Wonderfully thought out and presented

I had listened to an interview with Anika Scott on History Hit and was very impressed by her background as an historian and as a journalist. Anika said that she could have written a non fiction account of post WW2 in Germany but she was interested in the human experience and decided to ask some very challenging questions regarding what it was like for civilians during and after the war; how did people cope with guilt, and, what was it like to be the "defeated nation"? What a task! These are questions that I've also wondered about. Anika had obviously done her homework and has a very deep knowledge of this period of social and world history.

I was a little nervous that I might be setting off on a track of hopelessness and exhausting tragedy. However, I reached the end, feeling that I had a balanced insight into all those questions. It didn't drag at all and there was even humour along the way. And in the end, there was hope.

Honeysuckle weeks was genius! She helped to differentiate the characters by using a different accent for each one. None had German accents, which I felt was really interesting, as I suppose we associate WW2 and German accents with "the enemy". This helped me to have a fresh take on each character's human experience. Her very thoughtful portrayal of each character was so impressive.

Thank you Anika and Honeysuckle and all those behind the scenes. Such a great book.

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