The Winter Palace
This Winter Palace is not the famous residence of Russian Tsars, but rather a family mansion near Poznan, Poland, the home of Anton and Elisabeth Lewicki-Radziwill, a young couple married for just three years when war breaks out in 1939.
Reluctant to leave Elisabeth, Anton must join the Polish army while she plans to stay with an aunt in Warsaw. In the ensuing years Anton takes on new identities and endures the horrors of a Siberian labour camp, a prolonged march across Soviet Central Asia, and internecine conflict in the Middle East. Elisabeth is tormented by shame after her forced subservience to the Nazis. She must also disguise her past as she becomes involved with the partisans. Irrevocably changed by their experiences, only the love that binds Elisabeth and Anton and their mutual dream of a return to their peaceful Winter Palace keeps them going.
The novel reveals many lesser-known aspects of World War II including the story of the Polish Anders’ Army and the Jewish revolt against the British Mandate in Palestine. Many of the secondary characters are brutal. Even some of the good ones are self-serving or have unpleasant flaws. The poignant, bittersweet conclusion is an honest reflection of what really happened to so many in the War’s aftermath.
Elisabeth muses on love: ‘Yet despite its ceaseless trafficking, the word does not diminish in meaning or in worth. Like an ancient coin passed for centuries from hand to hand, use only makes it shine the brighter and grow in worth, that untarnishable word which is love.’
This masterful novel doesn’t shirk in its authentic depiction of history and the depths to which humanity can sink as hope and love struggle to survive. Recommended, but with a caution if you are at all uncomfortable with graphic realities.
