Vienna born, Greta Goldbaum has been married to her English cousin, Albert and is just finding out how to be happy in her marriage and new country when her loyalty is tested by the outbreak of WWI.
In a family that arranges marriages to keep the power and financial influence within the family, Greta begins life as a young wife to a distant cousin she does not seem to like. Her brother who has been her best friend comes to try and help her adjust. Her mother in law, who also was a young Viennese bride shows her the way to happiness is to find a project of your own. Greta, like her mother in law, decides to create a garden of her own.
As the war begins and the men are sent off to battle, Greta is able to build a garden that will distract her from horrific world around her. She discovers that she can grow the kind of plants she wants and employ the women to work in the garden. As the war rages on, helps the war effort, by bringing young pregnant women to the house until they go into labor. She sets up a make shift hospital there and they young women can learn gardening to give them work experience to improve their lives after they give birth.
Using this family saga as the plot driving the novel, we are also informed of the historical significance of this time period. Increasing Russian pogroms, growing anti-Semitism, and socialist reform that all led to the First World War. Also explored in this book is the European US relationship. As the war continues in Europe, Britain and Germany are borrowing money from the US. This influx of financial stability leads us to the Roaring '20s of a time of United States economic boon. That leads us into war and then in the financial collapse and the Great Depression.
This book shows us the unavoidable dichotomy of the global shift of power.
In a family that arranges marriages to keep the power and financial influence within the family, Greta begins life as a young wife to a distant cousin she does not seem to like. Her brother who has been her best friend comes to try and help her adjust. Her mother in law, who also was a young Viennese bride shows her the way to happiness is to find a project of your own. Greta, like her mother in law, decides to create a garden of her own.
As the war begins and the men are sent off to battle, Greta is able to build a garden that will distract her from horrific world around her. She discovers that she can grow the kind of plants she wants and employ the women to work in the garden. As the war rages on, helps the war effort, by bringing young pregnant women to the house until they go into labor. She sets up a make shift hospital there and they young women can learn gardening to give them work experience to improve their lives after they give birth.
Using this family saga as the plot driving the novel, we are also informed of the historical significance of this time period. Increasing Russian pogroms, growing anti-Semitism, and socialist reform that all led to the First World War. Also explored in this book is the European US relationship. As the war continues in Europe, Britain and Germany are borrowing money from the US. This influx of financial stability leads us to the Roaring '20s of a time of United States economic boon. That leads us into war and then in the financial collapse and the Great Depression.
This book shows us the unavoidable dichotomy of the global shift of power.
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