CHARADE

by Edita Morris ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 10, 1948

The author of My Darling From The Lions and Three Who Loved continues in her highly individual style to tell the story of a German family who have found refuge in Poland, during this war. Through Lili's wide-eyed, if wise eyes, you see her Mutti, who fails her daughter in the end; her Vater, poet-playwright and steeped in his new work on Goethe; Magda, his mistress, who dreams of being a dramatic actress to please her lover; Steff, Lili's brother, too well indbotrinated with Nazism. And there is the madwoman, Jadwiga, and her intimate knowledge of the unhappiness in Lili's house, the armless soldier she befriends, the Polish Baron who gives Magda and Lili a chance of escape from Lili's father- and finally the band of lost children, strange and terrible, with whom Lili finally allies herself when the adult world disintegrates before her need for security. A nightmarish innocence, which may recall Richard Hughes to some, but which seems to have a tighter story level, a greater concentration on characters, and a possible symbolism. For the literary rather than the lay audience.

Pub Date: Sept. 10, 1948

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1948

Categories: FICTION