In Rosella Postorino's wholly engaging "At the Wolf's Table" (Macmillan Audio, 9 CDs, $ 39.99), it is 1943 and Adolf Hitler is at his secret headquarters somewhere in eastern Germany. The meals prepared for him and his close advisors on any given day are prepared by his personal chef. As there have been threats on the Nazi leader's life, he…
In Rosella Postorino’s wholly engaging “At the Wolf’s Table” (Macmillan Audio, 9 CDs, $ 39.99), it is 1943 and Adolf Hitler is at his secret headquarters somewhere in eastern Germany. The meals prepared for him and his close advisors on any given day are prepared by his personal chef. As there have been threats on the Nazi leader’s life, he has ordered that every dish on the day’s menu will first be tasted to ensure it does not contain poison.
Rosa Sauer has been living in Berlin awaiting the return of her husband Gregor from the war. But loneliness prompts her to leave the city and seek safety and companionship at the rural home of her in-laws.
Rosa has barely settled in when an SS officer comes to the door to inform her she is to begin an important job for her country. A bus with nine other women passengers arrives, and the women are taken to Hitler’s headquarters where they are told they will be tasters of each of the dishes destined for the Fuhrer’s table.
In a nation where food has become scarce and good food scarcer, being served an entire bowl of fresh peas, or a large piece of cake with a honey-flavored topping is a luxury. But every meal triggers anxiety in the women, who are acutely aware they could become ill at any time, possibly fatally ill. Three times a day they will put their own lives at risk in order to save Hitler’s.
Much of the story revolves around the women’s relationships. One is a war widow, another is pregnant. One is extremely timid, another is brash and critical. All are scared. But a bond inevitably develops among them, the common thread the inescapable awareness that each meal could be their last.
Gregor is to be allowed leave at Christmas, and as Rosa and her in-laws are preparing for his homecoming an officer arrives to inform them he is missing in action. Rosa tries to persuade her grief-stricken in-laws that missing doesn’t mean dead, but she fears the worst.
At an evening soiree at the home of a woman who employs her father-in-law as a gardener, Rosa spots one of the SS officers from headquarters among the gathered. He stares at Rosa, making her uncomfortable. When he starts appearing nightly outside her bedroom window, she is forced to make a decision.
The women in Postorino’s story are finely nuanced and entirely believable, their hopes, resentments and secrets seeming consistent with young women living through war and deprivation. History confirms Hitler did indeed have food tasters, and the author has credibly imagined this little known aspect of WWII.
Polly Stone does an excellent job narrating the audio book. While the story is told largely from Rosa’s point of view (and thus her voice), Stone also transitions neatly between the voices of the other women, the chef, several SS officers and the in-laws. It’s a challenging task, and she proves more than up to it.
This is the first of Postorino’s books to be translated into English (by Leah Janeczko). The U.S. edition of the hardcover book was published by Flatiron Books.
Louise Penny fans are always happy to welcome back Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, former head of the Surete du Quebec.
In her 15th Gamache novel, “Kingdom of the Blind” (Macmillan Audio, 10 CDs, $ 39.99), Armand and his friend and neighbor Myrna Landers, owner of the bookstore in their little Canadian village Three Pines, and a young carpenter from Montreal named Benedict, whom neither of them knows, have been summoned to a farmhouse outside town. The lawyer who has invited them to the derelict house tells them the property was the home of a woman known as “the baroness,” and she has named all three executors of her will.
All three are puzzled, as none knew the woman. But as their inquiries proceed, Armand and Myrna discover she was once a cleaning woman at the Bistro in their town, and so was known to at least some people they know. Benedict claims he’s at a loss and has no idea why he was chosen. But the three agree to serve as executors, and their next step is to meet the woman’s three adult children.
It is winter in Canada, and a fierce blizzard has forced the trio to make their way back to Three Pines, where Benedict is put up in the Gamaches’ home.
A mystery and comfort food is Penny at her most endearing, and a greater or lesser version of that theme threads though her novels. She convenes a collection of stranded guests plus a quirky assortment of friends at the Gamache home (not least of which are the cantankerous octogenarian Ruth and her pet duck Rosa).
All the characters of Three Pines are well known to Penny’s devotees, and she never disappoints. Armand’s wife, Reine-Marie, is ever prepared to produce enough homemade stew to feed the lot, the Bistro owners can be counted on to arrive with freshly-baked bread and Reine-Marie always has an apple crisp bubbling away in the oven for dessert.
Before the will can be sorted, there’s a death at the farmhouse, and the next time they return it has collapsed.
Meanwhile – and this is another Penny trademark – there is a parallel, unrelated narrative. This one has to do with Armand’s suspension from his job for not following procedure. A novel or two back, an enormous cache of opiods was headed toward the border from the U.S. Rather than apprehending the supply, Gamache chose to allow it through so he could bring down the cartels behind it. His force subsequently managed to round up nearly all of what got through, except for one large shipment – enough to kill thousands if it were to hit the streets.
Gamache turns to Amelia Choquet, an ill-tempered, street-smart, pierced and tattooed student at the Surete police academy. She entered the academy from street life, and she knows the turf and the people, and he’s hoping she’ll locate the missing drugs before they’re out there.
Oh, and a final sub plot: Jean-Guy Beauvoir, Gamache’s right-hand man as well as his son-in-law, is put on the spot when he’s cleared in the investigation of the lost drugs but Gamache is not.
As always, Penny ties up most of the loose ends, and anything left untied will be addressed in a future volume in this delightful series.
These books do not – DO NOT – need to be read in order. Penny provides enough background for issue that first arose in earlier volumes so readers never feel as though they’ve missed something. Acolytes will insist you must begin at the start of the series and read forward. But truly, you can start with any one at all and read in any order you wish. You won’t miss a thing.
Fran Wood, retired Star-Ledger op-ed columnist and former books editor, blogs at nj.com.