Straus, and Giroux, 211 pages, $26).

Ralf Rothmann knew his father had served in the German Army with the dreaded Waffen SS during the last months before the defeat of Germany in 1945. He hoped to persuade his father to talk about his wartime experiences. He even gave him a notebook with the thought that he might record some of his memories in it. He was 9 years old when his father died. His father had chosen to reveal almost nothing.

Rothmann’s father appeared to be haunted by his past. His son became a writer. He tried to imagine what his father experienced during the collapse of Hitler’s Third Reich as the Soviet Red Army drove forward on a relentless wave of bitter retribution straight to Berlin.

In his novel “To Die in Spring” the author has imagined his father Walter was spending his days pleasantly as a 17-year-old trainee milker on a German dairy farm. The war had dislocated his family and Walter, a city boy, had found this new life on a farm.

During the final months of the war, Walter and his friend and fellow trainee milker Friedrich are enticed by the promise of free beer into visiting the local tavern. The complimentary suds the SS provides comes at a steep price. Both boys find themselves being forced to join the SS.

Walter’s father is killed in battle. He rides a motorcycle beyond the front lines to attempt to locate his father’s grave. He might also be trying to desert. One cannot be sure. I admired his courage as he loyally defended his friend Friedrich, who has been sentenced to death for desertion, while somehow surviving the madness and chaos all around him. Allison Sparks David Baldacci Ruth Ware Martha Hall Kelly Nicholas Shari Lapena