A picture of 1930s emigre life, by the author of "A Glove Shop in Vienna" and "Madensky Square". Ruth enjoys an untroubled childhood in Vienna, until Hitler intervenes. Her previously harmless political antics mark her as a troublemaker, and a young British professor helps her to escape to Britain.
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A picture of 1930s emigre life, by the author of "A Glove Shop in Vienna" and "Madensky Square". Ruth enjoys an untroubled childhood in Vienna, until Hitler intervenes. Her previously harmless political antics mark her as a troublemaker, and a young British professor helps her to escape to Britain.
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I have a soft spot for marriage-of-convenience stories, so this isn't the first one I've read. It is unusual to find one set so close to the modern world, however. This tale takes place during the rise of the Third Reich and the onslaught of WW2, and focuses on the plight of an Austrian Jewish girl to a British professor who marries her so he can add her name to his passport and take her to safety in England.
Like Anna in Ibbotson's "A Countess Below Stairs," Ruth is thrust from a world of plenty to one of near-penury. But like the Ruth of Old Testament fame, she doesn't quit just because things are suddenly hard and she's in a new country, surrounded by strangers. The fun is watching as she and Quin navigate the shoals of secrecy around their relationship, fight for balance between anonymity and amity, and question whether or not to stay together or go through with the annulment that is so difficult to procure.