Ernst Graeber, a German soldier on the Russian front in 1944, gets a short leave and returns to his home town, which has been bombed and where he cannot find his parents. He meets Elisabeth, a childhood acquaintance, and the two fall quickly into love and marriage in the few weeks available. Remarque shows both the chaos at home and the moral weight of what Graeber has seen and done at the front. The leave runs out, and the ending is as inevitable as it is painful.
It suits readers of All Quiet on the Western Front who want a view from the Second World War, and those who like short wartime love stories that weigh duty, guilt and tenderness.
Deep, inward-looking, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1998
- Publisher
- Kiepenheuer & Witsch
- ISBN
- 9783462027266
- Language
- DE
