Hobbies and Crafts

A wonderful read, I became totally absorbed. A very poignant story especially at this time as we remember the wars. A great title for the book as there are several layers of aftermath.
The story deals with resentment,prejudice and above all forgiveness. Lewis seems to cope admirably with the rebuilding of some sort of relationship with those members of a nation who only a year earlier were the enemy. It is his job to begin to assist with the reparation of Hamburg
and perhaps this helps the reader to remember that our enemies were mainly ordinary people who were caught up in Nazi evil. Just as we suffered appalling loss of life and the ruination of our towns and cities so too did our enemy, but we tend to forget this. Lewis's decision to allow the Lubert family to remain in their home and to share it with them is perhaps even more remarkable when we consider that Lewis lost his young son during a German raid. His wife Rachael has experienced at first hand this terrible tragedy so we understand her pre conceived ideas and prejudices when she learns that she will be sharing a home with a German family.
It was wonderful to see how attitudes changed as the relationships between the two families developed.
I shall be sharing this book with my friends and would certainly recommend it.