Customer Reviews

The House Of Christina

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I read this book years ago and loved it, but lost the copy somehow. My wife found a discarded edition at the library and brought it home. I just finished reading it again and loved it just as much.

A love story set in Nazi occupied Austria an American falls in love and marries an affluent Austrian girl before the war. Due to some furtive operations of a friend Lan is expelled from Austria by the SS leaving his wife alone to manage the property her aging father cannot run. Trials and temptations take each on different journeys, but their love for each other never falters.
If you love history and romance combined you could not ask for a better book.

Set in pre-WWII Austria, this is the story of Christa; her father, General Helmer; Christa's marriage to an American writer, Lan, and her relationship with Josef, an enigmatic Jew who is working to thwart Hitler's takeover of Europe. Lurking around the edges is Robert, Christa's childhood friend, who becomes a Nazi, and who will either be the the destroyer or the savior of her family.

This story is involving from the first page; it's partly a romance, but one with more serious undertones than the usual (given the times in which it's set). It's that rare type of novel where we are given the opportunity to really know these characters--the author lets us into their heads & their lives; no one is left out. The kind of book where after you close it, you say, "Damn, that was a good read!" And you wish that the story went on, or that there was a good sequel. If you find it in a used bookstore or your local library, I urge you to read it.