The Secret Purposes: A Novel - Hardcover

Baddiel, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060765828 ISBN 13: 9780060765828

Publisher: William Morrow, 2005

Synopsis

Having fled life in pre-World War II East Prussia for the safety of Cambridge, Isaac and Lulu Fabian find themselves placed in an internment camp by the British government along with thousands of fellow Jewish Germans, where they endure suspicion, prejudice, and other hardships. 25,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author:

Acclaimed novelist David Baddiel is one of Britain's most popular television personalities. He lives in London.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* British comedian and novelist Baddiel takes a turn for the dramatic in this World War II tale of Germans interned on the Isle of Man. With Europe on the verge of war, Isaac Fabian and his wife, Lulu, trade East Prussia for the peaceful confines of Cambridge. Isaac, a German Communist who betrayed his rabbi father by marrying a Gentile, feels uneasy in England, while Lulu's Aryan appearance makes it easier for her to blend in. When Isaac's outspoken behavior prompts his detainment on the Isle of Man, Lulu is left behind to care for their young daughter and gather affidavits from British citizens on her husband's behalf. Meanwhile, Ministry of Information translator June Hunter, suspicious that Nazi atrocities on the isle are far worse than reported, secretly travels to the camps to uncover the truth. There she meets Isaac, sparking an alliance that alters each in unexpected ways. Drawing on his grandfather's experiences as a refugee, Baddiel evokes the intellectual and cultural climate of the Isle of Man camps, which resembled "an English seaside holiday town behind barbed wire." Baddiel's ending may be too pat for some, but it does little to dampen this poignant examination of the impact of history upon individual lives. Allison Block
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About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0060765828
• ISBN 13: 9780060765828
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416