Mother’s age: 80 Reading habits: She loves books in and around and about the Second World War. Other clues: She’s a news junkie and loves politics Shirley Schwartz, Vermillion, Alta.
If your mother loves to read stories about and around the Second World War, I definitely recommend The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook. As well as being beautifully written and critically acclaimed, the novel has a very interesting backstory. Brook’s grandfather was a colonel in the Second World War (and even served with T. E. Lawrence, a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia). After the war, English officers tasked with staying and rebuilding Germany would bring their families to live with them; requisitioning houses from wealthy German families and forcing them out. Brook’s grandfather instead decided to share the house with the family living there and this forms the intriguing real-life basis of the fictional novel. If she prefers non-fiction In the Garden of
Beasts by one of my favourite authors, Erik Larson, would be a great read. This one takes place in prewar Germany and captures the life of William E. Dodd and his family as he serves as the first U.S. ambassador to Hitler’s Nazi Germany in 1933. While his daughter takes to their new life, enjoying the lavish parties and having multiple affairs, Dodd is telegraphing increasingly concerned messages back to the U.S. State Department. Erik Larson is one of those amazing non-fiction writers with the ability to take factual events a weave them into what feels like a political thriller.
Finally, no news and politics junkie should be without a copy of Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. Klein completely changed my worldview when I read No Logo in university and now she’s influencing a whole new generation with this book on politics, money, and climate change. This book was the well-deserved winner of the 2014 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Non-Fiction and the jury citation called it “groundbreaking.” I think your mom will find it a fascinating read. Anne, Publicity