Two Brothers, by Ben Elton starts in Berlin in 1920, when two babies are born on the same night and become twins in all but blood. The new "parents", Freida (a doctor) and Wolfgang (a musician) raise both boys - Paulus and Otto - as if there were brothers, never telling them that Freida is the birth mother of only one of them. The boys live happily as part of the thriving Jewish neighbourhood in which they live, and form a close bond with two girls: Dagmar - the daughter of a wealthy Jewish family who run a department store; and Silke, the daughter of one of their neighbours. As they grow up, both boys fall in love with Dagmar (poor Silke) and compete for her attention. However, this is all against the backdrop of the rise of Nazi Germany, where being Jewish soon becomes lethal, and the close knit ties of family and friendship are torn apart, particularly when Frieda reveals the truth about the boys in an effort to save at least one of them. This is, unsurprisingly, a heartbreaking story and a hard read at times. You root for the main characters but fear the worst, and there is an inevitability to the outcome for almost everyone that is truly depressing. It is an interesting concept and there are sections that are full of emotion and you cannot help be pulled in. However, I did find that there were also repetitious passages that stalled the story on occasion, and where some judicious editing might have been helpful. Overall, it's hard to say that this is an enjoyable read because of the subject matter, but it is very digestible and gives an incredible insight into life before, during and after the Nazi era for the Jewish community who called Berlin home.
My STAR rating: THREE.
Length: 624 print pages.
Price I paid: free, borrowed from my husband.
Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.
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