The German Woman by Paul Griner
Mysterious And Deeply Haunting: A Gem Of A Book
This riveting war story introduces us to beautiful Kate Zweig, the English
widow of a German surgeon, and Claus Murphy, an exiled American with
German roots—two lovers with complicated loyalties.
In 1918, Kate and her husband,Horst, are taken for spies by Russian
soldiers and forced to flee their field hospital on the eastern front, barely
escaping with their lives. Years later, in London during the Nazis’ V-1 reign
of terror, Claus spends his days making propaganda films and his nights
as a British spy, worn down by the war and his own many secrets. When
Claus meets the intriguing Kate Zweig, he finds himself powerfully drawn
to her—even after evidence surfaces that she might not be exactly who
she seems. As the war hurtles to a violent end, Claus must define where
his own loyalties lie, whether he can make a difference in the war—and
what might be gained by taking a leap of faith with Kate.

Echoing Pat Barker’s spare power and Sebastian Faulks’s sweeping
historical sagas, and reminiscent of the haunting romance of Michael
Ondaatje’s The English Patient, The German Woman takes us inside the
two world wars that defined the twentieth century and the hidden histories
of two unforgettable characters whose love story will haunt readers’ hearts
and minds.
Personal Review: The German Woman by Paul Griner
Paul Griner skillfully writes a mysterious story filled with haunting realism
about two individuals who become lovers each of whom had lived what
seemed a lifetime before they met. Their lives are complicated by their
past histories which proves they are survivors but it also creates conflicts
which may become their undoing in the end. The author's sparse prose is
strikingly sharp and direct, creating a jarring tension and exciting
anticipation in the reader who expects some malevolent force to enter like
a cold wind on a dark winter's day. The reader anticipates the unexpected
at every turn of the page. Civil wars had broken out in various countries
even before the end of World War One and now President Woodrow
Wilson had a Fourteen Point Peace Plan. Soldiers who spoke Polish or
Lithuanian or German came through Wilno where the small field hospital
where Kate Zweig worked as a nurse continued its mission despite limited
equipment and barely enough coal to properly sterilize the surgical
instruments ...
In part One, Kate Zweig lives in Wilno, East Prussia in 1919 with her
mother-in-law and husband who was a surgeon but is now blind from
wounds sustained in World War One. The author's descriptions of life after
the war are filled with the realities of privation but a sort of lingering
optimism exists which only humans who survived the unspeakable horrors
of war can manage to sustain. They hold onto the hope of building a better
future. The family moved to Hamburg where life was a bit easier but
nonetheless still difficult. The description of Kate receiving a nearly new
pair of leather shoes from her mother-in-law and Kate's stopping at a soup
kitchen which would make her husband feel ashamed were particularly
realistic and effective.
In Part Two, it is 1944 and Kate lives in London with a new set of friends
one of whom is an American named Claus (Charles) who has German
roots. There is a vagueness as to how and why she left Hamburg, then
spent time living in France where her husband's family had been from and
escaped to London to free herself from the Nazis. Claus had been
imprisoned in the past on what appeared to be trumped up charges. Both
Kate and Claus had mysterious and complicated past histories each of
whom could plausibly explain it away. However, under the current political
climate it placed them in jeopardy, given the feelings about anyone with
German ancestry or connections. The author manages to create an eery
suspense and drama as the lives of these two strangers who become

lovers entangle. The reader is taken to a precipice, to a ledge where the
author provides a totally surprising and explosive ending which leaves the
reader stunned and breathless but completely satisfied. This book is a gem
which has many hidden depths and layers that the reader more fully
appreciates only at the end. There is a lingering feeling of sadness which
remains long after finishing the book. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]
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