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    The Ragged Edge of Night
    The Ragged Edge of Night
    The Ragged Edge of Night
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Ragged Edge of Night

    Written by Olivia Hawker

    Narrated by Olivia Hawker and Nick Sandys

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    For fans of All the Light We Cannot See, Beneath a Scarlet Sky, and The Nightingale comes an emotionally gripping, beautifully written historical novel about extraordinary hope, redemption, and one man’s search for light during the darkest times of World War II.

    Germany, 1942. Franciscan friar Anton Starzmann is stripped of his place in the world when his school is seized by the Nazis. He relocates to a small German hamlet to wed Elisabeth Herter, a widow who seeks a marriage—in name only—to a man who can help raise her three children. Anton seeks something too—atonement for failing to protect his young students from the wrath of the Nazis. But neither he nor Elisabeth expects their lives to be shaken once again by the inescapable rumble of war.

    As Anton struggles to adapt to the roles of husband and father, he learns of the Red Orchestra, an underground network of resisters plotting to assassinate Hitler. Despite Elisabeth’s reservations, Anton joins this army of shadows. But when the SS discovers his schemes, Anton will embark on a final act of defiance that may cost him his life—even if it means saying goodbye to the family he has come to love more than he ever believed possible.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateOct 1, 2018
    ISBN9781543698565
    The Ragged Edge of Night
    Author

    Olivia Hawker

    Through unexpected characters and vivid prose, Olivia Hawker explores the varied landscape of the human spirit. Olivia’s interest in genealogy often informs her writing: her two novels, The Ragged Edge of Night and One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow, are based on true stories found within her own family tree. She lives in the San Juan Islands of Washington State, where she homesteads at Longlight, a one-acre microfarm dedicated to sustainable permaculture practices. For more information, visit www.hawkerbooks.com/olivia.

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    Reviews for The Ragged Edge of Night

    4.5/5

    424 ratings31 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be a beautiful historical piece based on real events and real people. The language is beautiful and the characters are complex and flawed but their hearts are true. The narration is wonderful and the story is inspiring, moving, and fast-moving. It offers a unique perspective on WWII and the characters are relatable and lovable. The book is full of despair and hopefulness, evil and goodness, and spirituality. It is a microcosm of the greatness of regular people in the face of massive forces against them. Overall, it is a must-read for fans of historical fiction.

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Historical fiction at it's best. Full of despair and hopefulness, evil and goodness, spirituality and hate, and so many excellent characters. A microcosm of the greatness of regular people in the face of massive forces against them. Love conquers all.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Such a moving book with sweet moments. I loved watching their relationship grow from nothing

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A beautiful historical piece based on real events and real people, lovingly crafted by the Author who has a familial connection to Anton Starzmann and his family. A great listen with characters that came alive.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Inspiring story of a true sacrifice and bravery. Great narration.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A beautiful true story of hope in such a dark period of history that we should all know about so we never forget and never let happen again.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I was expecting to love it since the reviews were so good...and I did!!! VERY well written. I kept thinking throughout the book, "oh, I really like how she said that." I also liked it was written for family reading. Great job!!!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This book gave me insights into German life during WWII that I had never even considered before. It was both heartbreaking and uplifting at different times, and I felt such connection with the characters. I also felt compassion for what they were going through, as it had to be so very difficult to endure. The author tells the story with the help of her husband’s family, but she does it in a way that drew me in and made me feel like these people were here with me. I felt that they were here in my little town with me, and I had an urge to protect them and keep them safe. They are lovely characters and it’s a beautiful story.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Beautiful book with a beautiful ending! I love the narrator as well.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Outstanding articulation of this true story. I almost didn't pick it because I've read so many WWII books. This is a very different angle.
    • 5/5
      I had never heard of this book but loved all the Light we cannot See and Nightingale so I took a chance. Now I love this one too. I didn’t want it to end. I miss Anton and Elizabeth already
    • 4/5
      True Story that takes place during the war in Germany. Anton, a priest who was deflocked by the Nazi's. He traveled to a small town in response to an ad from a young widow in need of a husband to help support her 3 children - no romantic strings attached - he weds her and as the war increases Anton, along with the local parish priest joins a resistance group. He also formed a music band of young children to shield them from being forced to join the Hitler Youth group. The story was so engaging as the relationship of Anton an Elizabeth marriage evolves into love and the tragic fear of being found that they oppose the war and working against it including hiding the church bells once Hitler sends troops to collect. Love the story - very moving.
    • 5/5
      This book is exquisitely written. The language is beautiful. This book is not for someone who wants a fast paced, edge of your seat adventure. It is more than that.The characters are complex and flawed but their hearts are true. Simply a beautiful story, beautifully told.
    • 4/5
      3.5 rounded up bc of the wonderful narration. For those concerned, the only time the author narrates is during her note at the end.
      The story is more life lived vs fast paced, but the fact that it’s based on a real person makes it more interesting and offsets the heavy religious & musical tones (the author herself admits to being an atheist so it’s not overwhelming).
      All and all well worth the time and listen.
    • 5/5
      Fast moving story & great writing based on historical truth.
    • 4/5
      There were some parts that moved a little slow for me, especially when Anton contemplated what Germany was and what it had become—and whether it would ever recover. Now that I know the novel was written after the author witnessed troubling events in America, I understand why Anton’s pondering were given so much focus. I appreciated that the novel featured a fairly ardent love story without any sexual content. How refreshing in a book for grownups!
    • 5/5
      Thank you for bringing history forward we cannot forget it
    • 5/5
      Amazing story. It means a lot to me. Being born in Germany and growing up hearing similar stories I know there is light amongst dark clouds of History. Thank you Olivia Hawker
    • 5/5
      A reflection of history that we see today here in the USA.
    • 5/5
      I love reading historical fiction and then to find out what in the book was true was an added bonus. The only criticism I have is with the narrator. The voices he used for the children was very disappointing. Made my skin crawl!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Another WWII story, yet different than the others. More intimate, more humanity. If you enjoyed All the Light We Cannot See, then you should read or listen to this (the audio is excellent). What astonished me at the end of the book was learning that it's a true story, real events, real people.

      5 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      World War II novels rarely address the war from the perspective of German resisters. This one not only does that, it is a fictionalized account of real events and real people in the author’s husband’s family. It felt a bit too wordy to me at first, but as the story moved along I became engrossed and stopped noticing things like that. Recommended for all fans of historical fiction set in the war years.
    • 4/5
      As the author's notes reveal in the back, I was surprised to find this was a true story taken from the life of Josef Anton Starzmann, who lived in the small German town of Unterboihingen during WWII. Part of the resistance effort to assassinate Adolph Hitler, he failed in that endeavor but inspired and brought hope to many with his musical talents and bravery at resisting Hitler's SS demands to turn over the church bells of his small town. I found the book uplifting and was glad to know people like Anton really existed in such turbulent times.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful story set in WWII about the power of resistance and love in the midst of evil and totalitarianism. Yet another angle on the war - I'm always impressed when authors come up with a fresh story - and this one is based on a real person and true family lore and experience. Joseph Anton Starzmann was a Catholic friar until the Nazis disbanded his order and shipped off the special-needs children he had been teaching and caring for. He is then drafted into the Wehrmacht where he paratroops into Latvia to "liberate" Riga. After being wounded in this maneuver, he tries to adapt to civilian life, but seeks God's purpose and answers an ad in a Catholic newspaper from a desperate widow seeking a father for her 3 children in the small country town of Unterboihingen. This charming village has been largely untouched by the war except for the rations and food shortages, but the people look out for each other, have set up a barter system and are mainly loyal to their German heritage, not the Fuhrer's distortion of it. Here Anton becomes husband to Elisabeth, a courageous and devout woman, and father to Albert, Paul, and Maria. He also begins to teach music to local children, befriends the parish priest, Fr. Emil, and quietly finds ways to subvert the Nazis. It is 1943 and resistance is growing - even in Germany, which was so heartening to read about. The Red Orchestra has devised and network and a plan to try to bring down Hitler from within. The White Rose, a teen version of resistance is also spreading. Anton's first love is God, then his new family, then his country and his actions align with his beliefs at every turn. Though the town mostly shares the same views of goodness and right - they vote to take in refugees at one point - there are still dissenters (party loyalists) and even a gauleiter (Herr Franke/Mobelbauer) who watches and reports back to the SS. Anton is haunted by his inability to save his former students and is determined to make a difference any way he can. "Day after day it rises. Like a tide, it swells. Every outrage, every death, each new act of inhumanity wrings from us another drop of resolve, even when we think our spirits dust dry and deadened. We flow together; we merge; ...we are a river eroding its banks. We will no longer be contained. There is a greater force. Its name is Widerstand, resist." Though the author was aware of her grandfather-in-law's (the real Anton Starzmann's) subtle defiance for many years, she chose to write about it in 2016, seeing parallels of rising hatred and abuse of power in our own country. Thus this is a call to action, but also a song of hope. Don't miss it.
    • 4/5
      This is loose historical fiction instead of pure fiction.The plot and general theme is very good and there is plenty of suspense. Several stories are being followed at once, war in an occupied country, marriage, raising morally healthy kids.getting by without a career skill in demand,...The hero and heroine are real people who did exist, althoug the author has changed names somewhat and slightly switched the timings of some events. Some secondary characters such as the daughter who is a composite of two sisters, were done by the editor mostly.Much of the author's material came from a diary made by the heroine, most of the rest came from her family's memories of that family.Overall the book is an exciting suspenseful read on the several topics being followed.
    • 5/5
      The Ragged Edge of Night is a wonderful historical-fiction novel that ties together a slow smoldering romance with a suspenseful tall of intrigue, heroism, bravery and courage. It tells a side of WW II not often explored in so many books, the story of those within Germany who saw Hitler for the evil despot he was and dared to resist.
      While popular fiction uses a broad brush to depict Germany during the war, wiser heads realize that not everyone was taken in by the Nazis and that many stood up to resist. Resisting Hitler was dangerous but necessary, just as it is when any country loses its way and becomes ruled by madmen.
      The Ragged Edge of Night, based on a real story, follows the meeting and marriage of two very unlikely spouses who try to scratch out a living and protect their children in a time of desperation and danger. The story engrossed readers, reading far more like a suspense thriller than a fictionalized retelling of actual events. It is a tribute to people who respond to the morality of their hearts rather than to the fears or temptations of those around them.
      The writing never waivers from excellence, articulately describing events, settings and characters, making readers feel as if they are part of the action.
      I am glad I found this book and hope many, many others do, too.
    • 4/5
      My understanding was that this was historical fiction in the style of All the Light We Cannot See. What I discovered in the Afterword, however, is that this story is based on the lives of real characters, and in particular, the grandfather of the author’s husband, born in 1904 in Stuttgart to a devout Catholic family.Anton Starzmann, 38, previously served as a friar who taught music to developmentally and/or physically challenged children at the St. Josefsheim school. The Nazis came, disbanded the order, took the children away, and put the men into the army as soldiers. [We later are reminded that Hitler initiated the T4 Program in 1939, a campaign to “rid the Fatherland” of such “drains” upon the economy as the disabled.] Anton thus joined the Army, but what he had to do haunted him. Then, while jumping from a plane when the army went into Riga, Anton sustained a back injury, or so he claimed, in order to avoid further service in the Wehrmacht. It was his first act of resistance.As we begin the story, almost a year has passed since Anton’s days as a friar, and he is traveling to Unterboihingen, a small village near Stuttgart. [Today, the Württemberg town of Unterboihingen has been absorbed into Wendlingen.] He had come to Unterboihingen for the surprising reason that he answered an ad by Elisabeth Hansjosten Herter, a young widow. She said she was seeking “a humble, patient man” for a husband who was willing to be a father to her three children. [You may think this a bit too contrived and predictable for a plot line, but as indicated above, it is based on actual fact.]It is clear each is reluctant to take on such a role with a stranger, but Anton is looking for redemption, and Elisabeth is looking for help. She admits she is “only seeking a husband for his money.” Elisabeth has three children: Albert, 11, Paul, 9, and Maria, 6. It is hard for her to feed and clothe them in this time of war.Elisabeth was clearly nervous, however, and Anton tried to reassure her. He told her about his back injury to imply he would not be able to be a husband in every sense, so she could relax on that score.They each took two weeks for “prayer and reflection,” and then got married.In the meantime, Anton became friends with the local priest, Father Emil. Anton went to him in anguish: he didn't know how to be a husband or a father. Emil reminded him he also has never been either:“But I think it can’t be so different from being a man of the cloth. You must be guided by integrity, mercy, and justice. You must let love carry all your decisions, all your words. . . . That is all the Lord asks - that we live by Christ’s example.”Anton agreed to play the organ for Father Emil at his church St. Kolumban on Sundays, and Father Emil helped Anton get work teaching music in order to support Elisabeth and the children. Few families could afford lessons, however, and it did not generate enough money to take care of growing children. Then Father Emil got Anton a more lucrative position, taking messages to other members of the resistance in nearby towns.Anton didn't tell Elisabeth at first because he knew it is dangerous. Even in remote Unterboihingen there was a town Gauleiter - a district leader who served as the Reich’s eyes and ears, working to promote the Nazi agenda, and threatening to report anyone who seemed the least bit disloyal. But as Anton whispered to his stepson Albert, “Herr Möbelbauer,” as the boys called the Gauleiter because of his profession as a furniture maker, “answers to his ambition, but I answer only to God.”When the Gauleiter insisted that Anton be in charge of a Hitler Youth group for the town, Anton was desperate to come up with a plan to avoid this task. Playing to the Gauleiter’s ambition, he proposed forming a town band for the boys instead, that putatively would bring even more glory to Unterboihingen and therefore to the Gauleiter himself.Anton still had the instruments he brought with him from St. Josefsheim. He believed that “music eases every pain we don’t know we carry.” It was, he declared, a balm for our hearts. Moreover, music was a common language anyone could speak together: “it’s the greatest miracle God ever wrought, for it shows us that we are one.” [Many of the Nazis loved music, including Hitler, but it was a nice theory in any event.]Time went by, and Anton developed strong feelings for Elisabeth, but “[t]wenty years of celibacy . . . left him unprepared to confront his own heart.” Yet he came to understand that he loved his wife, even though he did not think she returned his feelings. At the same time, they experienced increasing adversity and danger, much of it on account of the tyrannical power wielded by the Gauleiter. Before long they received information that the Gauleiter suspected Anton, so Anton agreed to “lie low.” But then word came that the SS were going to every small town to take away the church bells to melt down for the brass. Anton, with his love of music and his hatred of Hitler, was determined not to let that happen.Anton and Elisabeth had to confront their feelings about one another and the family they had forged together, as well as to weigh the risk of taking ethical action and possibly losing their lives, versus the psychological and spiritual cost of going along with the Nazis and losing their souls. Discussion: The author says in her Afterword that she kept notes on this family story for years, but never felt a compulsion to complete it until the election of 2016 showed her that history can repeat itself. She admonishes, “We are fools to think the past remains in the past.” She writes:“As I watched the U.S. I thought I knew devolve, seemingly overnight, into an unrecognizable landscape - a place where political pundits threw up Nazi salutes in front of news cameras, unafraid - a place where swastikas bloomed like fetid flowers on the walls of synagogues and mosques - I knew the time had come.”She inserts into her story many developments about the growth of Nazi political power that are not only historically accurate, but sound alarmingly like what is happening again now.She notes, for example, about the Nazi era:“We could have stopped them long ago, but we didn’t. We hid our faces behind our hands. We told ourselves, ‘This won’t continue. It won’t be allowed. Someone will stop them; someone must.’”But the Party quickly became thoroughly entrenched, and as for the people:“They are all too willing to shut their eyes, to pretend nothing evil has happened. . . . They are ready to believe, now, that mankind was always meant to hate his neighbor, to kill the weak and the outcast, since God first dreamed us into being.”And yet, because of what the author has seen with her husband’s family, she believes that “darkness cannot last forever. And beyond night’s edge, there is light.”Evaluation: This ironically timely book is all the more moving because so much of it really took place. The focus is mostly on Anton’s interior landscape, who, because he was a man of God for so many years, is confused and distraught that such evil has come to inhabit the world.Highly recommended.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This is a fictional biography based on actual family members of the author and although some license was taken and explained, it is essentially non-fiction. It is an account of a friar who was conscripted into the Nazi military, left with an alleged bad back, and became a member of the resistance in Germany. The writing is good, the story is interesting. Although Nazi resistance stories abound, this one is worth reading.
    • 5/5
      A slow burner of a novel, telling the story of Anton Starzmann, a former Franciscan friar, strongly anti-Nazi, who moves to a small village near Stuttgart to look after a widow and her children. Once there he is recruited into the Red Orchestra, an anti-Hitler resistance movement and defies the local Gauleiter by forming a brass orchestra of local children to avoid them being recruited into the Hitler Youth. The author paints a contrasting picture of a typical German community to that conventionally painted of a Nazi complicit population, who do their best to offer passive resistance, despite the risk. As attempts on Hitler's life fail, the resisters wonder if they will ever be free of the yoke of Nazism and a moving picture is painted of the impact on ordinary Germans. The story is all the more powerful for being based on the real life of Anton Starzmann, with only minor details altered to suit the confines of a novel. At a time of increased fascist, Nazi sentiment, especially in the USA, the story is a salutary lesson of the dangers such sentiments represent.
    • 4/5
      Excellent story about German resistance
    • 5/5
      One of the best books I have read this year!!! I absolutely LOVED it! My review can't possibly do it justice. The book was beautifully written. I'm pretty sure I teared up in some spots. I loved the characters, story and writing style. After reading the author's remarks at the end, I found out the book was based on a true story. This made the book even more amazing. Anton finds himself answering an ad in a Catholic paper. A widow is in need of a father for her three children. Anton was previously a Franciscan friar until his school was seized by the Nazis. He then became part of the Wehrmacht until a "back injury" gave him an excuse to leave. Now he finds himself to be a husband and father in a small village. Anton brings his love of music to the town. He would rather create a marching band than have the impressionable boys fall under Hitler's spell. Along with Father Emil, Anton joins the resistance to help with the downfall of Hitler. I loved the characters. I felt like I was right there with them. I loved getting to know Anton and Elisabeth. Enjoyed Anita's sense of humor and Maria was quite the handful. I knew that white communion dress would not survive. Each of the characters added so much to the story. Anton was an amazing person. So was Elisabeth. She was very strong woman. The scene at the school with his students was heartbreaking. One of my favorite parts was the scene with the missing bells. I definitely teared up in parts. My only complaint about the book is that it had to end. I wanted to keep reading about the family.I definitely recommend this book and can't wait to read more from the author.Thanks to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and the author, Olivia Hawker, for a free electronic ARC of this novel.