Only Breath & Shadow is a gripping historical novel set against the darkening backdrop of 1930s Vienna. The story follows Christian Drewe, an English gentleman who was blinded and scarred during the Battle of the Somme and now navigates the world entirely through sound, smell, and touch.
Christianās quiet existence is shattered by the escalating Nazi persecution of his friends, including the Jewish Friedmann family. When the Friedmanns are arrested and sent to concentration camps, Christian finds himself the unlikely protector of their four young children. Aided by Claire Astor, a spirited American nightclub singer, and his fiercely loyal housekeeper, Frau Agnes Huber, Christian must move from the side lines of history to orchestrate a desperate escape for the children. Their mission places them in the crosshairs of Gestapo Major Ernst Schmidt, a man determined to root out enemies of the state and those who aid them. Blending historical fact with fiction, including the real-life mission of Gil and Eleanor Kraus to rescue fifty Jewish children, Only Breath & Shadow reflects on the ironic situation that blind eyes see better than blind hearts.
Only Breath & Shadow is a gripping historical novel set against the darkening backdrop of 1930s Vienna. The story follows Christian Drewe, an English gentleman who was blinded and scarred during the Battle of the Somme and now navigates the world entirely through sound, smell, and touch.
Christianās quiet existence is shattered by the escalating Nazi persecution of his friends, including the Jewish Friedmann family. When the Friedmanns are arrested and sent to concentration camps, Christian finds himself the unlikely protector of their four young children. Aided by Claire Astor, a spirited American nightclub singer, and his fiercely loyal housekeeper, Frau Agnes Huber, Christian must move from the side lines of history to orchestrate a desperate escape for the children. Their mission places them in the crosshairs of Gestapo Major Ernst Schmidt, a man determined to root out enemies of the state and those who aid them. Blending historical fact with fiction, including the real-life mission of Gil and Eleanor Kraus to rescue fifty Jewish children, Only Breath & Shadow reflects on the ironic situation that blind eyes see better than blind hearts.
26 July 1934
As Christian dreamt on, he heard her voice. She was close to him, fastening her St Christopher around his neck and whispering, āIāll find you.ā He swallowed as his recollections blurred together. He felt he would soon wake up; but not just now, he needed a few more moments with her. They were together and she took his outstretched hand, and they danced. Gliding across the floor, with his fingers barely touching her waist, they became a single us, moving in time; moving to a rhythm that was theirs forever. And then they ran through the moonlit streets, until breathlessly they stopped, turned, stared into each otherās eyes and kissed. It was all too brief, as he tumbled down into darkness and pain and the sound of her screaming. Christian struggled to wake up, as the hereafter hurt too much.
There were mornings when the dream did not cease, the fear did not wake him, and he remembered the Somme. She was there, a lost soul calling out upon a troubled ocean. He knew that, except in his dreams, she had been taken from him. On those mornings when his nightmares continued, he could sense her in the darkness, where the heat, smoke and the weight of the earth were burying her alive. He tried to reach out and touch her, but she could not feel him. He shouted, but she could not hear him. He knew she was alone and petrified, and he could do nothing but dream on until the screaming stopped. Those mornings, after he awoke, he would think about taking his service revolver from a shoebox in his wardrobe and joining her.
As he lay in bed, he knew that the pain was still too close to fade, despite there being more than five thousand yesterdays. He sat up, checked himself as he had been taught and tried to picture his room. He moved his legs over the side of the bed, stood up, and slowly walked barefoot to the bathroom, one foot carefully in front of the other. He knew there should be nothing to trip him, but he could not forget what had been drummed into him. He stretched out his hand as he came to the door and felt for the door frame. Three steps forward, exactly four feet, and he stood in front of the sink. Turn left, one step. He would have left the toilet seat down, but, as always, he checked. He sat down, emptied his bladder, reached for the chain, and pulled it. He stood up, returned to the sink, washed his hands, and carried out his daily ritual of brushing his teeth and shaving. He did the same every morning, standing in front of a mirror, as if it were a relic to be worshipped.
He lifted the glass of his watch and felt for the position of the hands on the face. His housekeeper would arrive shortly, although there was enough time for a shower. When the door to his apartment opened, he was sitting at the dining room table, hair still damp. He said, āGuten Morgen, Frau Huber,ā as he did almost every morning, and she returned the greeting, calling him āHerr Christianā. The monotony of consistency provided him with security. It had been the same for over a decade, since he returned to Vienna to live. He would spend the next hour eating his breakfast and Frau Huber would read the newspapers and his correspondence.
āThe Times,ā said Frau Huber, reading slowly from the newspaper in English, āwrites that the assassination of Chancellor Dollfuss makes the name of Nazi stink in the nostrils of the world.ā She made a dismissive sound, folded the paper and placed it on the table. It was a sound she made every time she said the word, āNaziā. āAnd you have two letters, one from America and one from England.ā
āThe one from America first,ā said Christian. āIt will be from Tomas.ā He heard her pick up a knife, cut open the paper, and unfold the thin sheets. She read the date and remarked that it had taken less than four weeks for the letter to arrive and that it was a miracle how quickly things happen nowadays.
āHerr Tomas writes,ā began Frau Huber, āthat they arrived in New York two weeks ago, and that Herr OāMontis has been a success in the theatres on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, but away from Manhattan, things have been mixed. He writes that New York is lively, but that most of the people are a little too bourgeois and seem only interested in money and being middle class.ā She paused as she read ahead. āHerr Tomas says that you would think that no one in New York has ever seen a Viennese cabaret or a man with a monocle in black tie and tights. They plan to go to Philadelphia next, and then Washington and Chicago before returning to New York. Herr Tomas says that he is worried that outside of New York, the Americans may not enjoy the show but Herr OāMontis is certain it will be a success.ā Christian knew Frau Huber was paraphrasing. Tomas would never write āHerr OāMontisā; it would always be āPaulā, his beloved Paul; however, she was old-fashioned.
āThere is a p.s.,ā said Frau Huber, āHerr Tomas says that Frau del Rio has decided to stay in New York and Herr OāMontis is looking for a new female singer.ā
āAnd the letter from England, who is it from?ā Frau Huber looked at the envelope and told Christian it was from his mother. Christian took a deep breath. He knew what the letter would say because his mother had been struggling since the death of her husband two and a half years earlier, and the castle where she lived was costing a fortune in upkeep. She would ask when he was coming home to England, but he could not imagine ever returning. There was nothing left there for him.
Christian Drewe, the protagonist of Andrew Tweeddale's Only Breath and Shadow, is blind. He was badly injured in the Battle of Somme in WWI, and like most who suffered in war, his injury is not just physical. A wealthy English man, he lives a peaceful life in Austria in the early 1930s, with a housemaid he treats as a valued friend. He socialises regularly, and has two special friends who work in show business. He has a good life, until Hitler and his Nazi troops take control of Austria. Aided by an American singer for whom he develops deep affection, Christian finds himself shielding four young Jewish children, and involved in a dangerous mission to move them out of Austria and to safety.
Artfully blending true stories with imaginary characters and events, Andrew Tweeddale has created a novel that is as entertaining as it is informative; a page-turner novel that brings history to life. While the story unfolds gradually, by less than half way through it, you canāt help feeling like you are there, experiencing first hand what the Jews suffered under the Nazi regime. You feel the fear. You share the hatred. You shudder at the inhumanity. And you cheer the courage and the loyalty to friends that drives folk who could have remained safe to risk everything for the sake of others. Toward the end, you realize youāve been holding your breath following courageous folk engaging in a dangerous venture to keep children safe, and the characters have become so real that you feel as though you have suffered the devastating loss of valued friends. Tweeddale warns of graphic explicit content. Although acts of violence are vividly described, I found nothing even mildly disturbing in the story except that it highlighted the dangers of bigotry and inhumanity in ways that raised awareness of current dangers in our society. It truly brings to life the terror of Nazi rule, the persecution of Jews and āasocialsā, and the sacrifices made in the pursuit of safety.
Tweeddale has clearly researched the Nazi occupation of Austria extensively. In Only Breath and Shadow, he has incorporated the true story of Gil and Eleanor Kraus rescuing fifty Jewish children. Several other real people appear in his story, including the homosexual entertainer, Paul Wendel (who used the name Paul OāMontis). Tweeddale faced a challenge making his protagonist blind, and exposing the emotional struggles of the survivor of major trauma and loss, but he met those challenges capably. The story provides an immersive portrayal of visual impairment, vulnerability and morality. Christian comes across entirely credible and relatable. Tweeddale competently highlights the fragility of human existence, the contrast between the moral convictions of some and the inhuman madness of others, and the way in which the mad and inhuman manipulate the sheepish masses in their pursuit of power.
Andrew Tweeddale tells us his novel, Only Breath and Shadow is the third novel in a series, but it definitely stands alone. Having read it, I now want to read the earlier works. In fact, Iām hungry for anything by this amazing author. Only Breath and Shadow is a real treat for lovers of epic historical fiction, or for anyone who just loves a great story.