In Our Midst
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
"Touching... resonates chillingly with today’s headlines."—Publishers Weekly
Drawing upon a long-suppressed episode in American history, when thousands of German immigrants were rounded up and interned following the attack on Pearl Harbor, In Our Midst tells the story of one family’s fight to cling to the ideals of freedom and opportunity that brought them to America.
Nina and Otto Aust, along with their teenage sons, feel the foundation of their American lives crumbling when, in the middle of the annual St. Nikolas Day celebration in the Aust Family Restaurant, their most loyal customers, one after another, turn their faces away and leave without a word. The next morning, two FBI agents seize Nina by order of the president, and the restaurant is ransacked in a search for evidence of German collusion.
Ripped from their sons and from each other, Nina and Otto are forced to weigh increasingly bitter choices to stay together and stay alive. Recalling a forgotten chapter in history, In Our Midst illuminates a nation gripped by suspicion, fear, and hatred strong enough to threaten all bonds of love—for friends, family, community, and country.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jensen (The Sisters) explores the effects of the U.S. entry into WWII on a German-American family in Indiana in this touching tale. Otto and Nina Aust and their teenage sons, Kurt and Gerhard, all immigrants and proud Americans, are torn from their restaurant business and home by FBI agents the day after the U.S. enters the war in 1941. While Nina is interrogated, the others are thrown into distant prison camps as "alien enemies." Jensen paints a harrowing picture of the suspicion, scapegoating, and violence on the part of the camp's guards and between those interned there, such as the Nazi sympathizers who beat Gerhard nearly to death. The gloom is offset by cheering scenes of goodwill and courage, as German-Americans give each other material and emotional support over the years spent in the camps, and entertain each other with stand-up routines inspired by Laurel and Hardy and theatrical performances of scenes from Faust. Jensen admirably pulls off the balancing act between an emotionally gripping narrative and adherence to historical facts without becoming pedantic. Each of the Austs and their neighbors Iris, Everett, Bess (Kurt's sweetheart), and Hugh (whom Gerhard loves) animate the story with their loyalties and struggles. Jensen's satisfying fictional account of a lesser-known chapter of U.S. history resonates chillingly with today's headlines.
