The Separation

THE SEPARATION is the story of twin brothers, rowers in the 1936 Olympics (where they met Hess, Hitler's deputy); one joins the RAF, and captains a Wellington; he is shot down after a bombing raid on Hamburg and becomes Churchill's aide-de-camp; his twin brother, a pacifist, works with the Red Cross, rescuing bombing victims in London. But this is not a straightforward story of the Second World War: this is an alternate history: the two brothers - both called J.L. Sawyer - live their lives in alternate versions of reality. In one, the Second World War ends as we imagine it did; in the other, thanks to efforts of an eminent team of negotiators headed by Hess, the war ends in 1941. THE SEPARATION is an emotionally riveting story of how the small man can make a difference; it's a savage critique of Winston Churchill, the man credited as the saviour of Britain and the Western World, and it's a story of how one perceives and shapes the past.

Starred Review. In this subtle, unsettling alternative WWII history from British author Priest (The Prestige), Jack Sawyer is an RAF bomber pilot who encourages his government to distrust the peace proposal offered by renegade Nazi Rudolph Hess. At the same time, perhaps, Jack's identical twin brother, Joe, is a pacifist Red Cross staffer aiding peace negotiations with a German delegation headed by Hess. Jack's actions help shape the events we remember; Joe's lead to a truce between Germany and Britain in 1941 that results in a disturbingly familiar postwar world. Convincingly detailed diaries, scraps of published texts, declassified transcripts and more baffle a historian who tries to reconcile different realities. The brothers themselves recognize the uncertainty of motives and actions; Joe in particular struggles to believe that he's making a better future even though he realizes how much it costs him personally. Many alternative history novels are bloodless extrapolations from mountains of data, but this one quietly builds characters you care about—then leaves their dilemmas unresolved as they try to believe that what they have done is "right." (Dec.)
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*Starred Review* Historian Stuart Gratton, enjoying some success with his books on World War II, is tracing a mystery involving twin brothers and their roles in the war. The brothers, both known as J. L. Sawyer, won bronze medals for Britain in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin; witnessed the rise of Adolph Hitler; and rescued Birgit, a beautiful German Jew. When Jack marries Birgit, it triggers an estrangement that continues when the brothers are confronted with their differing views on the war. Joe enlists as a pilot with the RAF, and Jack, a conscientious objector, serves with the British Red Cross. Diaries, letters, and documents divulge the actions and emotions of the twins as well as the confusion of identities and the motivations of both ordinary citizens and powerful figures. Both brothers suffer injuries that cause them to lose their sense of reality about the war, their relationships with Birgit, and their ultimate personal fates. By focusing on these two young men, each heroic in his own way, and the complexities of their relationships, Priest offers a masterful look at how war affects individuals as well as an exploration of personal identity. Vanessa Bush
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