Book: Two Brothers by Ben Elton

Horrifying.

I have read many historical novels, most based around War 2 (as Philomena calls it) and antisemitism. However, even after reading this excellent novel, I am still unclear why a part of the world has this hatred for Jews. I don’t understand.

DYK: Only 0.75% of Germany was Jewish in 1920 when Hitler was plotting their demise.

The two brothers, we learn early on are unique in that although born at the same time, one is adopted. They are raised Jewish although their parents, a GP and a jazz musician, are not especially religious. We pick up their story from birth, just as somewhere else in the world, nazism is also being born and the author carefully weaves the growth of both.

We also have a glimpse of one of the brothers who we know survived the holocaust as he is in London in the 1950s. Which one though, we have to wait as we travel through the 1930s and the full impact of the war reveals itself.

As you know, I have far more historical novels and non-fiction social society on my TBR pile than anything else but I limit the misery these days and read more jolly stuff. These important books are jostled in between. This book was recommended to me on one of my visits to physio a year ago by a fellow patient, also recovering from a broken bone.