The Light In The Window

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This life-changing moment spins into a fascinating narrative that leads this brave young woman to Leipzig and then to Paris, resulting in narrow escapes and a life-threatening emotional attachment. The story is too complex and interesting to summarize but needs to be experienced first hand.

The author tells the story as a memoir without naming the establishment or real names of the nuns and patients, except for a couple of the latter. While the author is brave for doing so, I struggled to understand how she could have limited her involvement to being the merciful one and not gone to greater lengths to fight for these defenseless women. This was especially disconcerting as she had medical connections and could have tried to expose what was going on as soon as she left the place. Of course there is a different social climate towards helping others now than at that time when authoritative figures yielded immense power. I felt incredibly angry reading this book. As a health care professional I can’t countenance this sort of treatment of anyone, but especially pregnant women, who were alone and scared.

I haven't re-read this book for some time and found it as moving and emotionally frustrating as when I first read it. There are so many things I want to say about the characters in this story, but I am really not sure where to even begin! I have always said that I love stories and characters that can garner a reaction out of me whether it is awe, hate, love, horror, etc. This story certainly did that and I found myself at times wanting to bang my head on my table because Wilhelm was really trying my patience! I absolutely hated him, but yet didn’t. He may not have been sadistic and cruel, but he was still a Nazi and held a lot of the views that Nazi’s held about anyone Jewish. I know this is a hot topic kind of trope of a romance with a Nazi and someone who is Jewish, but both Margarete and Wilhelm really made this story come to life and I think portrayed a love/hate type of relationship with sprinkles of reality. Wilhelm has his goal of getting his inheritance at the forefront of his mind and as news of Annegret begins to emerge he delves that little bit deeper and discovers the truth behind what Margarete has done. To be honest I found this aspect of the story became implausible and quite far fetched at times. What German officer would do what Wilhelm did given their stance on Jews and the war in general? Would his plan really work? To mention specific details as to what unfolds would give away the main points of the story and this is where things did become a bit confusing but it didn’t always sit right with me that Wilhelm would be so accommodating. He was also placing himself in the firing line given the consequences if what was going on had been discovered. It didn’t bare thinking about if Reiner figured out what was going on but I suppose Wilhelm had his own clear long term goal in mind and was determined to achieve it but I guess he didn’t take into account his human emotions taking over at times. The mothers, who were mostly teenagers, were kept there until they gave birth, with no form of pain relief or the stitching up of tears that the birth may have caused afterwards. They were also expected to give birth on a commode, instead of a bed. All of this, because these girls were considered outcasts and sinners to society.

Karon has also published two Christmas-themed books based on the Mitford series, The Mitford Snowmen and Esther's Gift, as well as Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader. Other Mitford books include Patches of Godlight: Father Tim's Favorite Quotes, a compilation of wit and wisdom, and A Continual Feast: Words of Comfort and Celebration, Collected by Father Tim. In addition, Karon has written two children's books, Miss Fannie's Hat and Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny, and an illustrated book for all ages, The Trellis and the Seed. My books are about relationships. With rare exceptions, the scenes are all one-on-one relationships: Father Tim and Dooley, Father Tim and Cynthia, Father Tim and Emma. There are times when I step away to the Grill where three or four people are in a relationship. Basically, I try not to waste the reader’s time with descriptive narrative, details of what people are wearing, how they look, how tall they are. The only thing that didn't sit well with me was that Ms. Goulding seemed a bit too chummy with the cruel head sister running the home, and that she didn't fight hard enough for the girls. I know, it was the dawn of the 1950's, in a strict Irish Catholic home for unmarried mothers. June Goulding was almost as much a prisoner there as the captive girls she was caring for. Speaking up more than she did probably would have just gotten her booted out, so she tried to hang in there and gift the girls with the only thing she could give them, just a little human kindness. I try and keep it in perspective. Many people don’t like to talk about their faith. Why? Why do you think it is socially permissible to discuss sexual behavior, income, politics, and other highly personal matters, yet discussing one’s faith is often discouraged?

But strangely he doesn’t reveal her true identity right away. Instead he insists she comes and lives with him in Paris, and seems determined to keep her hidden. His only proviso: she must continue to pretend to be his sister. Because whoever would suspect a Nazi girl of secretly being a Jew? I wouldn’t say that the ending particularly leaves you on a cliffhanger, but it does make you want to find out what happens next. I am glad to have noticed there will be a sequel to this book! Berlin, 1941: Margarete Rosenbaum is working as a housemaid for a senior Nazi officer when his house is bombed, leaving her the only survivor. But when she’s mistaken for his daughter in the aftermath of the blast, Margarete knows she can make a bid for freedom… In the first book, At Home in Mitford, he lived a very quiet life. In the subsequent books we are able to see far more of Father Tim’s humanity because he is surrounded by people. That means that his heart is going to be broken and his patience is going to be stretched — all of the things that happen when we get involved with other people. This has made him a much more human figure.

Berlin, 1941: The story opens with a bang - quite literally - an air raid on the city sees the Hubers scrambling to the safety of their cellar. An officer of high standing within the SS, Huber and his wife along with their daughter Annegret push their maid aside in an attempt to save themselves without sparing a thought for her. And why would they? She was nothing but a dirty Jew, employed as a housemaid to undertake their every whim and every chore...ableit unpaid. Her life meant nothing to the superior greatness of the German people. The author creates realistic characters, exposes the diabolical Nazi belief system and its devastating effects, especially for its primary victims, the Jews. Marguerite lives both sides of the Nazi-Jewish experience as she struggles to stay true to her heritage while still maintaining credibility as a daughter and sister of members of the Nazi hierarchy. The author write this book as a memoir, without naming the institution or giving the real names of the Sisters and patients, except for a really few exceptions. I admired her grace and compassion towards the patients, and I understood her frustration and impossibility of doing more at the time, as a pregnant unwed woman was seen as degrading to the family name, especially in a catholic country. I learned about how the Nazis forbade the Jews from using public libraries, from shaking hands with Aryans, held public book burnings and created lists of books to be burned. I was unaware that the Gestapo had their national headquarters in Leipzig in the national library where they oversaw the banned book business and kept a meticulous record of those who requested banned books. I was in awe when I read that a book from my Grade 9 English curriculum was on the list – All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque! While Jan Karon has a huge following, no doubt composed in part of little old ladies, these stories are anything but what they appear to be on the outside. While the excitement is of a far more subtle sort, it is extremely human... as well as Christian. Without preaching, it successfully delivers the method of the utmost simplicity, something of which I think our Father would approve. It takes a while to become used to reading these, especially when you are expecting something exciting and dangerous, but what you end up with is that people are real and they solve their issues in very real ways.Set in Ireland in the 1950’s in a home for pregnant, unwed women, a whistle-blowing nurse reveals the treatment of innocent women who sought refuge. Trapped in a desperate situation, and having no other means to support themselves and their baby, they fall prey to the nuns who are sadistic/heartless in their piety. Instead of giving birth in a discreet location with care and kindness, they are denied their human rights as a person and parent. They are forced to give up their babies and not given information about where their babies went. I really loved Not Without my Sister by Marion Kummerow. So, when I saw that Kummerow had a new book release, A Light in the Window, I knew I had to read it as I really enjoy her writing style and how easily Kummerow can draw you into her stories. A minor critique stems from a few instances of unnecessary repetition in the story and the somewhat annoying focus on how often various Nazis styled their hair with Brylcream.

In the tradition of James Herriot, Bailey White, and Garrison Keillor, author Jan Karon brilliantly captures the foibles and delights of a hilarious cast of characters. As for her husband's part in this? Also a medically trained man, whose protests against this institution went as far as a few cross words, tuts, eye rolls, and slight indignation at the sight of pregnant women doing manual labour...by tarring the hot road round the corner from the home. June does very little to paint him in a good light in this respect, but he must have been worth it as she managed to buy him gold cufflinks on Christmas, while buying nothing at all for any of own family, instead guiltlessly swanning past the working mothers in the greenhouse to collect dozen chrysanthemums with the Sister to take for her mammy. Páči sa mi, ako sa zmenil charakter Wilhelma. Na začiatku bol rozmaznaný syn dôležitej rodiny, ale keď sa jeho okolnosti zmenili a on si musel prispôsobiť svoj život, videli sme ho, ako sa pýta, čo robí, a začína mať pocit, že chce Margarete chrániť aj keď okolie ma na židov iný pohľad. Margaretin neustály strach, jej morálne dilemy, ktorým čelila, sa nečítali ľahko a boli srdcervúce. The young girls and women who were admitted there were forced to carry out manual labour while heavily pregnant, give birth alone, and of course, most cruelly; breastfeed and bond with their babies before having them stolen from them and adopted out to wealthy families. They then had to remain in these homes for three years to “repay” the Catholic Church for their stay, unless a family member could cover their costs for them. As June Goulding tells it, things were even worse for those in the hospital where no assistance apart from that of the midwife was allowed - no pain-relief, no episiotomies, no sutures, no healing baths, a doctor who only came to take Wassermann tests or, once, to provide anaesthesia.This was an Ireland in which such abuses involved the collusion of society itself. The most striking message from June Goulding's volume is one of absolutely no questions asked, ever. In my books I try to depict not a glorious faith with celestial fireworks, but a daily faith, a routine faith, a seven-days-a-week faith. Father Tim’s faith is part of his everyday life. He has simple prayers, not polished, pious prayers. He follows the Apostle Paul’s command that we pray without ceasing. I try to depict how our faith may be woven into our daily life, like brandy poured into coffee. I believe that spirituality needs to be basic, common, everyday. I still have in me a great love for the agrarian — for what this country was, for what we still are. People say, “Oh well, I guess there’s no such thing as Mitford.” Well, the good news is there are Mitfords all over the country, and there are still great stretches of open land and pastures and meadows and fields. It’s not all bad news. There’s so much left of this country that is reasonable and moral and strong. And that’s the part I relate to. Margarete wiederum blieb für mich einfach nur blass und unscheinbar. Selbst in Paris, als sie ein bisschen aus ihrer Reserve kam, fand ich keinen Zugang zu ihr. Ich hatte noch nicht einmal ein Bild von ihr vor meinem inneren Auge.