In Desolate Heaven

Finished January 9

In Desolate Heaven by Robert Edric

This is a book where much of what is going on is under the surface. It's a book that is hard to describe. The time is the fall of 1919. Elizabeth Mortlake has come to this Swiss spa town as a companion to her sister-in-law Mary, who is heavily grieving the loss of her pilot husband in the war. Elizabeth is also grieving him, as she was very close to her brother, and she holds some memories of him very closely. 

She soon notices a group of obviously injured soldiers that come on a bus into town to walk the waterfront of the lake. The men are accompanied by a group of nuns from a nearby convent that assist them. Many are blind, while others have injuries that affect their mobility. People in town, including visitors like Elizabeth, generally watch them respectfully, but don't interact with them. 

She also takes note of a man, Jameson, who comes to the hotel she is staying in often, and seems to have an antagonistic relationship with many of the senior staff, such as the manager, front clerk, and maitre'd. The reasons for this aren't obvious, but she gradually grows to understand as she spends time with him and observes his activities. Jameson takes an active interest in many of the men at the soldiers' hospital, having served with some of them. He also has a friendly relationship with some of the nuns, and provides books to one nun and an officer. Jameson is a book dealer, and he also has a close friendship with Emil, a photographer whose studio he has a room over. Elizabeth gradually becomes familiar with both these groups of people as well and visits both institutions. 

As Mary's health deteriorates, Elizabeth finds herself concerned, but also wanting to have someone else take on the responsibility for the more serious issues Mary is having, and Jameson is very helpful in finding the right people and place. 

I found the undercurrents of this book interesting, the jealousy of some, the sexuality tensions underlying some of the interactions, and the ways that the medical establishment of the time didn't know how to deal with the inner turmoil many of the men had. 

A book that was exceptionally well-written and that will stay with me. 

The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre

Finished May 10

The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre by Natasha Lester

This novel follows more than one timeline and moves between them. The author has done a lot of research for this book and there are notes at the end that tell us what she took from real people and events and what she created. The character at the centre of the novel is a creation, but she is placed around real events and real people as her story unfolds. 

The book opens with Alix graduating from private boarding school in Switzerland and moving on with her plan to create an independent life for herself. Alix was orphaned while still a child and taken in by a wealthy Hollywood family that her parents, costumers, had worked for. We see her going to Paris and charming her way into a job in the fashion industry. 

The book then jumps ahead nearly ten years and Alix is once again arriving in Paris for a job in the fashion industry, only this time she's been invited, and the job is heading PR for Maison Christian Dior just before the launch of his first collection in 1947. Alix has been working in New York City, and has bad memories of Europe due to her time spent there during the war. Unfortunately, it seems like she isn't able to leave those memories behind as a voice from her past seems determined to affect her present. 

The book then jumps back to 1942, where Alix worked in Bern, Switzerland as an OSS agent, where she deals with a unsupportive superior, and yet still manages to make significant impacts in Italy through her contacts there. 

The book moves back and forth between Paris (and later New York) in 1947 and Alix's time in Europe during the war, and we see how the events from the past are still affecting her emotionally and with real threats to the life she wants to live. 

This is a book that sometimes had me on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happened next, and sometimes brought emotions as I learned of what Alix did and lived through. This illuminated a part of World War II that was less familiar to me, and the author's note really helped to clarify that. 

Definitely worth the read. 

The Basel Killings

Finished November 20 

The Basel Killings by Hansjörg Schneider

This is the fifth book in the series featuring Inspector Hunkeler, and the first to be translated into English. I think it is also the first series I've read that is set in Switzerland. Hunkeler is a divorced father, with his daughter grown up. He has a girlfriend who is a kindergarten teacher, and she is on a three month sabbatical, spending it in Paris. He misses her, and often spends his evening in a bar not far from his apartment. Besides his apartment in Basel, Hunkeler also has a farm in Alsace, across the nearby border in France. He spends a fair bit of time there, and has an arrangement with a nearby farmer and his wife who look after his place, including the chickens, when he isn't around. 

He's had a case of a murdered prostitute for a while and while he keeps going over the case files, he just can't seem to find a solution to it. 

As the story begins, he leaves the bar one evening to go home, but finds the sudden cold air outside triggers his need to pee, and rather than return to the bar, or go to the nearby billiards hall, where he also spends time, he elects to pee on the potted tree in the nearby courtyard of a bank. The courtyard also holds a bench and he notices an acquaintance sitting there, apparently asleep. He sits near him and begins a conversation, but when there is no reply, he looks closer and finds that the man is dead, murdered in fact, and after being ill from the shock, he calls the police.

Because he is acquainted with the dead man, he is not assigned the case, and in fact seems to be on the outs with the man assigned to it. 

Hunkeler is an interesting character, one who is well educated, intelligent, and knowledgeable, but also comfortable with less refined company, such as those in the bar he frequents. He knows some of the local immigrant community, and doesn't judge himself superior to them. 

He knows the rural police near Basel, as well as those in Alsace where he also lives. He walks a lot, thinking and observing as he does. He is a man who can make connections, who listens to people from all walks of life and accords what they tell him a measure of respect. It is all of this that makes him a good policeman. 

As he digs into the lives of both the prostitute and the man on the bench, he looks for connections, and trusts his instincts. I also learned some history that I hadn't been aware of before. The deliberate and planned work of the Swiss against the Romany through an organization called Kinder der Landstrasse (Children of the Road). It is very similar in nature to the actions here in Canada around residential schools, but goes even further, permanently separating children from their parents.

We don't see much of his girlfriend here, only glimpses, but we see into Hunkeler's personal life in other ways, and he is a very intriguing character.

Little Snow Landscape

Finished May 26 

Little Snow Landscape by Robert Walser, translated by Tom Whalen

This collection of short works by the Swiss writer Walser is organized in chronological order of writing. The first short piece, less than a page, is an ode to his home, and the last item is another longer nonfiction piece on his childhood in his hometown of Biel. In between there are both fiction and nonfiction pieces, some about travelling that he did on foot and by train in both his country and in Germany where he lived for many years. I think these were the ones I enjoyed most.

There are others that seem to be jottings of thoughts, such as "Hats" which looks at both headgear and words related to the German word for hat. 

Some of the fiction is more fantastical and he writes in first person, taking on different characters with unexpected meanderings. There are some references to class, such as servants and employers, workers doing tasks, and decisions made about activities due to financial constraints.

The title story is the enjoyment of venturing out for a walk on a morning after a fresh snow. It is a lovely piece. 

This is a nice book to dip into in those short periods of time waiting for someone or for an appointment.

A Perfect Waiter

Finished July 25
A Perfect Waiter by Alain Claude Sulzer, translated by John Brownjohn

This book is set in two time periods, the earliest begins in the summer of 1935 and goes into the following summer. The second time period is three decades later.
The waiter that is the main character is Erneste and he works at a grand hotel in Switzerland. He has no aspirations beyond this career and behaves with perfection in his role. He is unfailingly polite, quiet, and observant enough to anticipate needs. In 1935, he is nineteen years old, and a new young staff member has arrived, Jakob, from Germany. Erneste is smitten, and Jakob notices and the two begin a love affair. They share a room in the staff quarters of the hotel, and soon share a bed. Erneste is careful not to show his feelings elsewhere, treating Jakob with the quiet friendly manner he treats the other staff. When the season ends, Jakob returns to Germany and Erneste to Paris, each promising to be back the following summer. In 1936, Erneste arrives at the hotel first and settles in. When Jakob arrives, he seems less ardent, but Erneste explains it away, and their affair continues. But Jakob is noticed by another person, this time a guest, also from Germany. Julius Klinger is a famous writer, who has spoken out against the rising Hitler in Germany, and when his words have no effect, he is looking to leave Europe for the United States.
The second time period has Erneste still working as a waiter in Switzerland at a hotel, when he receives a letter from the United States from Jakob. It is not the reconciliation that Erneste has dreamed of, but a request for help. Despite Jakob's betrayal of their love, Erneste is still compelled to submit to Jakob's wishes, and when he does, he learns more of his lover than he imagined.
This is a tale of love, one that happened during a brief time with great passion and was then left as a memory of a great love of Erneste's youth. Erneste is a perfect waiter in more ways than one, as someone else observes. This is sad, and one feels for Erneste as he deals with the truth of the man that he held strongly in his memory, and still cared deeply for.

Slow Train to Switzerland

Finished September 28
Slow Train to Switzerland: One Tour, Two Trips, 150 Years -- and a World of Change Apart by Diccon Bewes

I liked the premise of this book, following in the footsteps of an earlier journey. Diccon Bewes is a British travel writer who lives in Switzerland, and during research he came across a diary from a young Englishwoman, Jemima Morrell, who, as part of a group who called themselves the Junior United Alpine Club, travelled on the very first Thomas Cook tour to Switzerland in 1863. The group consisted of four young women and three young men, and included Jemima's brother William, who paid for both of them.
Bewes determined to follow as much as possible in her footsteps, following the route she took, staying in the same places and visiting the same sights as much as possible. Near the beginning of the book is a map of the Cook tour from 1863 which took place from June 26th to July 15th, and included travel by rail, diligence, foot, mule, and steamship. With Thomas Cook the company that launched modern mass tourism, and by the time I finished the book going into bankruptcy, this book looks at travel from an interesting vantage point. Bewes took the trip with his mother, going back to certain points at a later date on his own.
Appendices include: a brief description of the world in 1863, and a timeline of that year showing some important events that occured; a summary, including data points of Switzerland in the 1860s with information on language spoken, size of towns, birth and death rates, wages and prices, and occupations; and descriptions and explanations on money of the time, both English and Swiss their modern equivalencies.
As he followed Jemima's journey, he and his mother read sections from the diary at each point in their journey, and while many of the lodgings that she stayed in no longer existed, a few did. Some sections of the journey are now done by train, where there weren't trains back then, and Jemima's journey definitely involved longer and more difficult travel times. Some of her days were exceedingly long, and many of the places she stayed didn't offer the modern conveniences now available.
Dewes shows the differences between the two experiences plainly, from the modes of travel, to the the time travelling took, to the things one was able to see at each point in the journey. He shows the huge changes that have taken place in the tourism industry in Switzerland, and talks about the drivers of those changes. He discusses changes to the physical environment, from the buildings and food on offer to the shrinking of the snow caps and glaciers. He follows up at the end with a look at what became of Jemima after this journey and the discovery of a personal connection to her family.
This was a fascinating and educational read, and hugely entertaining.

Not to Disturb

Finished September 8
Not to Disturb by Muriel Spark

This inventive black comedy takes place in a country house on a rainy night. While there are some brief interactions with the upper class owners and outsiders, the majority of the action takes place on the other side of the baize doors among the servants of the household.
The staff appears prescient of the events about to take place that evening, with some minor adjustments to be made as additional information is obtained. They calmly go about their business as a violent off-screen action takes place between the Baron, Baroness, and their secretary. The butler and housekeeper are the ones that give direction, as is expected, with major roles also taken by the chef and the pregnant maid.
This is a farce, but also a social statement. This is humour, but it is on the dark side of life. A very interesting read.

To The Back of Beyond

Finished September 18
To the Back of Beyond by Peter Stamm, translated by Michael Hofmann

This short novel takes place in Switzerland. Thomas and Astrid have just returned from a vacation in Spain. Their two young children have been put to bed and they are enjoying a glass of wine out in their garden that evening. When one of the children demands attention it is Astrid who goes in to deal with it, and she goes on to finish the unpacking, and exhausted heads to bed.
Thomas sits for a while, watching the lights in the house change as Astrid moves through her routine. Then, instead of finishing his wine, gathering the glasses and going inside, he quietly opens the gate to the yard, and begins to walk. There is no premeditation to this action, no planning, just the impulse that pushes him forward.
The next morning, Astrid puzzles over his absence, at first thinking that he might have gone to work early. But when she finds that isn't the case, she covers for him, telling his work he is ill.  As Thomas walks on, and Astrid struggles to figure out where he is and what he is doing, the viewpoint alternates between the two characters, and the reader grows less sure of what is real and what isn't.
Astrid seems like a woman who has moved from a life of purpose to one where things happen to her. Thomas's doubt about his life and its purpose reflects a common feeling that most of us have had at one point or another.
This is a novel that invites reflection.

A Jew Must Die

Finished January 17
A Jew Must Die by Jacques Chessex, translated by W. Donald Wilson

This short novel is based on a true story. On April 16, 1942 a group of five men led by Fernand Ischi lures a man to a stable in the Swiss village of Payerne, kill him and dismember his body.
Ischi is a man unhappy with his own life, who has eagerly come under the influence of a pro-Nazi clergyman and is eager to prove himself and send a message to the Jews in his community of what he believes will soon come to them all. He has found eager assistants in two brothers who have lost their own-mismanaged farm and thus resent those farmers and the men who buy their product, the brothers' farmhand who follows them blindly, and the apprentice mechanic from Ischi's family's garage. Ischi's character is shown to us also in his relationship with women, as despite having a wife and two children, he engages in affairs, including a sadistic one with a very young woman. We see him for what he is: a man hungry for power and revenge, with a deluded sense of his own worth and entitlements.
The author of this book grew up in Payerne and was eight years old at the time this murder took place. He went to school with Ischi's daughter, the son of the local policeman, and the son of the judge that presided over the murder trials. Part of this story is his own reaction to the events and why he felt compelled to share them in this book, decades later. Chessex is one of Switzerland's most famous writers and has won both the Prix Goncourt and the French Literature Grand Prix of the Académie Française.

Thriller

Finished October 31
Rules of Deception by Christopher Reich, read by Paul Michael
This thriller, set in Switzerland, brings in some interesting themes. We have a main character Jonathan Ransom, who is a doctor working with Doctors without Borders. As he climbs in the Alps with his wife, who also works for the organization, she is hurt and later found dead in a crevasse.
The following day, Ransom receives an envelope addressed to his wife with baggage claim tickets inside. When he goes to claim the bags to satisfy his curiosity, he becomes intimately involved in a high-stakes intrigue involving murder.
As he struggles to keep a step ahead of the police who are now looking for him, he follows the clues in his wife's possessions to try to find out just what his wife was involved in, and to clear himself of any crimes.
We have involvement not only from the Swiss police, but also from U.S. intelligence agents, including conspiracies against conspiracies. The outcome of the events could mean a new large-scale war.
The action is fast, and Jonathan is a sympathetic character. This book will keep you engaged and wanting to find where the action is taking you.