The Sixth Lamentation

Rating:
Summary: Truely moving
Review: This is one of the best books I have read. The authors ability to evoke emotions through amazing imagery was wonderful.I found myself thinking about this novel and the questions it raised long after I put it down. The twists were beautifully executed(mostly due to the fully formed characters) always raising the thought in my mind about how peoples actions can be misinterpreted when we don't have all the facts. In my opinion this novel is not really in the spy genre but rather a look at human beings and their action in crisis and how preconceived ideas can cause misunderstandings of tragic proportions -absolutely wonderful novel

Rating:
Summary: I agree
Review: Two interrelated tales come together in a harrowing first novel by William Broderick. In Suffolk, England, a man, Eduard Schwermann, asks for sanctuary in a church as he is being sought as a war criminal. Father Anselm is soon asked to look into the matter by the upper echelon of the Catholic church in Rome. He must find a man who worked with Schwermann as a collaborator in France during the occupation of W.W.II. In the meantime, Agnes Aubert is dying of a motor neuron disease and writes her memoirs desperately trying to tell her horrible tale of betrayal and death during the war. It just so happens that Schwermann was the German officer responsible for rounding up Agnes' group whose function was to set up a means of freedom for Jewish children. The two tales eventually converge.
Careful characterizations and a humane treatment of a difficult subject make this novel a cut above the ordinary. However, the plot went on a bit too long while the conclusion was so complex that it becomes very difficult to follow.