Babylon Laid Waste - Brigitte Goldstein

REVISED EDITION

Winner of several literary awards!-- Elite Choice Gold Winner-- Book Excellence Awards Winner-- Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards Gold-- Beverly Hills Book Awards Winner-- National Indie Excellence Awards.

Alerted by a letter from Berlin that her grandmother may be alive in a Jewish hospice there, Misia Safran, a former refugee living in New York, is determined to follow the lead and return to her native Germany. However, it is 1946 and the defeated Reich, under Allied control, is off-limits to civilian travel in or out. With the help of a people-smuggling ring, Misia manages to breach the fortress and enter with forged German identity papers under an assumed name. As her journey takes her ever deeper into the devastated enemy territory, she encounters an array of colorful, frequently shady characters ranging from victorious Americans, unrepentant Nazis, ordinary civilians, Jewish survivors, and washed-up Wagnerian opera stars; all of whom have an intriguing personal story to tell and private agenda to pursue.

When Misia runs afoul of the US military authorities, she meets her nemesis in the person of Major Emil Zweig. Since she lacks the crucial "Persilschein"-a denazification certificate-he sends her to a prison for female Nazi criminals. At this nadir of her ill-starred attempt to reach Berlin, a savior appears in the person of an enigmatic Jewish survivor who calls himself Frantiçek Kafka. Impelled by the romantic attraction sprouting between them, Misia embarks with him on a whirlwind search for a pair of Nazis. In the course of a rollercoaster ride of many unforeseen emotional ups and downs, she becomes a major player of a drama in which nothing and no one is what appearances suggest or pretend reality to be.

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Babylon Laid Waste--A Journey in the Twilight of the Idols by Brigitte Goldstein is a spellbinding historical novel that beautifully captures the period after the fall of the Third Reich. It follows a former refugee from Germany who gets a letter from Berlin indicating that her grandmother might be alive. Intrigued, she is determined to travel from New York to Germany to find out the truth. It is a time with a lot of restrictions in traveling and the protagonist has to use subterfuge on a journey filled with twists and interesting characters along the way. But there is more in store for her than her initial quest to seek out her grandmother, including sophisticated characters who will get her involved in a revenge scheme.

This is a well-told story that brilliantly showcases the effects of Nazi war crimes and how the political situation at this time affected people. The story is filled with an impressive and interesting cast of characters, including those loyal to the Nazis, Jewish camp survivors, and the American military. The writing is atmospheric and the author does an incredible job when it comes to handling the setting. I enjoyed the descriptive prose and how well the points of view are crafted. Brigitte Goldstein keeps the story real, absorbing readers into a world filled with post-war tensions and uncertainties and where fear has eaten deeply into the human soul; the multilayered characters had me turning from page to page. It is a story of adventure, survival, and the quest for truth against the backdrop of a dangerous world. Babylon Laid Waste: A Journey in the Twilight of the Idols got me from the very beginning with the powerful premise and throughout the story I was gripped by the masterful way in which the author explores the emotions of the characters. - Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite