It opens by taking us to 1930s Berlin, where two sisters are raised in a Catholic orphanage and find themselves trying to navigate the equally grandiose and terrifying waters of Nazi Germany.
Fast forward almost forty years in the future, and we are presented with a woman in South Carolina who is determined to learn more about her family's history following the death of her father... a secretive history, tracing its roots all the way back to the Third Reich.
Caroline Woods Jumps through History
Despite the countless fiction and non-fiction books written on the Second World War, I somehow doubt it will cease to make for an engaging setting for novels of virtually any genre. It remains a period in time fraught with pain and hope in equal measure, of stories waiting to be told.
The impact Nazi Germany had on the world cannot be overstated, and in some cases is even felt to this very day. After all, the people of the Third Reich were all humans, and once all was said and done, most tried to go back to their regular lives.
Understandably, many of them did whatever they could to hide their history and affiliations, even if they weren't to blame for them.
In her novel titled Fraulein M., Caroline Woods takes us into the heart of a family drama where a woman discovers her family roots to be quite different from what she expected.
The book endeavours to tell us two stories separated by approximately forty years, the first one beginning in Berlin, 1931. We are introduced to two sisters, Berni and Grete Metzger, raised in an orphanage in Weimar Berlin.
Berni becomes a cigarette girl in a cafe, while Grete becomes a maid to a Nazi family. The short-lived era of the Third Reich approaches, and complicated decisions turn into devastating choices for the sisters.
The second story transports us to 1970 in South Carolina, where a woman by the name of Janeen Moore is trying to learn more about her family history following the death of her father.
Always curious about her mother's secretive past in Germany, she begins to unravel the thread of truth as she intercepts a letter meant for her mother, written by a German woman.
In it, she confesses what she believes to be her crimes and begs for forgiveness. At her own pace, Janeen discovers what her mother had to do with the story, and just how much one's family roots can shape them.
Life-Shaping Dilemmas
Some families take their unity for granted, but in fact it's an aspect of life much more difficult to tame than it would appear. As the novel opens we are immediately drawn to the two sisters who have nothing in the world save for each other.
Without spending too much time on it, Woods describes their regrettable upbringing in the orphanage and helps us get closer to the two girls.
As we turn the pages we get a better understanding of what world they lived in and where they fit into it. Consider the rifts and schisms which come between the two as the Third Reich makes its appearance, I have to say the set-up was masterfully executed.
When the two sisters who had none but each other in the world find themselves on different sides of the political and ideological spectrum, we feel a truly hefty sadness.
Though it might be a work of fiction, I believe we know all too well such a situation wasn't exactly uncommon, and Woods ensures we understand its full implications.
The second story, taking place in 1970 South Carolina, also largely revolves around family ties and our decisions which shape them.
As Janeen learns more and more about her mother's story, she also comes to realize there were no right choices amongst the hard options she had to choose from.
Piece by piece, she forms an understanding of why her mother made the choices she did, and how they ended up colouring not only the rest of her life, but also Janeen's.
The further she digs in her family's tree, the more her ideas of right and wrong become muddled, instead giving way to an understanding of people and their motivations when making excruciatingly difficult decisions... and as she learns, so do we.
A World of Details
When writing a historical piece, whether we're talking about a novel or non-fictional book, research is always one of the most important elements of success.
Caroline Woods has definitely spent quite some time immersed in her history books, and it her writing demonstrates it rather clearly. Her descriptions of 1930s Berlin are nothing if not vivid and ripe with details on subjects big and small alike.
From the appearance of the streets and architecture of the buildings to the morals and values held by the people inhabiting them, we are spared no historical facts.
Even the characters themselves feel like they jumped out from the pages of a history book and really belong in the strange microcosm which was the coming-of-age of the Second World War.
While most authors would relish in the historical value of the setting they've depicted and leave it at that, Caroline Woods goes a step further and plays off of it with exceptional skill.
She uses the atmosphere of vast uncertainty prevalent in 1930s Berlin and combines it with our foreknowledge of the events to come to create a real sense of danger and suspense when necessary.
Even when we are in the 1970s storyline a certain tension remains as we expectantly wait on to see what Janeen will uncover next, how close she is to the truth which will have her making a difficult choice of her own.
The Final Verdict
To pull the curtains on the show, Fraulein M. By Caroline Woods is an excellent historical fiction novel which makes the most of its characters and setting. It's filled to the brim with engaging historical details, endearing characters, and a story which hooks you in and keeps moving along at a pleasant pace.
I believe in the future this might be the novel we look back on determine when exactly Caroline Woods became a famous author. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction revolving around family drama and set in Nazi Germany.
 | Caroline WoodsPersonal site Caroline Woods is an American author who currently teaches creative writing at Loyola University Chicago, after having taught at Boston University as well as the Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music. She has written short stories for publications such as Slice Magazine, Lemon, 236, Literary Hub and The Scene. So far she has authored two novels, Haunted Delaware and Fraulein M., the latter of which earned her many accolades and demonstrated her promise as an emerging author. |
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