Audrey Magee, The Undertaking

There has been a lot of buzz about The Undertaking, it was the winner of the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. Luckily, it lives up to the hype, it is a very powerful novel about the second world war.

The Plot: Desperate for a respite from the Eastern Front, Peter Faber, a German solider agrees to arranged marriage with a woman he has never met, Katharina Spinell. Although their marriage begins awkwardly, they soon develop an unexpected sexual chemistry and depth of feeling for each other. Their brief 3 week honeymoon must sustain them whilst Peter confronts the horrors of Stalingrad. Katharina, encouraged by her delusional parents, aligns her interests to the Nazi party, but as the regime begins to crumble she begins to regret her decision.

 
Rating: 5/5
Trigger warning: rape, violence, war, anti-Semitism, Nazi ideology, starvation