Bielski, Nella. The year is '42, a novel.

BIELSKI, Nella. The year is '42, a novel. Random House, Vintage. 207p. c2004. 1-4000-7664-1. $12.95. SA

It is 1942, and the Germans occupy France. Karl Bazinger, a member of the Wehrmacht, is living a comfortable life in Paris. He maintains social connections with an eclectic, bohemian group and has a French lover half his age. Yet Karl is conflicted by polarized lifestyle choices. The Nazi Party's philosophy makes him extremely uncomfortable, yet he is drawn to the nationalistic feelings with which the Party has infused his homeland, soothing the pain of the loss of WW I. In Paris, he receives a visit from a fellow officer, a neighbor from his home in Schansengof, whom he comes to suspect of collusion with the resistance forces in the city. Slowly, he realizes that all those with whom he has been associating are falling under the veil of suspicion. Karl flees to the Eastern Front in an ironic attempt to gain safety and to distance himself from the group. There, too, he is confronted by the increasingly brutal, inhumane Nazi regime and forced to recognize his part in it. His inner turmoil eventually expresses itself in a physical ailment, and his only hope for a cure is to heal himself internally as well as externally. The tale Bielski weaves is haunting and elegiac; her dialogue is terse yet rich. Lorie Paldino, English Teacher (retired), Overland, KS

S--Recommended for senior high school students.

A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placements students. This also will help extend KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries.