The 4-1-1
Told in the first person in flashback fashion, Half Notes opens in 2021. The main character, Hans Meyer, is 102 years old. Sensing he may not have much time left, Hans dredges up memories from the spring of 1933 Berlin. Hans is then 15 years old. He’s a budding vocalist with the Berlin Youth Choir. The Nazis have just seized power, ushering in sweeping social changes.
Hans is shocked to learn that his maternal grandparents were Jews who converted to Christianity. When the secret about his family heritage is revealed, Hans’s mother loses her position as a music teacher at the Berlin Conservatory. His father, a distributor of synthetic sugar (saccharin), divorces her. Meanwhile, Hans is disgusted by his father’s attempts to acquire Jewish businesses on the cheap.
Then Hans falls in love with Rebecca Deichmann, a classmate and the only Jewish girl he knows.
Struggling to keep both his family’s true heritage and his love for Rebecca secret, young Hans tries to navigate this frightening new world.
But when his school announces it will expel Jewish students, Hans is determined to fight for Rebecca (hello, Ivanhoe) – and for the lives and souls of his family.
How this terrifying new world with its social changes and “black, unmarked vans” arriving outside apartments “in the wee hours” impact the lives, relationships, and careers of Hans’s family and friends makes up the balance of this absorbing historical fiction. And how one unread letter might have changed everything.
Gripping
Tightly written and expertly paced, this gripping novel neatly avoids the twin banes of too many first-time novelists: Over-writing and purple prose. How refreshing.
Indeed, the action skims along briskly as Glants creates a rising line of tension, taut as a piano wire, while weaving a tangled web of lies, deceit, guilt and regret. The Epilogue leaves the door open for a sequel.
Besides. We like, Totally Loveified lines like, “His snobbish cabbage face and meek radish chin.” Or, “Slowly, his body followed, untwisting like a rag, his hands flapping at his sides, his face pale.”
Part historical fiction, part youthful romance, part coming-of-age tale, the story is also a powerful retrospective. It has the occasional typo: “Did you say anyone with a blue racer?” But these are rare and don’t dilute the narrative’s impact. An impressive accomplishment, especially for a debut novel.
So. Pour yourself a hot cuppa. Grab a blankie. And settle in for compelling historical fiction kinda read with Half Notes From Berlin. Cuz it’s never too late for a good book. Even if one of us who shall remain nameless is a little slow on the uptake (Hi, Mom).
Half Notes From Berlin (Glide Media, September 2022)
By: B.V. Glants
Genre: Historical Fiction/Young Adult
Pages (print): 256
Via: Blog Tour (sort of)
Pages & Paws 