In the Shadow of the Storm by Ella Zeiss
Genre: Historical fiction
Read: 22nd May 2020
Purchases: Amazon
(publication date: 11th February 2020)
★★ 2 stars
Translated from its original language of German, IN THE SHADOW OF THE STORM is the story of two families from a Crimean village on the Soviet border. In 1930, the Soviets begin bullying, harassing and arresting anyone who did not agree with their Party and its ways. It was like reading about the Nazis storming the Jews and then shipping them off to concentration camps...and in an essence, that's just what the Soviets did to the Crimean Germans.
After Father Freiderich is pulled from his home and murdered in the street by the Security Commission, Anna Scholz takes in the pastor's siz year old daughter Rita. A Russian family soon moves into the pastor's former home and soon begin asking their neighbours to join a collective farm, a "kolkhoz" (I have probably spelt that wrong) and turning their existing land over to the Council to be used as such. When Anna's husband Wilhelm politely declines, the Security Commission come banging on their door in the middle of the night stating that they are to be relocated to Luza in the far and are given half an hour to pack. Anna had had the foresight to prepare for such an event by sewing their valuables into the hem of her coat.
The children, Erich, Yvo and the pastor's daughter they had taken in, Rita, are frightened. But Anna does her best to mollify them and make it sound like they are going on an adventure. Little do they know that where they are going will be like hell on earth, crammed into huts with only one family per bunk with very little to feed or clothe themselves or their children. The men are sent away to fell trees, clearing space to build a new resettling camp for them...the promise of something better which turns out to be just the same. Then Wilhelm is arrested for spreading anti-Soviet propaganda and Anna must survive the long harsh winters with her children - Erich, Rita and Yvo.
The second family in this story are the Pfeiffers, consisting of Samuel (father/Vater), Hilde (mother/Mutti), son Harri and daughter Emma. They fled the Crimean German village after the murder of Father Frederich to the safety of their family in Armavir. But when Samuel's brother Otto is arrested and executed, the family are worried they would feel the repercussions and also be branded a traitor. Soon they are warned by a friend that Samuel is to be arrested so he leaves his family and flees and the village.
Hilde tells the children they will be joining their father over the holidays for Christmas, since it would be less obvious. But it is not the first time they will move. Since Samuel is wanted by the Soviets, they need to move several times to elude the Soviet Police.
All is moving along...when suddenly, the story just stops. Literally stops. Like in the middle of a chapter and it ended partway. Like only half the book was loaded onto Kindle.
I normally love historical fiction and I did enjoy this book...to a point. But on the whole it was soooo depressing and had no real conclusion with that abrupt ending. I like books to have a conclusion - some form of closure. But this one didn't even have that. Everyone just seemed to carry on with their lives which left me feeling kind "what was the point?"
Based on the true story of the author's own grandparent's experiences, IN THE SHADOW OF THE STORM was a sadly depressing story. It was like a Soviet version of Auschwitz, although maybe not on as bad a scale. I had to find it ironic that the Soviets did much the same prior to the war, when over a decade later, it was the Soviets who freed survivors of the Jewish concentration camps.
In the end, IN THE SHADOW OF THE STORM was an okay read but it left the reader with no real sense of closure. Despite the fact it is part of a trilogy, this book should have given some form of ending which would have been comfortable...but instead it just stopped.
I would like to thank #EllaZeiss, #NetGalley and #AmazonPublishingUK for an ARC of #InTheShadowOfTheStorm in exchange for an honest review.
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