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Crooked Cross
The Persephone Collection (Related to this series)
- Author
- Sally Carson
- Narrator
- Stephanie Racine
- Publisher
- Pan Macmillan
- Publish Date
- 17 April 2025
- Run Time
- 11 hours 22 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Classic fiction: literary and general, Narrative theme: love / relationships, Narrative theme: social issues / social problems
- Rating
- 5.0 (1 review)
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What to expect
"A remarkable novel: chilling, compelling, contained..." The Times
"...warrants a permanent place in the growing canon of World War Two literature." Clare McHugh, BBC Culture
It is Christmas Eve 1932, and the Kluger family are celebrating at home. Their only daughter Lexa is excited about her upcoming summer wedding to Moritz Weissmann, a promising young doctor.
Lexa has many admirers, but her heart belongs to Moritz, who is initially welcomed by her parents and two brothers, Helmy and Erich. As the year progresses, Lexa enjoys skiing, swimming and going to parties with Moritz and her friends. But little by little Moritz is excluded from the pool, the library, and eventually his own home.
As support for the Nazi Party grows rapidly across the country, Lexa’s own brothers, now fervent members of the Nazi Youth, turn against Moritz. Under immense pressure and desperate to be together, Lexa and Moritz have to meet in secret.
By midsummer, the once close-knit Kluger family are now fractured by irreconcilable beliefs and differing loyalties. When legislation strips the town’s Jewish citizens of their rights and their livelihoods, Lexa remains steadfast in her determination to stay true to Moritz.
Crooked Cross is part of the Persephone Audiobook Collection, a series of forgotten classics including neglected fiction and non-fiction by women writers. This novel was first published in 1934.
Critics Review
-
Gripping... utterly vivid.
Evening Standard
-
…warrants a permanent place in the growing canon of World War Two literature.
BBC Culture
-
Cautionary, prescient... un-putdownable.
Country Life
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Sally Carson’s prescient novel offers an unflinching look at the early days of Nazism, resonating with today’s fears of lost boys, strong men and old hatreds... A remarkable novel: chilling, compelling, contained... a propulsive read...
The Times
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Perhaps one of the most important books Persephone has ever reissued.... Astonishingly readable, a family saga with a propulsive terrible energy to it and I have raced through it the last two days... I so recommend this book to everyone.
Harriet Evans, novelist
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Carson’s dissection of the question that has disturbed the European mind for decades – how did it happen? – has touched a contemporary nerve [....] The novel is driven by a steady building of cold dread
London Review of Books
User Reviews
Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
- No written reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Sally Carson
- Narrator
- Stephanie Racine
- Duration
- 11 hours 22 minutes
- Release Date
- 17 April 2025
- ISBN
- 9781035085071
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Pan Macmillan
- Genre
- Classic fiction: literary and general, Narrative theme: love / relationships, Narrative theme: social issues / social problems
- Rating
- 5.0(1 review)
- Narration
- 5.0(1 review)
Synopsis
"A remarkable novel: chilling, compelling, contained..." The Times"...warrants a permanent place in the growing canon of World War Two literature." Clare McHugh, BBC CultureIt is Christmas Eve 1932, and the Kluger family are celebrating at home. Their only daughter Lexa is excited about her upcoming summer wedding to Moritz Weissmann, a promising young doctor.Lexa has many admirers, but her heart belongs to Moritz, who is initially welcomed by her parents and two brothers, Helmy and Erich. As the year progresses, Lexa enjoys skiing, swimming and going to parties with Moritz and her friends. But little by little Moritz is excluded from the pool, the library, and eventually his own home.As support for the Nazi Party grows rapidly across the country, Lexa’s own brothers, now fervent members of the Nazi Youth, turn against Moritz. Under immense pressure and desperate to be together, Lexa and Moritz have to meet in secret.By midsummer, the once close-knit Kluger family are now fractured by irreconcilable beliefs and differing loyalties. When legislation strips the town’s Jewish citizens of their rights and their livelihoods, Lexa remains steadfast in her determination to stay true to Moritz.Crooked Cross is part of the Persephone Audiobook Collection, a series of forgotten classics including neglected fiction and non-fiction by women writers. This novel was first published in 1934.
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