Sorry for the derail by discussing sex flannels! Honestly, there were loads of things that the author implied were "normal" like "every woman likes x" or "no woman enjoys y" where I was thinking, "huh? I'm a woman and I disagree " but as this isn't the place to discuss intimate details (not that I'd want to anyway) I'll continue to live not knowing if I'm just a total weirdo, or if the writing was just a bit shit.
Moving swiftly onwards.
3. Stumbling Stones. Bonnie Suchman.
This is a fictional account, but based on real people, the German Jewish ancestors of the authors husband. The story centres around his Great-Aunt Alice. For those who don't know 'Stumbling Stones' (stolpersteine) are brass plaques which are set into the pavement outside the last place a victim of the Holocaust freely chose to live, work or study. They are inscribed with the victims name, life dates and where they were deported to of known. Astonishingly, there is one Stolperstein in London.
This book has been so well researched, which isn't always easy as the Nazis destroyed so much. In the Epilogue, the author explains that, whilst some facts about Alice are known, such as where and when she was born, where she studied and worked, who she married and where and how she was killed; much less is known about her as a person. Which is where the fiction element comes in. Bonnie has created a strong woman who anyone would be proud to claim as an ancestor. I felt transported to Germany in the 1920s and 30s, and I think the book did a really good job of showing how slowly the Nazis took control, and how easy it must have been to accept the laws they enacted. It was startlingly clear why so many people said "we will leave, but not yet". It also shows how they made it almost impossible to actually leave by introducing contradictory laws such as Jews having to have a certain amount of savings to emigrate, whilst also confiscating their money.
At times there was a lot of 'info dumping' which was repeated a few times. I think if you were reading this with minimal knowledge of that time it would be useful information. However, for me it wasn't information that I didn't already know, and, as such, it interrupted the flow of the story. I also found the writing to be a bit wooden and clunky at times with lots of repetition that could have been edited out IMO. This meant I struggled to fully immerse myself in the story.
But the ending was so sad, and so beautiful. I how that the end really was that peaceful for Alice and Albert.
Edited because MNs crappy formatting means it reverts to 1 when I typed 3. I really wish they'd sort this out.