The House by the Lake
In 2010, 29-year-old Anna Young, a successful café owner in San Francisco, is asked an unusual favor from her beloved 94-year-old grandfather, Max Albrecht. His request? That Anna travel to Siegel, Germany, outside Berlin, to retrieve an engagement ring hidden under the floorboards of Schloss Siegel, the family home that Max abandoned. Anna’s efforts alternate with the story of Isabelle de Florian in 1930s Europe. Parisian Isabelle is the granddaughter of a courtesan and shunned by Paris society. Young Max Albrecht knows nothing of that when he meets Isabelle holidaying in Lake Geneva and cares even less when he finds out.
Although Isabelle is not Anna’s grandmother, there is still suspense to be had in the love story. The 1930s setting means that it is complicated by Hitler’s rise to power and Max’s family’s insistence that he join the Nazi Party. Carey makes this a personal story rather than a political one. Max questions Hitler but is loath to go against his family, and family loyalty is a theme that plays out in 2010 as well. Carey alternates perspectives within chapters, a device which keeps the reader equally engaged in both time periods. I devoured this book in one sitting.
