Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: ALL THAT I AM by Anna Funder


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Pub. Date: February 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Format: Hardcover , 384pp
ISBN-13: 9780062077561
ISBN: 0062077562

Description (from the pubisher):
One September morning, elderly Ruth Wesemann wakes to the sound of a parcel being delivered to her door. Inside she finds a tattered little notebook. Opening its delicate pages she meets with a flood of memories...

It's 1933 and she is back in her light-filled flat in Berlin. Hans is making caipirinhas, snow falls outside the kitchen window, and Hitler is making his first speech as Chancellor of Germany. Her life and those of her tight-knit group of friends are about to change beyond all recognition. Having dedicated themselves to resisting the Nazi's rise, they have become hunted outlaws overnight. Fleeing the country, Ruth and Hans find refuge in a basement flat in Bloomsbury, but inspired by Ruth's fearless cousin Dora, they defy the conditions of their visas and risk being sent back to Germany in order continue their dangerous resistance work. But with each breathtaking act of courage and every person that they trust, they cannot help but risk betrayal and deceit. And then, one day, they face the chilling realisation that Hitler's reach extends much further than they had thought, even to London itself.

Inspiring, tragic and based on real events, All That I Am is a masterful and devastating novel of bravery and betrayal, of the risks and sacrifices that people endure to protect their beliefs and of discovering remarkable heroism hidden in the most unexpected of places.

Click here to read an excerpt.


About the author (from the publisher):
Anna Funder is an Australian writer who grew up in Melbourne and worked as an international lawyer and in public relations for a German overseas television service in Berlin. Her first book, Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, won of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious prize for nonfiction, the Samuel Johnson Prize. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and children.

9 comments:

bermudaonion said...

Ooh, this is based on a real story? Sounds good to me!

Zibilee said...

Sounds very promising! I will have to see about adding this one to my list. Thanks!

Audra said...

I love the cover!

Book of Secrets said...

This sounds like an amazing story. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

This sounds really good. I enjoy WW2 historical fiction and non-fiction but in small doses. The subject matter is so serious I usually want time to absorb after. My favorite book of that era is a memoir called "In Nazi Uniform". It was written by a man I knew very well and it details his time in the war; being conscripted into the german navy and his espionage work with MI5 on behalf of the Allies. Before he showed me the book I hadn't even known he was born in Germany.
True stories are often the most surprising.

Anna said...

Sounds like a fantastic book! I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

Marie Cloutier said...

this book looks really good. i picked up a galley recently and am looking forward to reading it.

Sarah Johnson said...

I just received this for review on Friday. It looks promising.

Alyce said...

That looks very good, and this is the first I've heard of it.