FORTUNE AND GLASS

The rise and fall of the Nazis as seen through the eyes of a Berlin bureaucrat who keeps his fierce opposition to Hitler—and his love for a Jewish woman—secret.

Rudi, a Foreign Ministry official, has somehow avoided signing up for the National Socialist German Workers’ Party—a decision that puts him at odds with his childhood friend Hans, a member of the Gestapo. Both men have been romantically involved with Sara, the quirky, strong-willed daughter of a Jewish doctor. In the aftermath of Rudi’s idyllic short-term romance with her in the 1930s, he marries a German woman, Magda. But years later, after Magda moves for safety to the Baltic island of Rügen with their children, Sara, for whom Rudi still has strong feelings, reappears in an emotionally weakened state. With violence against Jews rampant, he sneaks her by train into Switzerland in 1943, only to have her reject the move moments after her feet touch the platform, turning around and getting back on the train to Germany. In the face of atrocities that belie Hitler supporters’ insistence that “you have to get past his shrillness,” Rudi remains committed to opposing the Nazis, dispatching secret documents to an American contact in Bern. For readers expecting tense espionage and high drama, debut novelist Mutter’s cool, contemplative approach may come as a surprise. Keeping explosive events offstage, the book focuses on the ironies and oddities of daily life, including Rudi’s weirdly cheerful encounter with Hitler himself; the two even forge a connection over Hitler’s dog. All manner of awakenings occur. “Not long ago, a lot of us didn’t even know we were Jewish,” says Sara. “And if we did, we didn’t care.”

An unusually restrained but powerful novel about the darkest of times.