All Clear by Connie Willis

I've just finished All Clear by Connie Willis -- the conclusion of the time-travel/WWII/great characters story she began in Blackout.  With both books, I felt a little muddled and confused at times.  Not only does the reader go back and forth between 2060 Oxford and WWII-era England, but that reader must also follow the pathways of a given character at various points during various years.  I couldn't decide if I was confused because I'm dumb, because the reader is supposed to be confused (which I'd be okay with), or because I should be less ignorant of WWII history/European geography.  I'm guessing that it may be a combination of all three.  ;)

Nonetheless, it all largely came together for me by the end of All Clear and I'm glad I persevered.  Willis' storytelling is rich and the conclusion so satisfying.  I'm a big fan of what ifs to start with and that is a part of the appeal but there is more than that to my enjoyment of her books.  And of course I was amused by the brief cameo of a certain mystery author in her role as a dispensary worker.

A-Z Wednesday -- A Lily of the Field by John Lawton

Welcome to A-Z Wednesday!! Hosted by to Reading At The Beach

To join, here's all you have to do:

Go to your stack of books

Find an author whose first or last name starts with the letter of the week

Post:

1~ a photo of the book

2~ title and synopsis

3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.)

4~ Come back and leave your link in the comments.

If you've already reviewed the book, add it or the link to your post.

This week's letter is: "L"

 

 

The Lily of the Field by John Lawton

Hardcover:  381 pages

From the bookflap:  

Vienna 1934.  Ten-year-old cello prodigy Meret Voytek becomes a pupil of concert pianist Viktor Rosen, a Jew in exile from Germany.  Three years later, aware that the Nazis are advancing, Rosen packs for London and leaves behind a baffled teenager with neither religion nor politics to guide or harm her.  When Vienna welcomes Nazi rule, Meret witnesses the repercussions for the city's Jews, and when her orchestra becomes an arm of the Hitler Youth, she complies and wears the uniform.  Meanwhile, in Great Britain, Karel Szabo, a Hungarian physicist, has been interned in a camp on the Isle of Man.  Soon, Szabo is transported to Canada, where he is rescued by the Americans who recruit him for the Manhattan Project, building the atom bomb in New Mexico.

Five years of raging war pass.  Caught up in an SS sweep, protesting that she is innocent, shouting that she is not Jewish, Meret is sent to Auschwitz, but saved to fill the cello spot of the KZ Ladies' Orchestra of Auschwitz.  As the Russians advance Auschwitz is abandoned, and Meret find herself on the death march to nowhere.  As the war ends, Szabo finds his way back to Europe, nursing valuable secrets that threaten the balance of power across Europe.

 

 

I'm just starting this one and have never read anything by this author before. After I checked it out I realized that it is part of a series.  I seldom read series out of order -- Anyone read the Inspector Troy series?  Think I should send it back and start wtih the first one?