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International bestseller publishing in 21 countries with more than 1 million copies sold worldwide. Movie tie-in cover - feature film was an Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Film (2005). One of the Sunday Times' '100 Best Books of the Year' and No. 1 in the Independent's '50 Best Books of the Summer' (2005). Originally published in the Netherlands in 1993, De Loo's first novel to be translated into English explores the enmity that existed between Germans and the rest of Europe after World War II. This moving tale addresses notions of guilt and responsibility in a sensitive, thought-provoking manner, without exonerating or condemning. Twins Anna and Lotte Bamberg are born in Cologne but orphaned and separated when they are five. While Lotte is taken in by Dutch relatives, Anna is raised by her grandfather in rural poverty. With the advent of war, their lives take very different turns: Lotte's family hides an assortment of refugees, while Anna finds love with a soldier of the Reich. Besides two unsuccessful brief meetings, they have no contact until a chance encounter in the Belgian resort town of Spa about 40 years after the war. Anna is eager to reestablish their relationship, yet Lotte is more reluctant. As she gradually comes to understand that not all is black and white, she is able to find her sister again.… (more)
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Their life experiences have been vastly
As the sisters exchange stories, Lotte is distant and wary of Anna, the twin she adored as a child. Lotte believes that she would have acted differently in Anna's place. While this is a story of reconciliation and forgiveness, those don't come easily to Lotte.
This book is on the 1001 list, and is highly readable. I especially liked the portion of the book involving the girls' early lives together with their adoring parents. However, when the novel turns to the sisters' war experiences, inexplicably it becomes mundane and ordinary. This book did not say anything that dozens of other books have not said better and more vividly. The book is not a bad read, just not a great one.
Foreign film.
Now in their 70's, they meet by chance at the Belgian health resort of Spa. As the two sisters spend more and more time together they begin to relate their very differing experiences of the war. Anna married a, if reluctant one, SS officer whilst Lotte's family hid Jews so as to prevent them being deported. They tell their stories using a series of flashbacks and the contrasts between their lives soon becomes very apparent. From her somewhat sheltered viewpoint Lotte is initially very sceptical about Anna's accounts of the war but she is gradually forced to confront the realities of the sufferings of the ordinary Germans during the war leading her to wonder what would have happened if the twins' roles had been reversed?
In many respects the central theme of this novel, Nazism and the resistance to it, is not a particularly novel one as it has been visited on numerous occasions. However, I found this a well written and engrossing read due mainly to the contrasts between the two sisters. Anna seems much more vibrant and raw in her approach to life always willing to challenge expectations whereas Lotte is much more sensitive and considered unwilling to abandon her preconceived ideas. However, what de Loo does extremely well is to avoid the pitfalls of stereotypes and leaving difficult ethical questions about the ordinary German citizens involvement in the war for the reader unresolved. I found this a very enjoyable read that deserves to be on the 1001 list.