Children and fire : a novel

From Eileen Effrat
Author:  Ursula   Hegi
Children and fire : a novel 
 Add this to your list of circadian novels (books that take place during 24 hours).  It is February 27, 1934, the one year anniversary of the Reichstag’s burning.  Thekla Jensen, a 34 year old Catholic elementary school teacher in a small German village,  uses her fourth grade students, their parents, and her own conscience to explore the issues of extremism and  the moral dilemmas Germans  have faced since  Hitler has come to power.  What do you do?  Ignore, participate, go along in the belief this is an anomaly that will quickly pass, or resist? This is the fourth book in Hegi’s  Burgdorf Cycle set in a fictional German village in the 1930’s and 1940’s.  Just as in her 1994 bestseller, Stones from the River,  Hegi  examines how people and a nation can slowly lose their moral beliefs and integrity.  This book was as thought provoking and enjoyable as Stones from the River.