This is a flashback book. Instead of it going back and forth all the time, however, it begins in the present and ends in the present. The middle is the story.It is the story of a young woman during WWII in England. What made this story so intriguing to me was the multiple events, people, and politics all taking place and impacting this woman. I also liked that it took till the end of the book to unravel all the secrets (in a mostly non-predictable way). I also really enjoyed the intro paragraphs to each chapter. They introduce the reader, cleverly, to the content coming in the chapter and they carry the through line of the history of silk and the silk industry.Content: romance, war, sexuality, historyI picked this up as a Salt Lake County reader's choice book. It leaned just above the 3.5 mark for me. The Verner family have been making silk for many generations. As storm clouds gather over Europe and the Nazis march unstopped through Europe, Lily Verner has to put here plans of going to Switzerland on hold and decides as a temporary measure to enter into the family business. The family take in 3 Jewish boys from the “Kindertransport” and love blossoms for lily and one of the German-Jewish boys. With anti-German feeling high will the love of Lily and Stefan last the course of the war? As the Verner factory is commission to carry out vital war work – the making of parachute silk will Lily be able to cope with the extra responsibility that she has been given.This was an excellent but and was genuinely sorry when I had finished it. The book twists and turns and is by no means a cheesy, sentimental wartime romance but a superbly written book which waits until the very end until the plot twists in an unexpected way. I will definitely be reading the other novels that Liz Trenow has written
What do You think about Das Kastanienhaus (2013)?
A wonderful story of love, sacrifice, guilt, forgiveness, and most of all learning the truth.
—anapfidelis
Really good. Needed an editor to edit OUT extraneous gibberish. But a good historical story
—islandgurl
I really enjoyed this book although I was a little disappointed in the ending.
—Ash
