| Title | : | The Innocents and Other Stories |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1586176404 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781586176402 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 150 |
| Publication | : | Published August 27, 2019 |
The Innocents, set in Germany after the Second World War, is a poignant family drama about the horrors of war, the suffering of the innocent, and the demands of justice.
The Ostracized Woman traces the fate of a Prussian family at the end of World War II to the heroic deed of an ancestor done centuries before.
The Last Meeting imagines the last encounter between Madame de La Valliére and Madame de Montespan, rival mistresses of King Louis XIV of France.
The Tower of Constancy leads the reader into the heart of the infamous French prison of the same name while exploring the role of conscience in the religious and philosophical conflicts of the eighteenth-century.
The Innocents and Other Stories Reviews
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This was a thought-provoking read that didn't shy away from heavier Catholic and historical themes. It's been some time since I've read something with such weight, a fact which perhaps better describes my latest reading tastes more than this collection of stories itself. Even so, stories of men and women distraught by the horrors of their worlds, their own personal failings and transgressions, and the judgement faced along the path of justice naturally impose a certain weight on the reader's heart. It's amazing how much can be conveyed in so few pages.
One reading is not sufficient for me to confidently offer a critique of these stories, but I am confident I shall read them again someday soon.
A quotes I fancied:
"You are surprised at us," she said candidly, "but Hans-Jeskow and I think very differently of Anna Elisabeth today than we used to. She, too, belonged to us, and although we disowned her, she remained faithful to us. For she, too, was a true child of our homeland an part of its strength- that feminine-maternal strength that the proud history of the world tends to remember only reluctantly yet is deeply fundamental to every people: the half of all being, the womb of life, its first awakening and its last continuation, the invincible..."
"Do you mean humanity in general?" I asked tentatively. She responded: "Yes, that is what I mean, for ultimately it all starts with motherhood, and, oh, how gruesome world history is that betrays it time and time again!" And now tears fell from her eyes, which had indeed seen far too many horrors. For a while, none of us dared to speak. Finally, Hans-Jeskow said, "But humanity is nevertheless the only thing that can triumph over the dreadful legacy of world history, and that is why Anna Elisabeth's obliterated countenance finally outlasted all of our downfalls."
(that was way longer than I thought it would be, but I just couldn't cut any of it out) -
A thought provoking collection of short stories. I enjoyed half, and I appreciated the other half. Two ought to have been novels and not short stories- they were harder to follow. But I would still recommend them.
