The Light In The Window

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Nanešťastie v Paríži stretne syna rodiny, Wilhelma, ktorý ju nakoniec drží vo svojej izbe a snaží sa prísť na to, čo s ňou urobí. Postupom času si začnú dôverovať a stanú sa z nich priatelia. Aj keď stoja na dvoch rôznych stranách, ona je židovka a on je vojak SS, ktorému je odmala vštepovaná propaganda vtedajšej doby, vtedajšieho režimu, svojim spôsobom našli k sebe cestu. Trenchant as she may be, it is a voice from the past. Why did she wait until now to write the book?

Then one night in my mind’s eye I saw an Episcopal priest walking down the street. I decided to follow him and see where he went. Well, he went to a dog named Barnabas, they went to a boy named Dooley, and the story unfolded before me. Instead of me driving the story, the story began to drive me! I got interested, wrote a couple of chapters, and there you have it. That's the worst of it, maybe, but it's also the tip of the iceberg. Goulding rapidly realised that nursing at the convent was going to bear little resemblance to the standards of care she was used to. The sister in charge had the final say, and her focus was punishment. That meant: insufficient rations, and hard physical labour while acutely pregnant, and no painkillers, and no stitches no matter how badly a women tore during birth, and no calling the doctor, and on and on it goes. A minor critique stems from a few instances of unnecessary repetition in the story and the somewhat annoying focus on how often various Nazis styled their hair with Brylcream. Karon has also published two Christmas-themed books based on the Mitford series, The Mitford Snowmen and Esther's Gift, as well as Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader. Other Mitford books include Patches of Godlight: Father Tim's Favorite Quotes, a compilation of wit and wisdom, and A Continual Feast: Words of Comfort and Celebration, Collected by Father Tim. In addition, Karon has written two children's books, Miss Fannie's Hat and Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny, and an illustrated book for all ages, The Trellis and the Seed. Berlin, 1941: Margarete Rosenbaum is working as a housemaid for a senior Nazi officer when his house is bombed, leaving her the only survivor. But when she’s mistaken for his daughter in the aftermath of the blast, Margarete knows she can make a bid for freedom…I was personally vested in this story for two reasons: a close relative of mine was adopted out in 1949 at two years of age; and another close relative was physically abused by nuns in a Catholic school. This memoir helps the reader to gain greater insight into what they went through. Set in Ireland in the 1950’s in a home for pregnant, unwed women, a whistle-blowing nurse reveals the treatment of innocent women who sought refuge. Trapped in a desperate situation, and having no other means to support themselves and their baby, they fall prey to the nuns who are sadistic/heartless in their piety. Instead of giving birth in a discreet location with care and kindness, they are denied their human rights as a person and parent. They are forced to give up their babies and not given information about where their babies went. June recounts all of this faithfully but most interestingly for me, she adds in her perspective as a nurse and midwife. The goal here was clearly to punish vulnerable women and girls; how else could you possibly explain a nun refusing to allow a teenage mother to be sutured following a traumatic delivery? No pain relief or medical interventions allowed either. No kindness, no dignity, no care. I felt incredibly angry reading this book. As a health care professional I can’t countenance this sort of treatment of anyone, but especially pregnant women, who were alone and scared.

A still-birth was no tragedy, and breast-feeding was enforced so that mothers had to accept babies other than their own at the breast. Držala som palce Margarete, aby sa jej podarilo zachrániť sa. Bolo mi jej ľúto, ale fakt som celý čas myslela len na to, aby ju nikto neodhalil. Doslova tancovala po tenkom ľade. Margarete bola Židovka. Slúžila v jednej rodine, ktorej členovia po zbombardovaní zahynuli. Napokon prevzala totožnosť dievčiny, ktorej telo ostalo pod troskami domu. Tak sa z Margarete Rosenbaumovej stala Annegrete Huberová. Ich habe schon viele Bücher gelesen, die in dieser Zeit spielen, aber wenige davon haben mich so wenig überzeugt wie dieses hier. Dabei klang der Klappentext durchaus spannend. Aber spannend war Margaretes Geschichte dann leider nicht, sondern sehr vorhersehbar. Trotz des ernsten Hintergrunds war die Geschichte viel zu seicht und oberflächlich und die Mitwirkenden entweder schwarz oder weiß. Book #2 in Jan Karon's Mitford series continues the saga of Father Tim and the trials, tribulations and triumphs that he faces daily in his life. A friend in uni has just finished reading this book and asked if I would like to borrow it, given that we are student midwives I thought it would be a good human interest story to read. It was done in an afternoon, and by the evening I was in disbelief.My two stars serve only as a hope that other will be able to read this book and realise the horrors of what women in that place went through, but please borrow this from a library, don't do anything to furnish that woman's estate with any more ill gotten gains. The only positive I could take from this book was that these women had June looking after them, by all accounts a kind and caring person. She details some of their stories here and I often think of those women now and what happened to them as the years went on. The village is indeed idyllic; the characters charming, quirky and lovable. However, as the series continues, Father Tim's life, even though more and more fulfilled, also becomes more and more stressful. These books give me new appreciation for the busy and often stressful life of a parish priest, especially a kind, empathetic and giving priest like Father Tim. I can always count on Marion Kummerow to pen a compelling historical fiction novel that grabs my attention, holds it and rewards me with a plethora of knowledge learned! The only thing that didn't sit well with me was that Ms. Goulding seemed a bit too chummy with the cruel head sister running the home, and that she didn't fight hard enough for the girls. I know, it was the dawn of the 1950's, in a strict Irish Catholic home for unmarried mothers. June Goulding was almost as much a prisoner there as the captive girls she was caring for. Speaking up more than she did probably would have just gotten her booted out, so she tried to hang in there and gift the girls with the only thing she could give them, just a little human kindness. I try and keep it in perspective.

It sounded amazing and intriguing and the plot was a fascinating idea. I'm just not sure if I liked how it was executed. The story follows Margarete a young Jewish woman in WW2 who takes the identity of her employer's dead Nazi daughter to avoid prosecution and her relationship/connection with the son of the same family who is also an SS member. Born Janice Meredith Wilson in 1937, Jan Karon was raised on a farm near Lenoir, North Carolina. Karon knew at a very early age that she wanted to be a writer. She penned her first novel when she was 10 years old, the same year she won a short-story contest organized by the local high school. Karon married as a teenager and had a daughter, Candace.Vojnové knihy u mňa nie sú žiadnou novinkou. Keď ma anotácia zaujme, veľmi rada (aj keď to pri vojnových knihách znie divne) ale naozaj rada si niečo nové na túto tému prečítam na knižnom trhu. It is 1941 in Berlin and an air raid has just dropped a bomb on the home of Herr and Frau Huber, killing them and their spoilt daughter, Annegrete. Margarete Rosembuam, their Jewish maid is the only survivor. Taking on the identity of Annegrete allows Margarete more freedom in Berlin more so than what she would ever have if she told the SS her true identity. But, her lie comes with a price when Wilhelm Huber, Annegrete’s older brother, becomes aware of her charade and decides to use the ruse to his own advantage. In my books I try to depict not a glorious faith with celestial fireworks, but a daily faith, a routine faith, a seven-days-a-week faith. Father Tim’s faith is part of his everyday life. He has simple prayers, not polished, pious prayers. He follows the Apostle Paul’s command that we pray without ceasing. I try to depict how our faith may be woven into our daily life, like brandy poured into coffee. I believe that spirituality needs to be basic, common, everyday.