skeletons at the feast by chris bohjalian

There is her lover, Callum Finella, a 20-year-old Scottish prisoner of war who was brought from the stalag to her family’s farm as forced labor. The book was reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Kirkus Reviews, The New York Times, and was 'highly recommended' by The Historical Novel Society.In January 1945, in the waning months of World War II, a small group of people begin the longest journey of their lives: An attempt to cross the remnants of the Third Reich, from Warsaw to the Rhine if necessary, to reach the British and American lines.Īmong the group is 18-year-old Anna Emmerich, the daughter of Prussian aristocrats. Throughout the novel, Anna struggles with understanding the atrocities the Nazis have committed and how she can possibly bear the burden of blame by the rest of the world. Eventually all three stories come together when Anna's party, joined by Uri, crosses paths with the sad march of Cecile and the other prisoners. As Anna, her mother, her younger brother Theo, and Callum trek across the Third Reich, other stories run parallel to theirs, including the story of Uri Singer, a Jew that leapt off the train to Auschwitz and survives by assuming identities belonging to various German soldiers and Cecile, a French Jew taken prisoner in a concentration camp and, along with her fellow prisoners, forced to march westward to outdistance the Russian advance. Along with them they are joined by the Scottish POW, Callum Finella, with whom Anna has embarked on a secret love affair. The plot of the story centers around a young Prussian girl, Anna Emmerich, and the broken remnants of her family as they flee westward from the advancing Russian army.

On their westward journey the family are joined by Uri Singer, an escaped Jew posing as a Nazi officer.īohjalian said in an interview he was inspired to write the story after being persuaded to read a diary spanning from 1920 to 1945 belonging to Eva Henatsch, a German woman that embarked on a similar journey west across the Third Reich. Rolf and Helmut depart from the family in an effort to stop the Russian advance while the rest continue on alone.

Anna also has an older brother, Werner, who is off fighting in the war. The family consists of one of the novel's main protagonists, Anna her mother, known affectionately as 'Mutti' her father, Rolf her twin brother, Helmut her younger brother, Theo and the Scottish POW that once worked on the family's farm, Callum Finella, who later becomes Anna's lover. It tells the story of a journey in the waning months of World War II concerning the Emmerich family, who flee their beloved home in Prussia and move west to avoid the advancing Russian troops. Skeletons at the Feast is a novel by author Chris Bohjalian, published in 2008.

Skeletons at the feast by chris bohjalian