Summary:

“Here is a book of exquisite honesty and profound depth… Along the way grief becomes a dance in the dark and suffering turns to love.” -Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Book of Longings, review of Molly Fumia’s Safe Passage

Austria, 1938. Two Couples struggle with the terrifying prospect of opposing the Nazis.

Sebastien Brandl, proprietor of a renowned Austrian inn, plunges headlong into the resistance while his wife, Hannah, deeply in love, secretly unsympathetic to the plight of the Jews, fights his choices and grieves for the idyllic lives they once led.

Maxmillian Mayr, owner of a huge Viennese wine estate, reluctantly follows his sons into defying the Nazis while his wife, the survivor of a pogrom, is consumed with keeping her Jewish identity and that of their two sons an uncompromised secret. Surprisingly, they share a common nemesis, Faber Ratzener, the Brandls’ one time neighbor and now a ruthless Oberführer intent on bringing down both Sebastien and Max.

Both families are surrounded by a community of unforgettable characters: lifelong friends wrenched apart by Nazi false promises; a wicked, gossipy baker; a heroic, gay winemaking couple, a Rabbi desperate to get Jews out of Vienna; a lovable young man whose fate is tied to Hitler. In the end, they will intersect, coming together in victory and defeat, surprising romance, and astounding acts of resistance.

Link – https://amzn.to/3BJFakl

Reviews:

“Author Molly Fumia exceptionally writes of a fragile time when friendships were severed by differing allegiances and families were ravaged by the cataclysmic hand of fate during war. Fumia’s novel is compelling reading on all counts.” -San Francisco Book Review

“Here is a book of exquisite honesty and profound depth… Along the way grief becomes a dance in the dark and suffering turns to love.” -Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Book of Longings, review of Molly Fumia’s Safe Passage

“Molly Fumia’s descriptions of Austrian families, scenery, wine-growing, guesthouses and restaurants in rural Austria come vividly to life in this fascinating and worthwhile story.” -Readers Favorite

“In The Crush of Wine and War, Molly Fumia has written an extraordinary story of two families taking on the Nazi Empire. Her characters are at once good-hearted and flawed, hesitant and zealous. I found it an irresistible read.” -Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Archdiocese of Detroit

About the Author:

Molly Fumia is the author of Honor Thy Children, the highly-praised story of AIDS, Homophobia, and one family’s surprising survival. She also wrote three other books on the transformative power of grief: Safe Passage: Words to Help the Grieving, A Piece of My Heart, and A Child at Dawn, a personal story told with the help of her friend, Elie Wiesel. Fumia holds degrees from Santa Clara University and the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley. She and her husband Chuck live in California and have six children. The Crush of Wine and War, her first novel, is the result of 30 years of Holocaust study and her close friendship with the family of a celebrated Austrian war resister, executed in 1943.