita and Ania are hauntingly powerful.

Women in the Castle's perspective of the resistance and postwar recovery period is refreshingly interesting and unique. It will perhaps broaden the way you look at World War II and may even make you think more critically about current events.

This book perspective is very personal for author, Jessica Shadduck. She dedicated this book to her mother and grandmother. Shattuck shared in an editorial on March 24, 2017, that her grandparents had joined the Nazi party in 197, to become youth leaders in an agricultural education program. Shadduck was more than likely able to use her grandmother's experience to create this breathtaking book, which was most certainly written from her heart.

Other books by Jessica Shaddick included The Hazards of Good Breeding, 2004, and Perfect Life, 2010.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bonnier Zaffre for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. show less

People of seemingly similar backgrounds often can be quite different from each other, and I found this to be quite true of the three women-in-the-castle who we get to know through this book. They are all German, yet they came from varied social and economic backgrounds. They are all widows when we meet them, although it is not immediately clear whether each woman's husband may or may not have been in complete agreement with their spouses' own personal moral and ethical beliefs. Each of the women lived through and survived as best she could while living in Germany during and in the aftermath of World War II, nevertheless they are very diverse individuals.

The characters are well developed … however, for the most part, I personally disliked each and every one of them. Just like most people who endured lives that were complicated by the horrors of war, the women were damaged to varying degrees by their experiences. They faced grave issues and overwhelming hurdles and, at times, they made flawed decisions. However, as much as I disliked the women .. what I liked a lot was reading this well-told narrative. I found I did not have to like the women in order to become engrossed in the stories of their lives and how they intertwined.

It was an interesting book and I thought it to be a good read. Oh, and I particularly loved what became of the castle itself by the end!

Well written, enjoyed the dynamics of the human relationship post world war II Germany.

Yes, yes, yes, yet another WWII story. Well....wait a minute. This one is from the perspective of German women who live together after the war, after the brutalites both witnessed and subjected to, and finding a way to live with the consequences of being German. It is a story of shame, solidarity, survival and the toll it takes. Very good!

This is a story about three German women in Germany after WWII. Marianne, Benita, and Ania are widows of the men executed after the failed attempt to assassinate Hitler in 1944. Marianne promises her best friend to take care of the widows and orphans should the plot fail. She keeps her promise and locates first Benita's son, Martin in an orphanage then Benita in a Russian brothel, and brings them to her husband's family's castle, Berg Lingenfels. Although it's in pretty bad shape, with no running water or power, it's surrounded by land to grow food. Soon Marianne, her three children, Benita and Martin are joined by Ania and her two boys. There are so many secrets in this little group and as they come out, it tears the group apart. I found this book very interesting since it focuses on the Germans who didn't believe in Hitler and his beliefs and how they had to live in a Germany where they were in the minority.

Before,​ during​,​ and after the war Marianne was there to support everyone even though she had lost everything except her ​castle and her children.

Marianne previously lived in a castle with her husband, Albrecht and her children before the Germans took it over. Her ​husband was a member of the resistance but was killed by the Germans along with other members. His request was for Marianne to take care of the families of other members if he and his fellow members were killed.

Marianne complied with her husband's wishes and found two women including Benita who had married a man Marianne actually had loved at one time and who was a family friend.

These women and their children lived together and endured the hardships after the war as well as sharing their lives before and during the war.

Marianne was an organizer, Benita was a follower, and Ania was a great help to Marianne. All three women had endured a lot and were there for each other in their own way as they recovered after the war.

THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE gives us insight into how families lived in Europe before, during, and after Hitler's regime. ​The book ends with the year 1991.​

THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE is well written, well researched, and with authentic characters and descriptions that draw you in...descriptions that allow you to share the experiences every character is dealing with whether good or bad.​ Some of the experiences are quite grizzly.​

It took me a few chapters to get connected and to warm show more up to the characters, but once I did, I became fully involved with their lives as well as becoming familiar with yet another piece of WWII's history.

Historical fiction fans and women's fiction fans will love THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE. Be prepared for a heart wrenching, but very thought-provoking read.

The historical aspect and the friendships between the three women draw the reader in and keep the pages turning while you also don't want the book to end. 4/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.​ show less

Three women--Marianne, Benita, and Ania--find themselves in a Bavarian castle, an ancestral home for Marianne's family, during the Great War. All the women lose spouses in a rebellion against Hitler. The story is from an angle most fiction does not take, but helps readers understand life for the Germans during that time. My biggest criticism is that, even though the author provided clear dates, it was sometimes difficult to wrap your mind around all the chronology differences since they did not follow a pattern. I found myself confused about what time period I was currently reading frequently. The story line does pull forward to more recent times toward the end, but the majority of the book occurs between 1944 and 1950.

The Women in the Castle, by Jessica Shattuck, is a well-written sturdy little book about a time-period that I have never read about before. The story encompasses the aftermath of the 2nd World War, and specifically, the lives of three women and their children. These women were all left widows by the war, and by their husband's disastrous attempt to assassinate Adolph Hitler.

For me, the most intriguing parts of the story were those that dealt with the guilt, and non-guilt, of the German people after the war ends. I have traveled to Germany and visited concentration camps and spoken with those whose relatives lived in Germany and Austria while the war was on-going. This book truly made that time period come to life. It would have been a difficult time to be German, no matter what side you had been on.

Right now, there are many many books being sold that are about women during World War II. This is the first that I have read about women in the aftermath of that terrible time. This is definitely a book worth picking up, in my opinion, if you are a fan of historical fiction.

This book was recommended to me by a friend who is very well read. I found the story about 3 women German women who survived World War II interesting. I have read many books about the war but what made this one unique for me was that it was told from the perspective of Germans. Their reactions to Hitler were each different and helped to give you an idea how it was for the German people during the war. The plot focuses around those impacted by the failed assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944. What I especially enjoyed was that Shattuck gave you a good idea what life was like during the war. The deprivations and their ultimate impact on all of Europe and specifically the German people were very stark in their protrayal. It was a good read and though the ending was a little bit flat, as a way to learn more about the war it was a worthwhile read. World War II books always make feel blessed to have not lived through this horrible time in the history of the World. Its impacts never stop.

The thing I took away from this book was a comparison between the main character Marianne and Hitler. Both assured theirs was the correct and only way, those who don't measure up are removed from our lives, and in the end no regret. Not sure that was the authors point.

I found it to be a slow, depressing read.

Three widows and their children form a makeshift family in a crumbling Bavarian castle. Marianne von Lingenfels made a promise to her husband’s co-conspirators to protect the widow and children of those who plotted and failed to kill Hitler in 1944. The novel follows the postwar years for each of these very different women and their offspring.

I found The Women in the Castle to be a very captivating book to read. The blurb gives away quite a lot of the storyline in the book, or so one would think. Actually, it just skimmed the surface, gives the reader some fact, which when you start to read the book, when more of the women's past are revealed not to mention decision they make for the future really shows how little you know about them.

I liked getting a story about the women left after a failed assassin attempt on Adolf Hitler. How they coped with their life after their husbands were executed. Living in a place where people (servants, villagers, etc.) were actually happy with the failed attempt and trying to build up a new life after the war ended. I liked how the author managed to surprise me as the story progressed with twists to the story that I had not anticipated.

The Women in the Castle storyline stretches all the way to modern time and I was engrossed in following the lives of these three very different women that had to cope with losing so much during the war. It's a book I recommend warmly!

I want to thank William Morrow pub. for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review!

This book focuses on the German wives of men who rebelled against Hitler during WWII. I didn't feel very connected to most of the characters, but I did enjoy reading about the war from a new point of view.

“There is so much gray between the black and the white and this is where most of us live.”

“Years later, as a professor, Martin would try to find the words to articulate the power of togetherness in a world where togetherness had been corrupted. And to explore the effect of the music, the surprising lengths the people had gone to to hear it and to play it as evidence that music and art in general are basic requirements of the human soul, not a luxury, but a compulsion”

A beautiful book following three German women and how their lives were affected by Nazi Germany and it's defeat. This is an excellent example of how not every citizen supports the dominating beliefs, how people can be brainwashed or bullied into bad decisions, and how people face and deal with trauma in different ways.

One of my favourite things about this book was that the central character, Marianne, was so confident in her truth that she wasn't able to see how her own ideals were affecting the other women. She was a strong, brave woman, but even she was eventually able to see that she hadn't been able to see the trees for the forest until it was too late.

While it ends on a happier note, over all, this was a sad book with a lot of difficult circumstances.

"She was her own kind of dreamer, a blind mathematician skating along the thin surface of life, believing in the saving power of logic, reason, and information, overlooking the whole murky expanse of feeling and animal instinct that was the real driver of human behavior, the real author of history."

I really enjoyed this book. Set in WWII-era, this historical fiction was about finding family from the wreckage of war. I really liked learning about each of these women and their pasts.

I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters throughout the book, however by the ending I just loved them all. I felt so much for each of them. I thought this book was a little slow, but I got so used to the rhythm of the book that I really grew to love it. I really liked this book and I am so glad I finally got to read it! It was such a unique pov; seeing how these women survived and got through their lives changing due to the choices of their husbands. I would definitely recommend this book, but maybe not everyone will love it.

This historical novel follows the lives of three women who have to come to grips with the paths their lives have taken both during, before and after WWII. Marianne von Lingenfels has promised her husband and other male members of his resistance group that she will look after their wives and children if there plans to eliminate Hitler fail. When she is forced to do so, she must first locate the women and children who have been imprisoned or in the case of the children, moved to foster homes.

Marianne is able to reunite with two of the women Benita and Ania and bring them along with their children back to Castle Lingenfels. They must fend for themselves during a time of uncertainty and hardship. And as the story progresses secrets of the past are revealed that will test the friendship that has been built up between the women, around the memory of their lost husbands and the lives they once knew.

This richly detailed and atmospheric novel is at once sad and poignant and perhaps comes at the just right time. In it, we can see how political and cultural divisions can lead to disasters. It is both heart wrenching and unsettling but told with a warm and understanding that made it hard to put down. Those who enjoy historical fiction will not be disappointed.

Thanks to Shelf-Awareness and William Morrow for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
More reviews at: www.susannesbooklist.blogspot.com

On July 20, 1944, Operation Valkyrie was activated…and failed. Operation Valkyrie Operation Valkyrie’s involved a number of Germany’s military leaders and aristocracy who sought to assassinate Adolf Hitler, to seize political control of Germany and to negotiate peace with the Allies. The conspirators were arrested and the majority executed. Many of those left behinds, mothers and children, were separated, children removed for re-indoctrination. This historical novel tells the account of three women who lives interact after the surrender of Germany:

Marianne, the protagonist of this novel, who seeks out women separated from their children, reintegrates the families, and provides sanctuary within her executed husband’s family home.
Benita, who married Marianne’s childhood friend, separated from her son when the conspiracy was discovered, and abused by the Russians in Russia-occupied Berlin.
Ania, married to a German soldier who was arrested near the end of the war and sent to a camp. Marianne rescues her from a displaced persons camp.

Although I have read many books regarding the effects of this war on Jews, the French, Hungarians, Chinese, Americans, etc., I have never read a historical fiction until now on the German citizenry. This novel was well-researched; I was amazed to read the number of books used by this author in writing this book. The characters were well developed through the use of back stories. The loose ends tied up at the novel's conclusion was show more particularly poignant. If you read and enjoyed other historical fiction novels of this time period such as The Nightingale, All the Light I Cannot See, and The Invisible Bridge, I would recommend that you read this book. Since I had the privilege to review an advance reading copy, you won't be able to read it until April 4, 2017. However, if you want to read a good book about the impact that war has on the citizenry, this is the one. show less

This book grabbed my attention right from the very beginning, and I'm so glad that I gave it a try. It had been recommended to me by several different sources, but I kept hesitating. Then it cycled through my library for availability, I gave it a chance, and I couldn't stop reading until it was finished.

Pros: Three interesting main characters. Descriptions of poverties of post war life. Reality of fears and vulnerabilities once humans devolve into war ravaged animals.

Con: The last quarter of the book was boring. I would have been satisfied with the book ending in the 1950s.

I had enjoyed the book Savage Continent by Keith Lowe, which is a non-fiction account of Europe post World War II. The Women in the Castle was a satisfying and rewarding addition to books that allow me to imagine the realities of the complicated world we inhabit.

No one ever claimed this book to be factual- it's a story folks. I would say that instead of a good/evil comparison tho it's more about true human emotions and thinking. Different women, differing backgrounds all with a goal of- life. Life for themselves and the ones they love.
The castle comes into play as an ancestral home of one of the husbands, murdered for making an attempt on Hitlers life. Marianne. She invites 2 women to come stay with her, also widows.
Life was not so easy at all despite their non-Jewish status, yet they fared better than most. After the war the women split up for varying reasons and this is where the book does jump around some.
But life is a circle isn't it? Women in the Castle is about the making of that circle.
" There is so much gray between the black and white... and this is where most of us live,trying, but so often failing, to bend toward the light."

Wonderfully researched but its intensity made it hard to read. There are 3 POVs and a lot of movement backward and forward through time, which I tend not to enjoy. The technique worked well here.

I won a copy of this book through the March Early Reviewers, but sadly never received my copy. :( I borrowed instead a copy that a friend won from another group.
Let me just say I really liked this book overall. The writing style was good, the characters were interesting, and I loved the fact this was a WWII novel from the German perspective--we basically never see that in novels because it's just so difficult. I thought the novel's pacing was good until toward the end where for some reason--maybe it was just me--parts seemed to drag. I definitely enjoyed the book though or I wouldn't have finished it.

Fantastic look at Germany after World War II and the backgrounds of three women who eventually come to live in a castle together. Engrossing and emotional.

I believe this was the first novel I have read that gives the German point of view and, to its credit, three very different points of view with much angst over past actions. The three women from very different backgrounds go through difficult trials which are made a little easier when they come together in an uneasy friendship. some of the male/female relationships were a little fuzzy and difficult to understand and the female/female relationships were forged through necessity and broken through misunderstanding.The US has been trying to preserve WWII memories in recent years. I wonder if Germany has been doing the same.

There is a lot of historic fiction that uses World War II as a backdrop and this book definitely belongs among the best. The perspective in this book is slightly different than other stories since it revolves around the lives of three German women who all had slightly different views and roles during the war. Their lives are brought together as these three widows take over a crumbling castle trying to survive the end of the war. Their struggle for survival creates a tight bond, but it isn't until many years later that some of their deep secrets are revealed. This is such a heartfelt story -- definitely one of my favorites of the year. A must for fans of The Nightingale or All the Light We Cannot See.

This book is a little slow, but interesting story of three German women, and among all the WWII fiction I’ve read, I appreciated the new perspective it gave me.

More than a 4 just short of a 5 for me for one reason: every time the action got going we had to go back and pick up history. That's ok to a point but the book could have been tighter in the end without that.

But heavens, this book. Talk about it can't
Happen here. Very eye opening book on Germans in WWII and how it could happen. Wow. May have to change to a five, I'll think on it.

What a refreshing World War II story! Three women and their children after facing the horrors of the war are brought together to survive after World War II. What I found most interesting was the how each woman’s background led to their reactions as Jews were sent to death camps.

At the beginning of WWII, Marianne, her husband and a group of German nobility meet to discuss Hitler. During WWII, the men enact and fail in an assassination attempt. This book outlines the aftermath, as the children and widows are left to pick up the pieces. Marianne does her best to bring these women and children together, supporting several in her husband’s ancestral castle.

This book did not resonate with me. I thought it was slow moving and a bit disjointed. Some of the storyline was confusing, just because of the order in which it was presented. The women seemed a bit one dimensional, I would have liked to have seen more personality. Overall, a bust.

This book has been getting lots of good reviews so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it! The Women in the Castle is the story of three women who come to live together in a rundown castle at the end of World War II. It reminded me very much of “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah.
The prologue starts out pre-war, where Marianne von Lingenfel promises to be “the commander/protector of the wives and children” at a secret meeting her husband, her lifetime friend, and other men are having to plan actions against Hitler.
In order to honor her promise to her husband, best friend and the other husbands (who all were caught and killed for their actions) she sets out in search of the wives and children left behind after the war.
First she locates Martin, son of her beloved, deceased friend Connie. Next she tracks down Benita (mother of Martin/wife of Connie). It is obvious they have both been deeply affected by the war. Benita is broken, frail and withdrawn. Martin is quiet and subdued. Their love for each other keeps them going.
Marianne then discovers another resister’s wife (Ania) and her children and brings them to live with her at the castle. Marianne, Benita and Ania develop a friendship and live together many years. Throughout all of their stories you learn about each of their struggles for survival, their damaged souls, and the horrible ordeals they have all survived.
The book exposes all the horrors of the Hitler era and the effects of war. Secrets are revealed show more that affect the friendships the women have forged. Each woman has to come to terms with horrors from their past to move forward with their lives. I can’t say much more without revealing too much about the book. It was a very good novel about war, friendship, love, the power of the past and the will to survive. Highly recommended!!! show less

I received this book free in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

This book was a great read from the start. The character jump right off the page with there realism and actions as well as their descriptions. Marianne is the sweet leader of everyone and she is married to her exact opposite. A man who is a perfectionist and contemplates everything while missing the daily activities. The countess is a women after my own heart with her bossiness and risky parties. throughout the story you will meet many other women, children and men who again follow this realistic pattern. The sentence structure was easy to read aloud as well as kept you from stumbling over words. It varied from long complex sentences to short simple ones. I love the imagery of the castle during the rain storm and how it described each feature such as desks and chairs. I will be lending this book to my grandmother to read. I think anyone could easily fall in love with this book. The Rough cut edges are by far my favorite part about this book, had it been hard cover, I would easily mistake it for an older book and one of maybe a time before this one. I can add this to my list of well written, highly thought out and simply amazing to my list of books I could not put down.

Captivated initially by the premise and cover but disappointed in the historical detail delivered. This book just wasn't what I was hoping for

Set at the end of World War II, in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of German high society. This is the story of Three women haunted by the past and the secrets they hold

I was really looking forward to a strong historical fiction novel with good character development and interesting historical detail but this one fell flat for me from the outset as I just could not connect with the characters or the story and felt the book lacked any real depth compared with other historical fiction books I have about this time period in history.
I listened to this one on audio and really couldn't recommend the narration either, as I felt the performance was irritating and accents overplayed.

So many of my Goodread friends have loved this one and this is just my reaction to the book.

Three women share their lives and living quarters in a castle in Germany during World War 2 and the period following it. One of them has a husband involved in a failed plot to kill Hitler. After the war another seriously considers marrying an ex Nazi. These are examples of the personal complexities these women face. All of the have children who further enhance the story. Toward the end of the book the major character Marianne moves to the United State to refashion her life.The novel is well written and panoramic in scope. I feel people who enjoy historical fiction will embrace this novel.

Initially I didn't feel invested in the characters or story but kept going. Good thoughts of how we survive and judge others for how they survived.

This was a very well written story about three German women during and after WWII, all of them thru marriages connected to the resistance. It is a story of friendships and love across several years but it is mostly about how each of these German women reacted to what was going on in the Hitler Germany of their time.
It is a loose historical fiction and a great read in my opinion.

It is a beautiful and moving book, a book about people with values and ethics in one of the darkest periods (World War II) in history.
After the attempted assassination of Hitler, the women of the assassins remained. The book tells their story, how they survived. How the war and the period after it change people and how people relate to values.

Interesting perspective of WWII aftermath. This book tells the story of surviving wives whose husbands were in the Resistance Movement. The men were executed after a failed assassination attempt on Hitler. Three women with different backgrounds and different personalities. They did whatever it took to survive.

At first, it was slow, but eventually I fell in love with this book. German Resistance widows banding together to survive.

THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE BY JESSICA SHATTUCK is a historical fiction novel set before, during and after WWII, when three women all of who are connected by one crazed leader, Adolph Hitler. These women, whose husbands were instrumental in either the plot to assassinate Hitler or openly critical of him. Their husbands were either jailed and or executed. Maryanne, the leader if you will, strong & the one who promised her husband that she would seek out and care for the others. Benita, young and once very beautiful who only wanted to have her dreams fulfilled. Ania, the third of the group. All these women & their children tried & sometimes failed to deal with not only the war but the afterwards & the rebuilding of their lives.

I found this book addicting. The more I read the more I wanted. This is not a feel good type of story but you will still find it hard to forget. It kept me turning pages and wanting more. The more I got the more I wanted. It was like stepping into a time machine and living in that drafty cold castle with those three women.

I received this book free from goodreads in exchange for a review.

I know this is a best seller, but I didn't care for this story. Maybe I just didn't like one of the main characters very much. I found Marianne to be judgmental and controlling.

Incredible! This book takes us behind the scenes of the front line. The experiences of the women, the children, the elderly...and then the prisoners. I have many friends that are German and still have family in Germany. I understand them a little better after taking this journey through our not so distant past.