Overview

Germany, 1954. Jozef grows up in a happy household – so it seems. But his father Gerhard still harbours disturbing National Socialism ideals, while mother Catharina is quietly broken. She cannot feign happiness for much longer and rediscovers love elsewhere. Jozef is uncertain and alone. Who is he? Are Gerhard and Catharina his real parents? A dark mystery gradually unfolds, revealing an inescapable truth the entire nation is afraid to confront. But Jozef is determined to find out about the past and a horror is finally unmasked which continues to question our idea of what, in the last hour, makes each of us human. A terrifying and heartbreaking story.

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9789492371829

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Reviews

Well written WWII based fiction. The author does a superb job of drawing you into the story, and trying to figure out what the characters will do. - Purple Griffon Quiet but intense book. A Quiet Genocide from new author Glenn Bryant is a quiet book. Right up until it punches you in the gut. It’s historical fiction with a topic I’ve never seen broached. - Barbara S. I read a lot of WWII fiction and this book joined my shelf of favorites. - Susan R. Top 1000 Reviewer A compelling WW2 fiction that penetrates your senses. - Mel San

Well written WWII based fiction. The author does a superb job of drawing you into the story, and trying to figure out what the characters will do. - Purple Griffon Quiet but intense book. A Quiet Genocide from new author Glenn Bryant is a quiet book. Right up until it punches you in the gut. It's historical fiction with a topic I've never seen broached. - Barbara S. I read a lot of WWII fiction and this book joined my shelf of favorites. - Susan R. Top 1000 Reviewer A compelling WW2 fiction that penetrates your senses. - Mel San

A Quiet Genocide from new author Glenn Bryant is a quiet book. Right up until it punches you in the gut. It's historical fiction with a topic I've never seen broached. And I've read WW2 stories for decades now. It opens in post-WW2 Munich with the Diederichs. They're a small family--just young parents and their grade school aged son. Catharina is a housewife, and Gerhard is a businessman. Young Jozef is a typical boy. But Gerhard drinks too much, Catharina is dissatisfied with life, and Jozef is mischievous. And Gerhard has a friend, Michael, who's uncomfortably menacing. The book then jumps forward to Josef's first year at university, when things start to unravel. Catharina is more restless. Gerhard is less discreet. And Jozef begins to question his own reality. Since the book's subtitle is The Untold Holocaust of Disabled Children in WW2 Germany, I anticipated grisly details. When Bryant delivers, it's more of an intense emotional hit than a gruesome one. But it still hurts. Especially given the kinds of things happening in the 2018 United States. My conclusions Bryant writes like an author with many more books to his credit. A Quiet Genocide is absorbing. Its truth-telling is subtle, and unfurls like a big black umbrella on a rainy day. The book has a darkness to it from the start. Then that umbrella opens and the true storm begins. Bryant learned of this specific genocide while studying modern history at university. Stunned that it's not taught more often, he determined to make people more aware. Using fiction as a tool makes the story more palpable. There were tens of thousands of families like the Diederichs. Their story deserves to be told. I'm also intrigued to know about Amsterdam Publishers, a small house that specializes in Holocaust Memoirs and WW2 historical fiction. Their catalog looks like something to work my way through. I hope you'll give this book a try. It's well worth your time! - Barbara the Bibliophage I read a lot of WWII fiction and this book joined my shelf of favorites. It takes place in the 50s in Germany and is about the after effect of the war as well as flashbacks to the war years. There are still people in Germany who are part of the National Socialist party and former Nazis and are unhappy with the changes in their country since the end of the war. The main character is Jozef. He grows up in a fairly happy household with two parents. A friend of his father's, Michael, visits once a week to talk politics and drink with his dad. The day before Jozef goes away to university, his parents tell him that he is adopted which makes him question his entire life. While at university he is thirsty for knowledge and learns more about WWII and eventually about the way that the Nazis euthanized people who were handicapped - both mentally and physically. He also tries to find out about his birth parents which further unsettles his life. This novel had a great story but was also written to teach the reader about Germany - before, during and after WWII. Even though I read a lot of fiction from this era, I learned several items that I'd never known before which to me is the sign of a great work of historical fiction. An interesting fact - this book was published by Amsterdam Publishing that was founded in 2012. I read this on their website and plan to look into some of their other books. AMSTERDAM PUBLISHERS IS SPECIALIZED IN HOLOCAUST MEMOIRS & WW2 HISTORICAL FICTION. HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR STORIES NEED TO BE KEPT ALIVE. EVERY YEAR SURVIVORS WITH UNIQUE TESTIMONIES ARE PASSING AWAY. ESPECIALLY TODAY, THESE ACCOUNTS SEEM MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER. - Sue

Author Information

Glenn Bryant was born in 1976 and grew up in Grimsby, the north of England. He has a Masters degree from the University of Dundee, Scotland in modern history where he studied in detail the Warsaw Ghetto 1940-43. He trained in newspaper journalism and is a qualified and experienced senior journalist. His wife champions disability rights and is experienced working closely with people with complex disabilities.

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