A Jewish boy’s life splits in two and follows two different paths in this novel of trauma and enduring love in Nazi Europe
‘Where did they all come from, Jens? All those Nazis … ” So wonders 18-year-old Max Spiegelman to his best friend Jens Arnstein, as they prepare to leave Austria for Switzerland. It is 1938 and Nazi Germany has just annexed Austria into the German Reich. The two boys – both Jewish – are struggling to comprehend the actions of their fellow countrymen, seemingly so happy with the new order and the resulting persecution of the Jewish population. “Were they always like that? Did they always hate us? Even when they were smiling and giving us our change and wishing us a good evening?”
The Two Loves of Sophie Strom vividly and engagingly provides the answer in at least one case: that of Max himself. And it depends on little more than chance. One night, in 1933, as people whisper darkly about “those new laws in Germany”, and Brownshirts roam the streets outside, Max dreams of his house burning down with his parents inside. He wakes to smoke and flames, but manages to get himself and his parents out in time. In this moment, his life – and the narrative – splits in two: in one Max survives with his parents, flees to Paris, and joins the French Resistance, and in the other he is orphaned, changes his name to Hans, and joins the Nazi party.
