Welcome to Litsy!

A complicated story about an extended German aristocratic family at the beginning of the twentieth-century. Narrated by a young girl with a Roman Catholic German baron father, an English mother, and Jewish relatives (a hold over from her father's first marriage.) The political is personal as changes in government, military, and society end up having far reaching effects on the family. Apparently Bedford based the book on her own family 👇

3⭐️ I was soooo looking forward to reading this family saga; the start was promising, and then things got confusing, and I finished it feeling meh 😒 It‘s a difficult read! Characters are not introduced properly, confusing timelines, and so many French and German sentences that I had to source Google Translate to understand what they are all about 🤦🏻‍♀️

One is for school, one is for bookclub 🙈

Submitted my assignment, and I‘ll have a short break with this novel

Book haul for today! The auxiliary at the medical building I was at this morning sells used books.

Really enjoying this one so far. I'm getting a bit of a Stefan Zweig vibe from it, but more funny.

One of my goals this year is to read classics including my ever growing collection of New York Review Books. This was a family story that was very similar to the author's life and dealt with themes of religion (Catholicism and Judaism) and country. I felt like some of the humor was lost on me, but overall it was an enjoyable read. 😊📚❤

The summary makes this book seem so much more dull than it deserves! Between the witty narration, complex female characters, skewering of various authority figures, and people having romantical problems in beautiful European locations, this is such a fun read.