Death In The Baltic by Cathryn J Prince

Although the majority of the books that I read are fiction, I do try to read a couple of non-fiction titles each month.  The subjects can vary, I enjoy biographies and travel books and over the past couple of years have started to read more historical non-fiction.

When I was approached by Palgrave Macmillan to read and review Death In The Baltic by Cathryn J Prince I was intrigued by the blurb and readily accepted.  I'm so pleased that I'd not seen the cover before then, in my opinion, it's the one thing that really lets this book down.
In all honesty, I found the cover very unappealing and I really doubt that I've have given it more than a passing glance if I spotted it on a shelf.

Dwarfing the record set by the Titanic, the worst maritime disaster in history resulted in the unreported deaths of more than 9000 German civilians in the twilight of World War II.

In the final days of World War II, German civilians were in a panic.  The Third Reich was in free fall and the Allied forces were closing in from all directions. With the Red Army quickly advancing from the east, Berlin planned an eleventh-hour exodus for upward of 10,000 women, children, and the elderly using a former cruise ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff.  Sent off into the icy waters of the Baltic Sea on January 30, 1945, they were soon found and fired upon by Soviet Navy submarines.  The ship sank that night, taking an estimated 9,400 victims to their deaths.

In Death in the Baltic, award-winning author Cathryn J Prince reconstructs this fateful day to shed light on one of the greatest tragedies of World War II.  She explores why, despite the immensity of this disaster, both East and West kept this story hidden for 65 years.  While the sinking of the Titanic and the Lusitania are well-known tragedies, the Wilhelm Gustloff has been nearly forgotten by history, and Prince examines how that silence continues to affect survivors today.

Drawing on interviews with those who escaped the Gustloff, as well as the letters and diaries of those who perished, this is an important and absorbing account that finally gives this World War II tragedy its rightful remembrance.

Everyone knows the story of the sinking of the Titanic, and most people would think of it as the greatest maritime disaster of all time.  The majority of  passengers were rich and famous, there have been countless books, films and TV programmes retelling the story of the Titanic.    Yet when the Wilhelm Gustloff sank in  1945 and around 9400 people lost their lives, nothing was made of it despite the fact that these too were civilians - ordinary people who were fleeing their homes before the Russians invaded and took it all away from them.  

This really is a shocking fact.  For many reasons the details of this awful disaster have been kept covered up by both the East and the West.  The Allied countries had suffered dreadfully during the War, it would be very hard for them to muster up any compassion about this tragedy.  The Germans wanted it kept under wraps, and the Soviets destroyed many of the remaining records.

Cathryn J Prince has done an amazing job in researching the facts about the Wilhelm Gustloff.  Her book is a mix of hard facts, taken from the records that did survive and also interviews with survivors and family members of those who died.

At times I felt a little bogged down by some of the more strategic facts, but they are essential to the whole story.  On the other hand, I was fascinated by the stories that were told by the survivors and the families of the victims.  Many of these people have never felt able to talk openly about their experiences before, some of them were made to feel ashamed, others were not believed.  These were ordinary citizens, victims of war, just like the victims in the Allied countries.  They too had lost their homes, had suffered under the Nazi regime and were continuing to suffer.  Germany had lost the war, the Red Army were advancing and the chance to escape on the Wilhelm Gustloff was their last and only chance.

Death on the Baltic does make for fascinating reading, at times it's just a little dry, but on the whole it is a well written, well researched book about a little known disaster.

Death on the Baltic : The World War II sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff  by Cathryn J Prince is published by Palgrave Macmillan on 9 April 2013.   Many thanks to Katy at Palgrave for sending an advanced copy for me to read and review.

For more information about the author, visit her website at www.cathrynjprince.com

Flappers by Judith Mackrell - Pan Macmillan Reading Group Panel

A change of direction for the Pan Macmillan Reading Group Panel this time.  We moved away from fiction and read Flappers by Judith Mackrell.

Judith Mackrell is the Guardian's dance critic and is the author of four other books, all non-fiction, and all based around dance.

Flappers, sub-titled 'Six Women of a Dangerous Generation' is a multi-biography.  Judith Mackrell follows six women from the 1920s who between them were the faces of this generation.

Diana Cooper, Nancy Cunard, Tallulah Bankhead, Zelda Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker and Tamara de Lempicka were either adored or scorned by the public.  They were women who broke the mould, who dared to be different, to be independent and to be noticed.

I was instantly intrigued by the thought of reading about these six women, especially Diana Cooper as her family home; Belvoir Castle is not far away from where I live and I'd also recently read The Secret Rooms by Catherine Bailey which had aroused something of a fascination with the strange, almost dysfunctional Rutland family of Belvoir.   Judith Mackrell has cleverly interwoven the six separate stories by only allowing each women two chapters each.  Each has one chapter in the first half of the book, and one chapter each in the second.  I thought this was an excellent way of keeping the reader's interest in each of the women.

There is no doubt that these six women caused chaos and controversy everywhere that they went.  With the exception of Josephine Baker, each of them came from rich and privileged backgrounds and were able to use their contacts to achieve their aims of wealth, fame and, to some extent beauty.  Surrounding themselves with the beautiful people of the day, dancing in the fashionable clubs and wearing the highest fashions, these women broke boundaries.  Not for them, the stay-at-home, traditional female role, their aim was to shock, whether that meant taking drugs, lesbian love affairs, sleeping around or dancing naked in public.

Each woman, in their own way was damaged to some extent, and although Judith Mackrell has relayed documented facts in this book, her writing does not try to force an opinion upon the reader.  It becomes our choice as to whether we can forgive such awful behaviours because of things that may have happened to Zelda, or Diana, or Tallulah in the past.

Beneath the glamour and the excess, the tragedy and the fame, this is the story of how six women changed the world for a little while.  They were a new breed; daring and explicit and paved the way for women, especially in show-business and in art.  Regardless of what we may think of their behaviour, there is no doubt that they made being female more equal and probably easier for generations to come.

Judith Mackrell

The Pan Macmillan Reading Group Panel had a lively debate about this book.  We particularly found it interesting to compare and contrast the six women and their lifestyle to celebrities of today.  Comparisons ranged from Kerry Katona, to Katie Price to Courtney Love.  There were also the parallels to the 1960s and also to some extent the 1980s, with the money, the drugs and the complete hedonism of that decade.  Another comparison that would apply to the 1980s is the fact that the behaviours peaked before a Depression or Recession.  We wondered just how far women would have moved forward without the disruption of financial collapse.

We all agreed that we would recommend Flappers to reading groups, even if groups do not traditionally read non-fiction this is written in such a style that it could almost be fictional.  It most certainly isn't a dull list of times and dates, it's an entertaining and educating read.   Groups that have enjoyed books such as The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks or The Suspicions of Mr Whicher would certainly enjoy this.
Our advance proof copies did not have any illustrations, but the Pan Macmillan assure us that the finished edition will include photos - all of us agreed that this is essential.  We all admitted to Googling pictures of the women whilst we were reading as Judith Mackrell's descriptions are so well written that as a reader you find yourself dying to look at real photos.

Diana Cooper                        Nancy Cunard                 Tallulah Bankhead

Zelda Fitzgerald                      Josephine Baker                   Tamara de Lempicka

Flappers is published in hardback by Pan Macmillan on 23 May 2013.

I'd like to say a huge thanks to Jodie Mullish who co-ordinates our Panel Group meetings so well, to Philippa McEwan, Publicity Director at Pan Macmillan for telling us more about how the book came to be. We were so lucky that Judith Mackrell came along to our meeting and discussed the book with us, it was fascinating to compare what we thought to what she had wanted to achieve - huge thanks to Judith.
As always, Sandy Mahal from The Reading Agency led our debate with some fascinating questions.