Publishers Weekly
08/12/2019
Drawing from interviews and primary sources, documentarian Bailey (The Secret Rooms) tells the true WWII tale of aristocrat Fey Pirzio-Biroli in this exciting history. Pirzio-Biroli and her husband, Detalmo, an Italian anti-Fascist, had lived a quiet life at Brazza, their lavish estate north of Venice. In 1944, Pirzio-Biroli was arrested by the Nazis and separated from her children after her father, the former German ambassador to Italy, was executed for taking part in plans to assassinate Hitler. After placing Pirzio-Biroli’s sons in an orphanage, her Nazi captors sent her and fellow “prisoners of kin,” so called for their blood ties to the assassination conspirators, on a grueling months-long journey around German-occupied central Europe. Along the way, they were held in prisons and concentration camps. Their living conditions weren’t as horrific as those of Jews and other Nazi scapegoats, and their lives were spared—only because Heinrich Himmler, the head of the German SS, hoped to use them as bargaining chips in negotiations with the Allies. While Pirzio-Biroli and her husband were reunited soon after the war’s end, it was a longer and more arduous project to track down their children. This historical page-turner gives a gripping view of the conflict’s consequences for one upper-crust family. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
"Bailey’s deep research and her amazing craft at reproducing in vivid detail the stories of von Hassell and the people she encounters...make for chilling prose."—Booklist
“Catherine Bailey has already demonstrated a truly remarkable ability to intertwine searing family histories with great historical events. With A Castle in Wartime she outdoes even herself, with a true story that simultaneously shows huge personal empathy with the fate of two toddler brothers as well as a profound understanding of the pure evil that lurked at the heart of the Third Reich.”—Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny
“An uplifting, exciting story of the extraordinary actions of one family during World War II… [Bailey] relates the entire suspenseful story like a novel. Right to the nail-biting end, this book captures your attention in alternating dread, fear, and hope.”—Kirkus Reviews (*starred review*)
“Remarkable . . . a powerful, engrossing story of a journey into the heart of darkness and final escape from it.”—Sunday Times (U.K.)
“Bailey has an extraordinary ability to penetrate right to the heart of a family and uncover often painful stories. An important book.”—Daily Telegraph (U.K.)
“Bailey has a knack for bringing characters to life . . . Fascinating.”—Times of London (U.K.)
“Bailey has an extraordinary talent for bringing history to life . . . as thrilling as any novel.”—Daily Mail
"This historical page-turner gives a gripping view of the conflict’s consequences for one upper-crust family."—Publishers Weekly
“I was gripped by A Castle in Wartime—it contained more tension, more plot in fact - than any thriller and was written with Bailey’s usual extraordinary clarity and panache. To say that she makes history come alive is such a cliché and yet it's so true, she is absolutely one of my favorite writers.”—Kate Atkinson, author of Big Sky and Case Histories
“One of the most harrowing, beautifully written and brilliantly researched books I have read in a very long time. I was completely absorbed from first page to last, and I enormously admire both Catherine Bailey's dedication to her subject and her expertise in recounting such a complex narrative. She is brilliant at conveying both character and location, and maintains an extraordinary control over every section of the story.”—Selina Hastings, author of The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2019-07-03
An uplifting, exciting story of the extraordinary actions of one family during World War II.
Bailey (Black Diamond: The Downfall of an Aristocratic Dynasty and the Fifty Years That Changed England, 2014, etc.) tells the story of Fey von Hassell (1918-2010), who, at age 12, moved to a villa in Italy, where her father, Ulrich, was Germany's ambassador. Though appointed by the Weimar government, Ulrich never trusted Hitler and worked with German resistance leaders. The Nazis distrusted him, as well, posting spies throughout the household. After marriage to Detalmo Pirzio-Biroli, an aristocrat from one of Italy's oldest families, Fey lived at Brazzà, the family estate in northern Italy. She remained there, maintaining the estate while her husband escaped the Italian army and ended up in Rome, working for the Americans. In July 1944, the attempt on Hitler's life caused the Führer to release his vengeance on anyone even slightly connected to the plot. This included Ulrich, who was tried and executed. Then the SS rounded up their family members, wives, parents, and other relatives. Fey and her two young sons were taken to Innsbruck, where the SS seized the boys and sent them to one of the Nazis' orphanages. The propulsive narrative traces Fey's frightening transfers from grand hotels to infamous camps such as Buchenwald and Dachau. The other prisoners became her family, and she was told nothing of her children, worrying that she would never see them again. These high-profile hostages, including royalty and former government leaders, were kept alive and well fed as Heinrich Himmler's insurance policy against his war crimes. Until the end of the war, they were under imminent threat of execution. Throughout their time as prisoners, they wrote—heavily censored—letters, and many kept journals. Bailey's access to those journals and SS records attests to the historical accuracy of this tale, and she relates the entire suspenseful story like a novel.
Right to the nail-biting end, this book captures your attention in alternating dread, fear, and hope.
