Excerpt from The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reading Guide |  Discuss |  Reviews |  Beyond the Book |  Readalikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

The Women in the Castle

by Jessica Shattuck
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (4):
  • Readers' Rating (5):
  • First Published:
  • Mar 28, 2017, 368 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jan 2018, 368 pages
  • Reviewed by BookBrowse Book Reviewed by:
    Lisa Butts
  • Genres & Themes
  • Publication Information
  • Rate this book

About this Book

Print Excerpt


Marianne stared at her. "I don't know." She drew herself up. "Does it matter? Our government is unleashing bands of thugs."

"It is the beginning of the end," the countess pronounced dramatically when she heard of the destruction that would later be referred to as Kristallnacht. "That Austrian will ruin this country."

With that, she went up to bed.

Marianne envied her freedom. She herself would have to shepherd this party to its bitter end.

As the news spread, guests with government roles or substantial properties in nearby cities took off down the hill, speeding drunkenly around curves, honking and flashing their headlights. They were followed, more soberly, by the few Jewish guests. A few voyeuristic idiots drove to the neighboring town of Ehrenheim to see how far the rioting had spread.

By the champagne fountain, Gerhardt Friedlander argued with the Stollmeyers, a set of drunken, ruddy-faced twins who were devoted Nazis. The crowd cleared a nervous circle around them.

"The conspiracy of world Jewry will not stop at murdering vom Rath," one of the Stollmeyers ranted. "We must take action against them—

"Don't be a fool," Gerhardt spat. "Vom Rath was killed by a deranged seventeen-year-old, not a conspiracy."

"A deranged seventeen-year-old who was a Jew and a Bolshevik," his opponent argued, "who wanted to destroy the pride and unity of the German Volk . . ."

Marianne could not listen. This absurd Nazi blather was every-where, ripe for adoption by the likes of the simpleminded Stollmeyers. How had those two ever made the guest list? Thank God Gerhardt was there to put them in their place.

In the great room, the jazz trio had disappeared (back to the Berlin? had they been paid?), and some dolt tried to play a Nazi marching record on the Victrola only to be pelted with a round of hot Frikadellenfrom the chef's latest offering. The gawkers who had driven to Ehrenheim returned and seemed almost disappointed to report that no, nothing was afoot. What did they expect? The town was thoroughly and pigheadedly Bavarian Catholic. It had no Jewish inhabitants or businesses.

Undaunted by the news or the departures, the cook continued to offer delicacies: a new round of pork roasts, apple tortes, a Frankfurter Kranz. And the bartender poured drinks.

Marianne wished the remaining guests would leave. They were all self-absorbed, and frivolous. But still the party limped along toward a slow death.

Around midnight, she allowed herself a moment of privacy in an empty trophy room decorated by some von Lingenfels hunter of yore. Its walls were bedecked with pale, delicate skulls of deer and moldering taxidermies of boar, bears, even a wolf. A cruel room, but it would do. She would rest for five minutes. Any longer and she would never return. As she sat, the expression fell from her face and the slackness that replaced it made her feel old, a mother of small children in a suddenly savage land.

"Aha!" A voice came from behind, and two hands fell on her shoulders before she had the chance to turn: Connie. She had thought him long gone—either back to Berlin to repair the damage or off to bed with his fiancée, a changed man with a new set of habits. But here he was. His intransigence reassured her.

"Caught you," he chided.

"Oh, Connie," she said, turning. "Should I tell them all to go home? It's so strange to have this party when beyond it, God knows—"

"Let them stay." Connie sank into the chair opposite her own. "They're too drunk to leave anyway."

"I suppose." Marianne sighed. "What's happening out there?"

"Well," Connie said, leaning back. "Greta von Viersdahl is im-personating a goose on the dance floor, old Herr Frickle has found a new strumpet to sit on his lap, and someone I don't know is vomiting into the moat."

Excerpted from The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck. Copyright © 2017 by Jessica Shattuck. Excerpted by permission of William Morrow. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Beyond the Book:
  Operation Valkyrie

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
Broken Country (Reese's Book Club)
by Clare Leslie Hall
A love triangle reveals deadly secrets in this thriller for fans of The Paper Palace and Where the Crawdads Sing.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Angelica
    by Molly Beer

    A women-centric view of revolution through the life of Angelica Schuyler Church, Alexander Hamilton's influential sister-in-law.

  • Book Jacket

    The World's Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant
    by Liza Tully

    A great detective's young assistant yearns for glory, but first they have learn to get along in this delightful feel good mystery.

  • Book Jacket

    The Original
    by Nell Stevens

    In a grand English country house in 1899, an aspiring art forger must unravel whether the man claiming to be her long-lost cousin is an impostor.

Win This Book
Win These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas

"[An] atmospheric tale of unexpected hope." —Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author

Enter

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

W the C A the M W P

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.