My Brother's Shadow
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
As World War I draws to a close in 1918, German citizens are starving and suffering under a repressive regime. Sixteen-year-old Moritz is torn. His father died in the war and his older brother still risks his life in the trenches, but his mother does not support the patriotic cause and attends subversive socialist meetings. While his mother participates in the revolution to sweep away the monarchy, Moritz falls in love with a Jewish girl who also is a socialist. When Moritz's brother returns home a bitter, maimed war veteran, ready to blame Germany's defeat on everything but the old order, Moritz must choose between his allegiance to his dangerously radicalized brother and those who usher in the new democracy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Nothing is going to be the way it used to be." It's 1918 in Berlin, and in four years' time 16-year-old Moritz Schmidt has lost his father to the war and his baby sister to illness. Moritz feels increasingly distant from his mother and older sister, both active in the socialist revolution against the Kaiser, as well as his older brother, Hans. While his activist mother hides from the police, who are seeking to arrest her for treason, Moritz gets a job at the daily newspaper, gradually writing more articles for his mentor, Herr Goldman, while dreaming up ways to find food and money for his family. When Hans returns from war an injured and embittered radical, and Moritz falls for a socialist Jewish girl, he cannot reconcile his feelings: Is the revolution a salvation or a betrayal? In this nuanced and realistic work of historical fiction, Schr der (Saraswati's Way) immerses readers in her setting with meticulous details and dynamic characters that contribute to a palpable sense of tension. Moritz's intimate narration captures the conflicts, divided loyalties, and everyday horrors of the period. Ages 12 up.
