Last year I went to Davis-Kidd to hear author Chris Bohjalian. I loved The Double Bind and I heard Chris was working on a new book. Chris was an excellent speaker and told the crowd that he believes Skeletons at the Feast is his best book.Skeletons at the Feast centers around a Prussian farm family fleeing the Russians during the waning days of World War II. They have a teenage daughter and a young son, and the older boys are serving in the German army. A Scottish POW has been working on the farm and flees with the family. During their travels, they encounter Uri Singer, a young Jewish man who has escaped a train bound for Auschwitz and has been assuming different identities in order to survive. Another story line involves a group of Jewish women being forced to march from camp to camp.
This book is haunting and unforgettable, and the characters are superb. The reader experiences the anguish of war as see through the eyes of very different people. There are many historical novels set in World War II but this is one that should not be missed!
