The Scrapbook

From the award-winning author of Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, a stunning debut novel: the story of an intense first love haunted by history and family memory, inspired by the startling WWII scrapbook of Clark’s own grandfather, hidden in an attic until after his death “An elegant, unsettling novel about the burden of history and the illusions of love.” —Sana Krasikov, author of The Patriots The traumas of the past and the aftershocks of fascism echo and reverberate through the present in this story of a lifechanging seduction. Harvard, 1996. Anna is about to graduate when she falls hard for Christoph, a visiting German student. Captivated by his beauty and intelligence, she follows him to Germany, where charming squares and grand facades belie the nation’s recent history and the war’s destruction. Christoph condemns his country’s actions but remains cryptic about the part his own grandfather played. Anna, meanwhile, cannot forget the photos taken by her American GI grandfather at the end of the war, preserved in a scrapbook only she has seen. As Anna travels back and forth to Germany to deepen her relationship with the elusive Christoph, her perspective is powerfully interrupted by chapters that follow both of their grandfathers during the war. One witnesses the plight of Holocaust victims in the days after liberation and helps capture Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, while the other fights for Nazi Germany. Their fragmented stories haunt Anna and her lover two generations later—and may still tear them apart. Not a “World War Two novel” in the traditional sense, The Scrapbook delivers a consuming tale of first love, laced with a backstory of dark family legacies and historical conscience.
===
An exhilarating debut novel about a life-changing romance in the long shadow of European history, inspired by the author's real discovery 'Stunningly good' Julia Boyd 'You won't be able to put it down' Samantha Rose Hill 'Worthy of reading and rereading' Bookpage Harvard, 1996. Anna is about to graduate when she falls in love with Christoph, a German student visiting campus. As she visits Christoph in Germany and tries to understand the young, elegant man who fascinates her, he reveals his country to her. Germany is still reckoning with the Holocaust and its pretty new squares belie the war's destruction. Anna wants to believe in Christoph and the future he promises her but as their relationship becomes increasingly unsettling, she must face up to everything she has been unwilling to see, and everything Christoph has chosen to ignore. 'As if a Sally Rooney novel merged with Richard Linklater's film, Before Sunrise' Booklist 'A swiftly-moving, molecularly perceptive, singular portrait of intoxicating young love' Aube Rey Lescure 'An elegant, unsettling novel about the burden of history and the illusions of love' Sana Krasikov 'A masterpiece' Rebecca Donner