Clara
CBC Books | Posted: July 30, 2018 8:33 PM | Last Updated: July 30, 2018
Clara Herzog is a privileged, intelligent and thoughtful young woman whose world is changed forever when 1930s Vienna is swept up by the dark prelude of the Second World War. The cavalry officer she married in spite of her family's objections is soon called away to the thick of the conflict, and it falls to Clara, as to so many mothers, wives, sisters and sweethearts through the centuries, to stay at home to provide and protect.
Through the war, its aftermath, and into the present, Clara must make choices and take risks that are as heroic and life-altering as any that men make in battle. She is an unforgettable character, and this is an unforgettable novel about family bonds and women's deep friendships, about courage and the love that can endure even in unimaginable times. (From Emblem Editions)
From the book
The day she buried her husband, nearly a hundred mourners filled the Benedictine chapel. She had wanted just family and friends but then her daughters had taken over, and the list had grown. Now it included people from the museum and from city hall, and the defence minister and military attachés from a number of embassies were there as well. Even Guido Malfatti was there, the motorcycle dealer who had been shot in the knee in Russia and had sawed off his own leg with a shell fragment, and in 1945 her husband had saved his life by taking him to Italy.
From Clara by Kurt Palka ©2012. Published by Emblem Editions.