Under Two Flags: A Novel of World War I
In Fall 1916, prior to America entering the Great War, Josephine Therese Marzynski travels to Germany from Boston to study music. She is met with suspicion and even strip-searched before being allowed into the country, but they never find the American flag she had sewn into the hem of her skirt. She is living with family friends, the Müllers, who have made it possible for her to pursue a career as a professional opera singer, a dream she thought had died with her father in America. Josephine begins her training, but by April 1917, America and Germany are at war, and Josephine has been summoned to the police station and put under regular monitoring.
This is a fictionalized version of Marzynski’s memoir, With Old Glory in Berlin, which may have been ghostwritten by the author’s grandfather. It is the compelling story of a Jewish American student trapped in WWI Berlin. Josephine’s musical training lasted about a year, but the story is centered less on music and more on Germany’s war-centered culture at the time, including propaganda, oppression, and rationing. The author has blended more music into it by effectively adding snippets of operas that relate to Josephine’s experiences. The chapters are laid out as an opera would be, with an overture, acts, scenes, an intermission, and a finale. After America enters the war, the novel is focused mostly on Josephine’s monitoring by the police and her attempts to leave, using influential contacts.
The original work is available in the public domain, and it is interesting to compare the two. The author has taken a simple retelling and breathed new life into it by adding emotion, dialogue, and music. The result is a well-woven tale of a talented young woman attempting to escape a perilous situation. Recommended.
