This is a powerfully written book, set in 1946 in Hamburg during the British occupation. I thought WW2 had been exhausted as fodder for books, but I was wrong. This is a hugely original, thought provoking and gripping book. The emotional subtlety of the writing allows the reader huge empathy with both British and German characters; there is no taking sides, you care about everyone.

I really enjoyed this. It was easy to read. This about a family relocated to Germany from Wales after World War II. They are due to move into a grand house and the current owners are to be sent to the camps but instead the Colonel decides to shares the house with them. This causes many issues in difficult times for both famillies adjusting to their new lifestyles when they have already dealt with so much. Worth reading.

Before you think that this is just another World War 2 book, then think again. Based on the author’s Grandfathers real story of how he let the German family who lived in the house that was requisitioned for him as an officer during the resettlement of Germany after the war. The Colonel in this novel lets the widowed German architect and his daughter remain living in the house where he is about to move into with his wife and son. This is frowned upon by the other British families as they believe all Germans are bad and deserve what they get, even if it means throwing them out of their homes and separating families, it’s what they deserve. Of course this was nonsense, the ordinary German person suffered a great deal during the war and this “experiment” of the two families living together shows this. This is a remarkable book, well written, if sometimes a bit over wordy in places, and I really liked it. I think this would be a good choice for reading groups.

I have never found a book that I wasn't able to put down before but this exciting and dramatic novel came pretty close to changing that. Set in 1946 during the British de-Nazification program, The Aftermath is a wonderfully written heart-warming yet tragic tale about a British officer and his family living alongside their German counterparts in the latter’s Hamburg home. A British officer, Colonel Lewis Smith, distanced from his wife by the death of their son and sympathetic to a defeated German population, decides to bring his family to Hamburg and live alongside a German family. What follows is a tale of passion and desire, pain and retribution, betrayal and forgiveness. Based on true events, writer Rhidian Brook introduces us, the audience, to a host of memorable people, of who, through poignant characterisation, we feel bound to on an emotional and ideological journey. The book does not focus solely on one particular character and it is this that gives the novel real depth. Smith is accompanied by his wife Rachael and their second son, Edmund. Meanwhile the German house is accommodated by Stefan Lubert, his teenage daughter Freda and a maid, cook and gardener. Smith’s wife, Rachael, plagued by sorrow of their young son’s war-time death, is at first skeptical of the arrangement, blindly hating all those she believes to be the cause of her son’s death. But gradually she begins to forgive and forms a bond with Mr Lubert through a passion for music and a shared sense of loss. Lewis is detached, Freda is uncooperative and Edmund naive and as the plot unfolds, attitudes change and the house becomes a breeding ground of emotion and tension. The subtle way in which Rhidian Brook introduces such changes and plot twists is exceptional and it helps the narrative to flow freely. People are always enticed by something they can relate to, whether it is love, hate, guilt, loss, self-doubt or even an ideal. This story has all those human characteristics and as such gives the reader a personal affiliation to the book and the characters in it. It gives us something to think about and forces us to look at ourselves and consider how we would deal with the situations that arise The novel, in my eyes a modern classic, is beautifully constructed and the characterisation is powerful and heartfelt. As the families two worlds collide, sparks are made and embers die as we are given a glimpse into the aftermath of the greatest war of all time.

This tale of post-war Hamburg has much to recommend it - Interesting and well drawn characters, evocative descriptions of a shattered city and populace and several engaging narrative threads, as well as really thought provoking moral dilemmas. Colonel Lewis Morgan is concerned with the administration of Hamburg, part of the British occupied zone of Germany in 1946. A good hearted man, who has failed to deal with the death of his older son in a bomb strike by throwing himself into his work, he believes that forgiveness is his most powerful weapon in dealing with the starving populace, who are all seeking the Persilschein or white certificate which declares them free of taint of Nazism. This flies in the face of the common wisdom amongst the British, and even more so of the demands of the Russians. They require that German factories in the British zone be destroyed before they release the food needed by the inhabitants grown in the Russian sector. Lewis puts his views into practice in his personal life: when a German mansion is requisitioned for him to live in with his wife and remaining son he offers to allow the German widower whose house it is and his daughter to remain in residence. This horrifies many of his compatriots, including his wife, Rachael who, with their remaining son, is rejoining him after several years apart. Their separation is increased by Rachael's paralysis at the loss of their son. I enjoyed the story which unfolds in the book very much; it is not predictable and further interest is added by the moral dilemmas, both personal and on a grander scale, faced by the characters. The devastation of lives, the city and a whole nation are subtly juxtaposed; it is horrifying to read of the firestorm in Hamburg caused by intensive allied bombing (more bombs were dropped on the city over a week in July 1944 than were dropped on London during the whole of the war and the very dry conditions meant the bombing had even more devastating effect), but equally thought provoking to see the effects of personal loss on the individuals - Rachael, Lewis, Lubert, his daughter and the feral orphaned German children who also feature. I could go on, but will confine myself to recommending this as a well-written, good read, with a satisfying plot which reminds us of the horrors of the second world war for both sides and makes us examine challenging moral dilemmas.