The Angel of Vienna: A totally gripping World War 2 novel about love, sacrifice and courage by Kate Hewitt

Author:Kate Hewitt [Hewitt, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781800193031
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2022-06-15T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

JANUARY 1941

What are you going to do about it?

For nearly a month, the question hammered Hannah relentlessly, even as she struggled to find an answer. She felt as if she were in shock, her body seemingly separated from her mind. Sometimes she felt as if she were floating; other times as if she were invisible. She worked on the ward, she sat or walked with Willi, watching over him as much as she could. She ate, she slept, and one bright afternoon in mid-January, she even agreed to go to the Wurstelprater fairground with Karl, because she was so tired of the despair that covered her like a shroud.

On top of the Wiener Riesenrad, he stole a kiss, and this time Hannah allowed it, although she didn’t enjoy it overmuch.

He eased back with a crooked smile, his bright blue gaze scanning her face as if looking for clues. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he asked.

“No,” she replied after a second’s pause, glancing down at the wintry world stretched out before them, the parkland cloaked in frosted white, the grand boulevard, the Hauptallee, bisecting the slate-colored Haustadtlwasser lake. “Not so bad, I suppose.” Not so good, either, but at least she’d been distracted, for a little while.

To her surprise, Karl let out a shout of laughter and put his arm around her, and this made Hannah smile, more in surprise than pleasure or humor. She didn’t like him, not like that, and she doubted if she ever could, considering what she knew of him, of Am Steinhof, everything. But it felt nice to smile, a moment of relief.

Later, she walked with Karl down the Hauptallee, the chestnut trees that lined the road now leafless under the bright blue sky, and tried to anchor herself in the beauty of the moment, the sunshine sparkling on snow. If she just didn’t think… didn’t think about any of it… except she was thinking about it all the time. She could not keep herself from it. Even on top of the Riesenrad, part of her mind was back behind the gates of Am Steinhof, wondering what names Jekelius had received, what innocent children had been marked for further treatment, wheeled to pavilion fifteen, ignorant of their death, their doom…

Twice a week, she wrote letters to Georg about Willi, letting him know all the little bits of news—how they were reading Gulliver’s Travels, about the pleasure Willi had had in the box of chocolates or a stroll outside. It felt both important and necessary, to remind Georg about Willi, to reassure him that she was caring for him, and perhaps reassure herself, as well. And, she hoped, Dr. Jekelius would see the letters going out, and know that a Major in the Abwehr had a continued interest in the welfare of his child.

Maybe it could be enough.

For now that she knew the truth of what happened at Am Spiegelgrund, she saw the signs and symptoms everywhere, as much as she tried to close her eyes to it all, for the sake of her own sanity.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.