Hi friends, happy Monday, I hope you’re all doing well. Today I’m going to be posting my review of Jessica Shattuck’s novel The Women in the Castle.

The Women in the Castle by: Jessica Shattuck: The war has just ended but the aftermath is still deathly alive, Marianna von Lingenfels returns to her husband’s castle where she plans to uphold her late husband’s promise, to protect the wives of the resisters. One by one she brings these women and their children in, but over time she realizes that they all harbour secrets and must live with the choices they have made. This novel didn’t start off well; it was really confusing for the reader to keep track of all the characters and their moving parts; points of view seemed to change all the time and so much was happening at once with different time periods and places, that the reader found it hard to follow along. A quarter of the way in plots started to really make sense and the reader got a sense of who each of the characters were. Once the reader understood the plot, the story was actually really compelling and fascinating. The turn of events that happen along the way were really well done. The premise was one that the reader hasn’t read before, and even if you’re not a fan of World War II stories, this one has a different angle that left a mark on the reader. The characters were memorable and so complex; they all have their own agendas and their views of what they thought was right and what made them a good person and it was just so riveting to see them all interact with one another. All of the characters were portrayed as brave women and they truly were when thinking about the things they had to do in the time they were in, a lot of sacrificing had to happen to make them courageous and dauntless women. In the end, this turned out to be quiet a captivating and clever read.