{"product_id":"crooked-cross","title":"Crooked Cross","description":"\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg style=\"float: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/7642\/5795\/files\/10814465.jpg?v=1739270969\u0026amp;width=700\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePREFACE BY LAURA FREEMAN\u003cbr\u003e380pp\u003cbr\u003eISBN 9781910263426\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFirst published in 1934,\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e Crooked Cross\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e describes, through the eyes of one ordinary family, the Nazis’ growth in power between December 1932 and June 1933. It is extraordinarily prescient, anticipating all the horrors they were about to inflict on the world, and in this respect it joins a small group of novels, PB no. 39 \u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eManja\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eand PB no. 136 \u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Oppermanns\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eamong them, which were written to try to alert the world to what was happening.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe main focus of the novel is on disaffected German youth: it shows with great subtlety that by the early 1930s there was huge unemployment, and a corresponding feeling of futility, and that what the Nazis did so skilfully was to provide a sense of purpose. \u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCrooked Cross\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e is the best account we've read of why some young men who feel disaffected, lost or ignored turn towards authoritarian governments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 40px;\"\u003e\"‘Do you \u003cem\u003ewant\u003c\/em\u003e another war, Helmy?’ asked Frau Kluger quietly, keeping her eyes on the bread she was cutting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 40px;\"\u003e‘I don’t know,’ he answered miserably. ‘I don’t know what I want. I want something – we all want something – we all want to be somebody, want to have something – make something.’\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 40px;\"\u003e‘You mean you all want to break something,’ broke in Lexa sharply. ‘And when you’ve broken everything you can touch – what d’you think you’ll do then?’\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe heroine of the novel, Lexa, watches her brothers being seduced by National Socialism, as she observes her Catholic fiancé losing his job because he has a Jewish name and, by the summer of ’33, is deprived of basic human rights like sitting on a park bench. But despite the grimness of all this, the novel remains intensely readable as it implicitly asks the question: how could the country of Beethoven and Goethe, Freud and the Bauhaus, be descending into barbarism? Why would the rest of the world not intervene before it was too late?\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen \u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCrooked Cross \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003ewas published in 1934 the \u003ci\u003eDaily Mirror \u003c\/i\u003ethought it ‘gripping and moving’, the \u003ci\u003eObserver \u003c\/i\u003ecalled it\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e‘a very good novel’, the \u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement \u003c\/i\u003econgratulated Sally Carson on ‘the delicacy of the love story which she has placed in this grim setting’ and the \u003ci\u003eCoventry Herald \u003c\/i\u003ethought it ‘a book everyone should read – and remember’. A year later it was turned into a West End play and then she wrote two sequels, \u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Prisoner\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e(1936) and \u003ci\u003eA Traveller Came By \u003c\/i\u003e(1938). But with the outbreak of war, and Sally Carson’s death in 1941, her work was forgotten – until now. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlso available as a Persephone Classic, a Persephone Audiobook and a Persephone Ebook.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEndpapers\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe endpapers for \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCrooked Cross \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eare taken from a curtain material – machine cord embroidery on a linen background – that's just the sort of thing Frau Kluger might have had hanging in her kitchen. It was manufactured in Germany in 1930 and sold at the Hohenzollern-Kunstgewerbehaus Friedmann \u0026amp; Weber GmbH in Berlin (which was forced to close in 1936) © Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz\/May Voigt. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePicture Caption\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e'Members of the Hitler Youth' march through Berlin, 1933 © Mary Evans \/ Sueddeutsche Zeitung.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Sally Carson","offers":[{"title":"None","offer_id":54098805326131,"sku":"lcc1789694973977","price":30.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Tissue\/Endpaper","offer_id":54098805358899,"sku":"aoi1789694973978","price":32.64,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cambridge Imprint paper","offer_id":54098805391667,"sku":"bau1789694973979","price":32.13,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Reusable fabric napkin","offer_id":54098805424435,"sku":"ktu1789694973980","price":52.26,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0989\/0578\/4627\/files\/crooked-cross_1.jpg?v=1789695012","url":"https:\/\/sandstepclad.shop\/products\/crooked-cross","provider":"My Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}