This was a different type of WW2 read for me. It follows 3 German women during and after the war, showing the profound and the mundane of a life shaped by war, from 3 different viewpoints, 3 different choices made, 3 different sets of regrets and joys.

We have fierce and righteous Marianne, with a husband who was part of and died for the German resistance.

We have beautiful, fragile Benita, who lives too close to the cusp of life, always overflowing with emotion.

And lastly, we have enigmatic Ania, who desperately tries to bury her past. Out of the 3 women she was the most fascinating to read about.

The start felt slow and sluggish and I struggled to connect with Marianne, perhaps that’s because her character was hard to connect with in general. She radiated such high ideals and morals, giving her the air of an untouchable. But in reality, she struggled as much as everyone else.

I find this book exceptionally hard to rate. It took me a good third of the book to actually get into the story but even though it was a slow burner, it was worth the read.

This book is thought provoking and highly engaging, it is fairly unique in that it's a ww2 & post war era story seen from the german perspective. A book about what people know, when they know and what they do when they know! Universal questions that we ask of ourselves but cannot truly answer! The women of this story are engaging and they highlight the struggles with collective guilt! The story is well told and brings post-war Germany to life! A really well written book by a very talented author!

This is a glorious novel first and foremost. Every page is filled with writing so evocative that it leaves the reader stunned and in brilliance. This story covers a large scale of time, from 1923 to 1991, but all the pieces are gathered around the Second World War and Germany’s place in history.

When it begins it is November 1939 and Marianne von Lingenfels is the niece-in-law of the French born, German by marriage Countess who owned Burg Lingenfels, the castle of the title and is married to Albrecht, the
…man who contemplated grand abstractions… while shaving. It rendered him oblivious to everyday things.
She is thirty one, mother of three children and is in tacit agreement with her husband’s stand against the Chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler, although his dissent is kept private carefully among the many Germans who are ardent Nazi’s.
Germany was being run by a loudmouthed rabble-rouser, bent on baiting other nations to war and making life miserable for countless innocent citizens.

For so long Marianne and Albrecht and many of their friends had known Hitler was a lunatic, a leader whose lowbrow appeal to people’s most selfish, self-pitying emotions and ignorance was an embarrassment for their country.

Her best friend is Martin Constantine (Connie) Fledermann, a charming man whom no one, not even crazy Hermann Goring is immune to Connie’s charisma. Somehow, without meaning to, a group of likeminded men come together during a grand party at the castle and agree that Hitler must be stopped before he turns Germany into a country of shame amongst the nations. Marianne is accidently drawn into the group and is deemed the commander of wives and children as the men argue over how they should rid Germany of Hitler. At first Marianne is insulted by the title, seeing it as a putdown for being a woman. Her understanding of its implications only occur to her in the coming years.

Marianne is disciplined and has a strong moral compass. It is these characteristics that are the power behind her every move over time. From just before the war was declared, we are then carried to the end of the war, when Germany is in shambles and people are displaced all around Europe. As the commander of wives and children, she takes it upon herself to search for and rescue as many of the families who were punished for their husbands’ part in the assassination attempt of Hitler on July 20th, 1944.

In July 1945 Marianne finds Benita, the wife of her dearest friend Connie, who was being held as sexual hostage by Russian soldiers and her seven year old son Martin, who had been placed in a Nazi run Children’s Home for children of traitors. In August of 1945 Marianne found Ania Brabarek, wife of a man who had brought information regarding what would be known as Kristallnacht to the dissidents, and her two sons Anselm and Wolfgang in a displaced persons camp. From this mismatched group she created through sheer will a family of sorts who lived in the castle, surviving together for several years.

The story then takes us into the near future and looks at the women and the lives they created in the 1950’s, when life was better for Germans, but the past still clung to them heavily every day.

“I know who you are,” he hissed in her ear. “The traitors wife.” She could feel is penis hard against her leg through his pants. “I know your secret.”… You ladies of the castle think you're better than everyone else,” he said with a dry laugh. “But I can smell a cunt lover a mile off.”

So there were to be new chapters. This was the happy feeling that filled Marianne after Ania’s wedding. To see her friend married to a good man, a good German man (almost an extinct species!) this was a hopeful thing.


Ania and Benita had moved forward in a fashion, although they were still viewed with suspicion for being ‘traitors’ wives, but Marianne clung to her past as a resistor with a righteous indignation. She felt that even though it was in the past, she had to hold people accountable for the sins they had committed during the war. Further still into the story we travel to 1991, when all of Marianne, Ania and Benita’s children are grown and as adults they now must deal with the aftermath of the war and what their parents had or hadn’t done during it.

There is beauty that drifts off each page, nothing is left to a bare essentials retelling. Shattuck creates splendour even in the face of horror. The story is strong and you feel real sympathy and sometimes irritation with the characters. It never feels as if the novel is trying to make excuses for the Nazi era and it doesn’t paint all Germans in a righteous manner of being objectors one and all that so many other novels often fall prey to, such as in Wait For Me, by Caroline Leech, which has a feeling of un-realness about it. For the harsh truth is if so many people in Germany didn’t agree with the war, Hitler’s plan would never had taken a hold as they did. People in Germany did turn a blind eye to the misery they were inflicting upon so many innocent people around Europe and they didn’t care, they believed in and wanted what Hitler was selling. Instead this book it paints the women of the castle as partners whose husbands had played a heroic but tragic part of the war’s history. This book will take concentration and commitment to read, and it is glorious.

I cant wait to see what Jessica Shattuck comes out with next.

This book was interesting, but it frightened me a lot. I don't think I can read books about the lead up to the Second World Two and Nazi Germany for a while. It's just too close to what's happening politically in America right now and I'm not sure I can handle reading that. So much of the stuff that was shown in this book is so close to what's happening in America right now. The only comfort I can take is that I'm seeing a lot more resistance.

The book itself though was pretty good. The characters and their different stories were really interesting and the way their personalities interacted showed how good characters they were and the way that their experiences defined their characters so much, both what they went through during the war and their interactions with the Nazi party before the war.

Marianne's journey throughout the novel was really something as well. Her political opinions were so strong, whereas the other women didn't believe so strongly in things. It was interesting to see how that hardened her and how her pressure on the other characters to see things as black and white as she does effected them and her relationships with them.

This is a novel about the shades of gray. This is a novel about the German people, how complicit they were, but also about how they were treated afterwards. It goes into morality and consequence and blame in a really fascinating way.

I have read countless World War II books – all of them interesting and heartbreaking. But this was a completely new perspective for me that I really appreciated. This was told from the German point of view and mainly focused on learning how to move forward after the war while still remembering the importance of the past. I especially appreciated the “authenticity and realness” of the story. I felt like I had a true glimpse into these three women’s lives and grappled along with them as they made their daily choices to survive and make peace with their past.

It was beautifully written and will stay with me for a long time. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. It was joy to read and I highly recommend it! 5 stars.

As many novels as I've read about WWII this is the first I've read that focuses mainly on its aftermath. I liked that with the characters I was able to garner insight into how non Jewish Germans viewed Hitler and his ideology. I thought the ending was a bit anticlimatic, but overall a very good story.

When I was in my twenties, I took a European trip over the summer. We got a Euro-rail pass and quickly traversed the continent. At the end of our journey, we spent some time in Germany. One of the destinations we visited was the site of the Dachau Concentration Camp near Munich.

For me, this was a sobering afternoon that gave rise to outrage that people could be so evil to each other. Throughout the rest of our time in Germany, rightly or wrongly, whenever I saw an older German person (this was in the 1980's), I couldn't help but think, "What was your role in the war?"

This book explores this through the eyes of three civilian women. It delves deeply into what action, and inaction, does to a person after such a devastating moment in history. Without pleading for sympathy, this book shows how each person is both victim and perpetrator.

What I Liked:

New Perspectives:

I like to read historical fiction because I can gain insight into a time period that I haven't lived in. While many recent books such as The Nightingale, and All The Light We Cannot See have begun to show some German's viewpoints, this book specifically zeroes in on the experiences of German women.

Each of the women has a unique story that adds layers of understanding to the reader's perception of the story. Marianne, the wife of an intellectual, seems to hold a moral superiority over the group. Her husband was convicted and killed for trying to stop Hitler. Yet, she and her family benefited from Nazi forced labor. Benita, the beautiful spoiled wife of Marianne's friend, is all too eager to conveniently forget what some soldiers did in the war. And Ania has abundant secrets from the conflict.

Strong Female Characters:

Even with such diverse backgrounds, what all three of these women shared was a unrelenting love for their children. I was very struck by the fact that all the men in these women's lives prior to the war let them down. They were left to fend for themselves. So, when faced with such adversity, the women did whatever was needed to keep their children safe, regardless of the moral implications.

Historical Detail:

I appreciated all the detailed scenes of ordinary life, especially in showing the dependencies between how people lived (rich vs. poor) in Germany. The abundance at Marianne's party before the war is in sharp contrast to the hunger experienced by Benita in her youth. Even after the war, aristocratic Marianne has resources that others cannot fathom.

This book shows the human cost of war. There are no winners here. Only survivors. As countries around the world seems to lean toward nationalism once again, I can only hope people can read books such as The Women In The Castle and be reminded of what can happen when we forget our shared humanity.

This is a beautifully written book that follows 3 different women during and after WW2. They come to live with each other and help each other and their children. It is a hard book to read at times as it is during a horrible time in our history. I recommend this for all who enjoy historical fiction. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bonnier Zaffre for an ARC in return for an honest review.

What a book. Already gathering many praises and accolades from a variety of respectable sources, but I'll add to that anyway. WWII has been an inexhaustible source of striking dramatic fiction for ages. So much is known about that era that to really stand out one the trick is to approach is from a different angle, to tell a story from a perceptive previously unknown. Shattuck chose well in this respect, Women in the Castle's perspective is that of war widows, survivors, three very different women. 1938. The book begins with a lavish party thrown by an aristocratic Marianne for the social elite and intelligentsia contemplating the political nightmare their country is entering and preparing to resist. Skip forward 7 years to a defeated devastated country and Marianne attempting to find the wives of the failed resistants and bring them back to the castle. She finds a widow of her dearest friend and randomly a widow of a man she only met once at the party, but knew from reputation. This an unlikely alliance of three very different characters, slowly revealed in all their complexity. I must say I didn't love the book at first, finding the characters not particularly likeable and the narrative veering slightly toward Women's Fiction. And then Shattuck took us back to show Ania's journey and just like that it was...wow. From then one, one layer after another...the characters became real and then it didn't matter whether they were likeable or not, because they were compelling, there was authenticity to their nature, genuinely flawed as it was. Distance is often a crucial requirement to behold either the great good or the great evil. The women weren't given that at the time and so mistakes were made and the ability to write about this in such a humane understandable manner speaks volumes of the author's talent. What comes with distance, what comes with age, the chance to comprehend, to accept, to forgive...is a privilege. I think the greatest lesson here is that it is important to see the soul behind the eyes, the person behind the choices, to understand someone within the context of their life and world around them as oppose to try to fit everyone into a narrow binary structure of good and evil. Black and white morality is always challenging, so much of life lies in the gray zone. In the end, Marianne's rigid rectitude has a price just as Ania's willing blindness does. Everyone is defined by their choices and everyone tries to make the right decisions at the time for that time and everyone lives with the consequences. Tricky business...living a good life, isn't it. Or even defining a good life, for that matter. Takes a powerhouse of a book to remind us of this. This one took seven years to write and it's a very worthy entry into a WWII literary oeuvre. Interestingly enough with the rise of nationalism and populism around the world one might question whether enough time has passed for WWII to become merely a fodder for fiction and no longer a hugely significant, crucial lesson to be learned. It's difficult to imagine someone reading a book like this and drawing no parallels to a modern world, difficult to imagine the degree or ignorance (deliberate or otherwise) that doesn't notice or doesn't care. Sure, a work of fiction is meant to be an entertainment, but the good ones also educate, challenge, make think. After all, those who don't learn from the past...and all that. Then again, I read the news daily and daily that question is answered. But that aside...great book, an important book even. Strongly recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

“To me, you can learn as much about looking at complicity as you can at resistance. [...] I hope that readers will come away with a sense of the complexity of life at that time and the decisions people made and didn’t make.” (Jessica Shattuck)

Told from the perspective of three different women, The Women in the Castle focuses mainly on the immediate aftermath of WWII, when people are trying to come to terms with the realities of the atrocities committed during Hitler’s reign, and their part in them, either as willing participants or passive bystanders. Only one of the women, Marianne von Lingenfels, can truly say that she had an active part in the resistance movement and the plot to assassinate Hitler, which ultimately left her a widow. Marianne is a woman who sees the world as black and white, which earned her the nickname “The Judge” as a child – there is good, and there is evil, and no shade of grey in between. One is either guilty, or not.

“Inaction was impossible. Once you knew – really knew – of the women and children being shot in the woods, of the shower rooms constructed for the sole purpose of killing, how could you not act?”

Her moral principles guide her every action, and she takes her responsibilities very seriously. When she is tasked to take care of the widows and children of fallen resistance fighters, she uses everything in her power to bring them to Lingenfels Castle, where they are safe amidst the tumult of post-war Germany. It is this promise that makes her collect two women from the occupied territories: Benita, who is the young widow of Marianne’s best childhood friend and fellow resistance fighter Connie; and Ania, the widow of a Polish foreign officer. Both women arrive with their children in tow, and the group find shelter in the old castle ruin. Bit by bit the reader gets to know each of the women’s backgrounds, their fate during the war years and their most intimate thoughts and feelings – and there are a few surprises in store!

The Women in the Castle was one of those books that evoked so much emotional turmoil whilst reading it that I had to sit quietly for a few days afterwards and sort those feelings before being able to put my thoughts into words. Wow – this was one powerful story! I am a bit of a sucker for WWII fiction, but in a vast choppy sea of war stories there are only a few true beacons of light that manage to shine through the darkness and stand out. I feel privileged that this year I already managed to discover two such books, and The Women in the Castle is one of them (the other was All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr).

In a former job I worked with clients who were holocaust survivors or forced labourers in Germany during the war and was deeply moved by their individual tales of survival. What inspired me most of all was their capacity for forgiveness, and their courage to forge a new beginning after staring into the abyss of human depravity. The Women in the Castle brought back a lot of those stories for me, and most of all I reflected on the ethical and moral dilemmas each of the women faces. Guilt (even by association) and blame feature strongly in the book, as they did in the immediate post-war years, when the world still reeled from horror of discovering the sheer scale of atrocities committed in Hitler’s name.

“It was so ugly. The peace and plenty of this time were like a thin quilt spread over a pile of shit. No one was innocent.”

I have read only few books which focus on the immediate post-war period, and I loved the way the author explores the topic open-mindedly and without trying to judge or lay blame. As intended, I continuously asked myself the question: if faced with a similar situation, would I speak up? Would I risk my own life and that of my children to stand up for what is right? It is easy to judge people of that time from my own high horse of living a sheltered life in democracy and peace. I would love to be able to say: Of course I would! But would I? As a mother, would I not try to protect my children at all cost, even if it meant turning a blind eye? The Women in the Castle opens an emotional minefield of moral and ethical dilemmas I am glad I have never had to face. I personally was deeply touched by the character of Franz Muller, a German man who had fought in the war and was unable to forgive himself or allow himself to ever feel happiness again. His story could have been that of my grandfather, who narrowly escaped with his life from the Russian front, only to find that living with the things he had seen and done in the war was a daily burden he could never totally escape from.

The Women in the Castle is a powerful, thought-provoking and insightful story which took me out of my comfort zone and awoke a true rollercoaster ride of emotions in me that haunted me for days. Questions of moral and ethical dilemmas would pop into my head at the most inopportune moments, causing me to pause and reflect on my own convictions and beliefs. Absolutely everyone should read this book! War and atrocities are still going on all around us, and we have become immune to the flickering horrors on our TV screens every evening. It is one thing to judge from our high horse of privilege, and another to truly understand what motivates people to act the way they do in the hope that we can recognise the potential of destructiveness in ourselves and consciously choose a different path. The Women of the Castle is a non-judgmental account of three women faced with often impossible choices. Fully recommended!

*3.75-ish stars (rounded up)*

The Women in the Castle is a riveting novel that hits home with the notion that sometimes it’s our shared experiences, no matter how horrific, rather than our strongly-held beliefs or common views of the world, that can bind us together and leave a lasting impression.

Jessica Shattuck takes a different approach with her WWII story, opting to relay the devastation through the eyes of three distinct German women. Women that stumble and make mistakes along the way, like we all do, but ultimately strive to find some semblance of a life among the scattered ruins of their bleak existence and the memories of the awful things they witnessed throughout the war; not to mention, the things they were forced to sacrifice. Flat and borderline lifeless, it was more the pity and heartbreak I felt on behalf of these characters than any sort of likability, that kept me interested in their story.

Almost a character in and of itself, Burg Ligenfels, a remote and decrepit Bavarian castle, opens and closes the doors on these women and their journey to peace. It all starts with a party in 1938, held at the castle, where Marianne’s husband, Albrecht, and her best-friend, Connie, decide it’s time to take a stand against Hitler, consequences be damned. It’s at the same party Marianne vows, unbeknownst to them, to take care of the wives and children of the resistance.

Fast forward, years after the war and now a widow herself, Marianne is taking her role as pseudo-resistance mother seriously. Despite her determination, she only manages to track down Connie’s widow, Benita, and the widow of another resister, Ania. The three women, along with their children, settle into Burg Ligenfels and become somewhat of a makeshift family. Things aren’t easy though; their relationships are weighed down by guilt, lies and Marianne’s unwavering beliefs.

As compelling as I found this story to be, it wasn’t without its faults. The author skips huge chunks of time and tries to make up for it by going back and filling in some of the blanks, along the way, but the delivery is muddled and often confusing. There were quite a few times I had to straighten out the timeline in my own head and figure out whose voice which particular chapter pertained to before I could move on. Around PART III, I felt the story lost a great deal of momentum and teetered on the edge of boring. The author gave up the few secrets she held quite easily and too early on, making the ending less impactful, in my opinion. Acceptable and peaceful in some ways, but lacking the strong emotional edge I expected from a story of this calibre.

While I enjoyed this book, it didn't come close to dethroning The Nightingale, the most remarkable WWII story I have ever read, from the mighty pedestal I've placed it on. The women in this story aren't as emotionally adept or as memorable as I found the characters from Sarah's Key to be either. For the different take this story provides on WWII, I would say it's worth the read and would even go so far to say it's on par with All the Light We Cannot See. It's one I'm glad I took the time to read, but not one I would consider a new favorite in this genre.

Favorite Quote:
“She was her own kind of dreamer, a blind mathematician skating along the thin surface of life, believing in the saving power of logic, reason, and information, overlooking the whole murky expanse of feeling and animal instinct that was the real driver of human behavior, the real author of history.”

I enjoy a good World War II historical fiction and this book has been hyped in some circles as being a good one. I was looking forward to reading it and seeing a different side of the effects of WWII. This story wasn’t what I was expecting.
I was expecting a very Girl Power story of hardship and female friendship as these women fought to stay together and provide for their children after their lives had been torn apart. Mostly this was various stories from before, during and after the war of where the women came from, how they ended up at the castle and how they dealt with post-war problems.

While the writing is good I was left wanting more especially from Marianne von Lingenfels story. Also, I never really felt that I had a chance to connect with anyone specific character or feel anything for them. For me most of the characters were a bit cold and unlikable with the exception of Martin, whom I felt empathy for all the way through the book.

This one just wasn't for me: 2/5 Stars

The story begins November 9, 1938 - a day the world will come to know as Kristallnacht. The setting is the Countess' famous Harvest Party at the Castle the reader will come to know as Burg Lingenfels.

This is a story of three women, three widows, who seek refuge at the Castle during and after the horrors of WWII. They are: Marianne, the wife of Albrecht von Lingenfels, who was the heir to The Castle, lawyer and one of the resisters who plotted to kill Hitler; Benita the beautiful bride of Constantine (Connie) Fledermann, married to a resister while not one herself and Ania Grabarek wife of a Polish government functionary whose story is woven into the story later in the book.

Jessica Shattuck has created a story based on one woman's commitment to save and protect the wives and children of the resisters. The story of each woman's background is plumbed in depth and provides a convincing portrayal of what she is to endure and become. We know each woman, we have met someone like her. We wonder how she could do the things perceived necessary to survive in a time of brutality and unforgiving and ultimately we understand the choices made.

Shattuck explores the depth of commitment to a promise, a righteous belief, and the destruction and salvation which result.

Thank you Bonnier Zaffre and NetGalley for an Advanced copy of The Women of the Castle which has been retitled The Women In the Castle.

Recommended especially for readers of historical fiction and easily up there with the best World Not just another World War 2 novel! [book:The Women in the Castle|30653967] takes a different and intriguing approach, concentrating on the women who are left behind instead of the men who go off to fight.
Especially interesting to me was the way the author dealt with the aftermath, a time of rebuilding and dealing with grief and guilt. We all know stories of battles and glory but the three women in this story show us how hard it must have been to recover from so much damage and to raise children who had themselves seen too much horror.
Some light is also shed on how ordinary Germans fooled themselves as to what was really going on. When Anje sees people being herded into cattle trucks she looks the other way and tries not to analyse what is happening. When people hear reports of Jews being persecuted they refuse to believe the news is true. People wanted to believe in Hitler and so they did.
This is a very readable book. The three main characters are all interesting in their separate ways and their story sucks the reader in and does not let go. It is also beautifully written.
War 2 fiction books.

I recieved a copy for this book in exchange of an honest review from Netgalley. In this book we hear the view points of three different widows after WWII. Marianne is the owner of a castle now that her husband has passed and has been given the task of helping the widows of her husbands friends. Marianne's husband was against the Nazi way and attempted to assassinate Hitler but failed. She finds her best friends wife who has been in a prison and one other woman who she has never met. We learn all about their stories and how they become fast friends raising their children together. Marianne is strong in her beliefs and the women have to quickly learn her ways. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend to those who love the historical genre or anything to do with WWII.

The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck is an interesting look at three woman in the midst of World War II Germany. As you might imagine given the time period this book is set in, it is not meant to be a feel good, historical fiction romance. Instead, the author tries to portray some of the grey areas associated with this fraught period of time.

The main character seems to have been born with an infallible moral compass, which helps her navigate the war from a place of certainty which with modern day readers will relate. Marianne is the wife of a German aristocrat who defies Hitler, and despite her husbands unsuccessful effort to subvert the Nazi party, she manages to retain her freedom and her wealth.

As the book progresses, stories of the other women are woven in to show how some people got swept up in the Nazi movement. The book seems reluctant to tell the reader how to judge the characters. Unlike some historical fiction pieces from this time, the clarity of who the protagonist is does not get drummed into the reader on every page. It is a thought provoking piece of literature that does a good job describing the harrowing choices many were forced to make in that period of history.

Readers who enjoyed Kristin Hannah's The Nightengale will also like this book. While Women in the Castle goes deeper into understanding the German perspective during that time, they both describe the horrors and difficulties of World War II through the eyes of women living on the front lines.

Really good read, kept me gripped from the beginning. The story begins in Germany during WW2. The German resistance are planning the bomb plot to kill Hitler. Marianne is the wife of one of those involved, and she promises to look after the wives and children. Marianne does her best to find living wives and children at the end if the war, but it is not easy. Germany is full of people on the move: prisoners, soldiers, refugees, Nazis. They have all lived through a period of huge upheaval, and are struggling to survive in the best way they can. Marianne manages to trace two families who she takes into the family castle. They have to deal with the Russians, the locals- mainly Nazis and the privations of the time. A fascinating and gripping insight into life for the German people during this time. The author has carried out extensive research to ensure that the book reflects the facts of the time. Highly recommended read. Absolutely fascinating.

Didn't get into this book well. The characters did not seem very real to me, nor could I feel as if I could get to know them.

I have a feeling this book will be nominated for a number of awards--and it will deserve every accolade it gets! Shattuck renders the historical background beautifully and each character is so well thought out. I love how the characters' pasts are woven throughout the storyline. I was captivated from start to finish!