Nothing Sung and Nothing Spoken
Nita Tyndall’s second novel builds on the very real existence in Germany of the Swingjugend, a group of teens whose identification with the freedoms of jazz strengthened their resistance to the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s. In Berlin in 1938, Charlotte Kraus—Charlie to her friends—has a “good girl” role in her family and at school. But that’s about to change, because when her best friend Angelika tugs her into an underground club to dance, Charlie finds the side of herself that will always put Geli’s affection above all else, even if this means becoming a rebel. And especially if it means Geli holding her hand or embracing her or whispering in her ear.
Vividly exploring the emotions and physicality of queer attraction along with the profound changes of the teen years, Tyndall provides a powerful page-turner. Charlie’s parents warn her of how careful she must be—Geli’s father is a senior Nazi Party official—while Charlie’s other significant friendships with Renate and Minna involve a new awareness of how Jews are being persecuted by the Party. Geli must also perceive this—she gives Charlie a dangerous book to keep safe, one written by a Jewish poet and hence forbidden—but each of the girls must yield in some way to family demands and roles.
As both jazz and independence become significant to Charlie, she nears the edge of resisting not just the regime but also Geli. At stake are both the love of her best friend and her self-love. The clever braiding of jazz-club resistance with gender resistance gives the novel even more power. When Charlie must choose and take her own action, in 1942, the stakes couldn’t be much higher.
