Crooked Cross

A thrilling, long-lost British novel—never before published in the U.S.—that warned of Hitler's rise through the story of an ordinary German family during six fateful months in 1933; it has been hailed as "a surprise breakout success" and "a word-of-mouth jaw-dropper" in the UK. The Klugers are a tight-knit family living in a picturesque mountain village in Bavaria. As 1932 draws to a close, Herr Kluger is dismayed by the growing popularity of the Nazi Party but aware of its leader’s charisma: he warns his two sons, “Don’t you know that to hear that chap speak is to believe everything he says for twenty-four hours?” To his sons, however, the Party offers not only employment prospects but also meaning and purpose—a powerful draw for a generation whose life chances had been decimated by Germany's defeat in the Great War. Helmy, the sensitive elder brother, joins the Party with some hesitation, while Erich becomes a true believer. Meanwhile, their beloved sister, Lexa, finds her engagement to her sweetheart under threat. Moritz Weissmann, though a Catholic, is half Jewish, and when it becomes clear he is at risk, Lexa's family urges her to break things off.