Tim Sert Sert itibaren Machecoul, France itibaren Machecoul, France

Only the second German book I have read in 25 years or so but I really enjoyed struggling through the German original of The Nazi and The Barber. It was worth it to get the clever irony and genuine humour out of a rather grotesque plot where a Nazi SS man (a self-confessed mass murderer) relates his life history in which he has taken the name, job (and eventually Israeli nationality) of a Jewish neighbour born in the same street in the same town on the same day. Don't want to spoil the plot - especially the very ironic ending - so I won't go into detail, but I couldn't put the book down. It was first published in an English translation in the US as Hilsenrath was unable at the time to find a German publisher. I hear that translation is excellent.

The Wednesday Sisters follows five women from the time they meet in 1967 until 1974. These women are young wives and mothers, rather well-to-do, living in suburban Palo Alto, California. Their `club' is focused on becoming writers, and each of them contributes both writing and criticism in order to help their sisters grow as writers. They are also the best of friends, sharing triumphs and tribulations and learning about themselves in the process. I initially assumed this book would be rather `familiar' (that's Frankie-speak for `trite'), but was glad to be wrong. Most of what I've read about this time has focused on the subversive and radical elements of the late `60's, early `70's culture in America, so it was very new and fresh to be given an insight into the lives of those who'd accepted the status quo and were being forced, by experiences in their own lives, to change their long-held views. Being only 27 and never experiencing that era myself, I was continually struck by how recently our culture has shifted from marginalizing women to embracing them (for the most part.) It is rarely that I come across a novel in which the characters seem so real, as they do in The Wednesday Sisters. We are not given their stories in part, but feel we have become a part of the whole, and the narrator, Frankie, has a very engaging "voice" (as is also stated in one of her sisters' critiques of her writing.) I would recommend this book to anyone who reads general fiction, which is a very wide section of our population. I expect The Wednesday Sisters to become a bigger best seller than The Mrs. America's, one of the sisters' novels. (Which I also would really like to read, by the way.)