by Herman Wouk, 1971
Historical novel about the years 1939 to 1941 and the start of WWII as seen through the family of Pug and Rhoda Henry. Victor (Pug) is Navy attache in Germany and then Russia. He has 2 sons, Warren and Byron, and a daughter, Madeline. They are grown children. The 2 boys in the Navy; one is a pilot, the other (Byron) a submariner. America is not in the War until Pearl Harbor on 12-7-41. Up to that point, Roosevelt wanted to help England but the Americans were strongly against it. He came up with “Lend-Lease” to try and get boats and equipment to England. Byron ends up in Poland (with Natalie, a Jewish girl living in Siena, Italy, with her scholarly Uncle Aaron Jastrow) because she insisted on going to see another uncle (Jewish) living there. While there, the Germans attack Poland and take it. They get out of Poland, finally, during an arranged cease-fire, escorted by Germans to a train to Stockholm. Byron and Natalie grew very close. Byron is young and brave. Natalie falls in love with him and out of love with Slote, American embassy man, a coward. The book takes you through the fall of France, the bombing of England, and the attack on Russia by Hitler’s Germany. Also learn about Mussolini, a very short, incompetent dictator. Learn a lot about Hitler and Stalin and Roosevelt and Churchhill. Much tension in the book because Natalie and her Uncle Aaron Jastrow end up stuck in Italy. First because Aaron sees no reason to leave, doesn’t see Hitler as a threat, plus he no longer has an American passport. Then, when he finally sees that it is dangerous for a Jew to be in Italy, it is too late for them to leave easily. They get tangled up in red tape that even the President (Roosevelt) can’t undo, though he tried because Byron mentioned the problem at a dinner at the White House! Finally, they get out, on a Turkish freighter, right after Pearl Harbor and Hitler and Mussolini have declared war.
Loved this book. Learned a lot. He tells the German side through a fictitious German general, Von Roon. He tells the rest of the world’s side through Pug Henry, who deals with all the world leaders. The book is accurate as far as they are concerned and the events. Loved it. Now want to read War and Remembrance.