INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • FEATURING AN EXCLUSIVE NEW CHAPTERGoodReads Choice Awards Semifinalist “Moving . . . a plot that surprises and devastates.”—New York Times Book Review“A masterful epic.”—People magazine“Mesmerizing . . . The Women in the Castle stands tall among the literature that reveals new truths about one of history’s most tragic eras.”—USA TodayThree women, haunted by … magazine
“Mesmerizing . . . The Women in the Castle stands tall among the literature that reveals new truths about one of history’s most tragic eras.”—USA Today
Three women, haunted by the past and the secrets they hold
Set at the end of World War II, in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of German high society, a powerful and propulsive story of three widows whose lives and fates become intertwined—an affecting, shocking, and ultimately redemptive novel from the author of the New York Times Notable Book The Hazards of Good Breeding.
Amid the ashes of Nazi Germany’s defeat, Marianne von Lingenfels returns to the once-grand castle of her husband’s ancestors, an imposing stone fortress now fallen into ruin following years of war. The widow of a resister murdered in the failed July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Marianne plans to uphold the promise she made to her husband’s brave conspirators: to find and protect their wives, her fellow resistance widows.
First Marianne rescues six-year-old Martin, the son of her dearest childhood friend, from a Nazi reeducation home. Together, they make their way across the smoldering wreckage of their homeland to Berlin, where Martin’s mother, the beautiful and naive Benita, has fallen into the hands of occupying Red Army soldiers. Then she locates Ania, another resister’s wife, and her two boys, now refugees languishing in one of the many camps that house the millions displaced by the war.
As Marianne assembles this makeshift family from the ruins of her husband’s resistance movement, she is certain their shared pain and circumstances will hold them together. But she quickly discovers that the black-and-white, highly principled world of her privileged past has become infinitely more complicated, filled with secrets and dark passions that threaten to tear them apart. Eventually, all three women must come to terms with the choices that have defined their lives before, during, and after the war—each with their own unique share of challenges.
Written with the devastating emotional power of The Nightingale, Sarah’s Key, and The Light Between Oceans, Jessica Shattuck’s evocative and utterly enthralling novel offers a fresh perspective on one of the most tumultuous periods in history. Combining piercing social insight and vivid historical atmosphere, The Women in the Castle is a dramatic yet nuanced portrait of war and its repercussions that explores what it means to survive, love, and, ultimately, to forgive in the wake of unimaginable hardship.
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Wonderfully written historical fiction of WWII era. Struggles from fall of aristocracy to Nazi resistent movement and the bravery and strength of these women is amazing and inspirational.
Loved it
I’m a little overwhelmed by how many WWII books there are right now, but the different perspective of this one intrigued me. It is a historical fiction about the widows of German men who went in to try to assassinate Hitler. It showed that some Germans were opposed and horrified by what he was doing. It also had some twists that added to it, like the men the widows were involved with after the war. Very intriguing story.
I listened to the audio version of the book and even though the German accent made some things hard for me to understand (names and places mostly), the accent did add dramatically to the story.
I loved this World War II novel. Shows just how strong women are in horrible situations. But still enjoyable reading.
Survival during WWII and “the other side”. One more time, womens’ strength and readiness to survive and fight for what they believe in
Most of this story takes place post WWII, when Marianne von Lingenfels returns to her husband’s family castle and tries to gather the widows of the men whose attempt to assassinate Hitler ended in failure. She is able to find only two of the widows who come from widely different backgrounds. Somehow they are able to survive and care for their children. Only secrets, some from the past, threaten their intertwined lives.
It tells the story from a different perspective and it makes you realise how difficult life was for the women left behind, anywhere. Struggling on, unbelievably strong and making sacrifices for their children!
This book takes a very different look at the WWII period, focusing on the lives of German civilians who were victims of a different kind. After reading a lot of other books about the period, I found this perspective enlightening. That this novel was based on the lives of real people added to my appreciation. The “unfolding” of the story through jumps back and forth through time was a different take on what has become a familiar tool for many writers; the surprises that were revealed were entertaining in their own way. The only drawback to the book was that many of the characters were not especially likeable, but the story was well told.
It was a good book. Started out slow. Got better as you went on. Good nook but not great.
A little bit of a departure from the myriad of World War II era themed books out there right now. Reads very quickly, gives a different perspective from a German resistance movement ideal.
I loved this book so much! I am a sucker for a story set during WWII or its aftermath, and if there is a strong, smart heroine in the mix, even better. This book featured not just one, but three such characters. Following the failed assassination attempt on Hitler, the wives of three of the men accused and executed for the plot, come together to support each other. Marianne von Lingenfels, whose husband was one of those murdered, takes it upon herself to find and rescue the wives and children of two other resisters. They take refuge in a crumbling Bavarian castle where the aristocratic Marianne once hosted Europe’s elite. Now she is shunned by those who live in the village and must use her wits to survive. Although the three women do not know each other and come from very different backgrounds, they form a family of sorts as they struggle to survive in postwar Germany. I read this book in one sitting. I could not put it down!
A story not of WW2, but of what the war left behind. A group of German officers plotted against Hitler and were executed, including Marianne’s husband, Albrecht, and her beloved friend, Connie. The war ends and Marianne fulfills her vow to Connie by finding his victimized, but shallow widow, Benita, and their son Martin. Marianne, Benita and Martin try to make a new life at a decrepit, rural property from Albrecht’s family. They take on a third widow of the resisters, Ania, who adds a calming dynamic to the household. An absorbing tale with plot twists, and discoveries of atrocities in post-war, apocalyptic Germany. Perhaps the strength of the story is the complicated picture of post-war Germany that emerges as the women encounter survivors, some consumed by guilt, others steeped with bitterness over the loss of a powerful patriotic German identity branded by the Nazis, and yet others reduced to desperation.
Was this review helpful? I am an avid world war based fiction reader and author. You can read more of my takes at https://brodiecurtis.com/curtis-takes/.
This is the story of Marianne von Lingenfels. She has married into the von Lingenfels family and owns the Lingenfels castle. This is the story of how she worked to find family members of the resistance after WWII. She finds the wife of her beloved friend Connie and their son Martin. She also takes in Ania and her two boys. Together they work to rebuild their lives after the war.
It goes back and forth in time, explaining how each of the women grew up and ended up where they did. At the end, there is a party at the Castle to honor Marianne and her efforts after the war.
This book is very similar to The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, but I think I liked it (The Nightingale) better because of the twists and turns.
Great historical novel.
It seems there’s a never-ending supply of WW2 stories; this one is different. The perspectives are three German women, mostly in the aftermath of the war. What it was like to be a German citizen, whether wealthy or poor, no matter what “side” you were on. Not since The Book Thief has there been such a well-rounded view of so horrible a time.
Without an awareness of Germany after WWII I was intrigued by this story. The author’s writing drew me into a before unknown aspect of the war. To the victors go the spoils and the telling of the history. In Shattuck’s book the defeated are given a voice to tell their story as well.
A Different Perspective on WWII. I enjoyed this story of 3 German women in post-war Germany. It deals with a time in history I knew little about. I now want to read more about the Nazi resistance. This is also a great character studay.
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.
In Germany at the beginning of Hitler’s reign, Marianne and her husband are part of a group of resisters trying to stop the cruel dictator. When an assassination attempt fails Marianne promises to protect the wives and children of the resisters being punished. After the war she reunites with two of the woman and their children bringing them to her families castle to try and survive the devastating after effects of the war. The story is told from multiple perspectives throughout various eras. I am a huge fan of historical fiction but this one was a little slow with not a lot of action. The premise was there I just didn’t think it fully developed. One of the women is very spoiled and ungrateful and I just could not come around to liking her.
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.