THE VANISHING SKY

The war is racing toward its conclusion in Germany, but the danger for the rural Huber family is far from over. Aside from suffering the daily hardships—finding food in the shops is a struggle, for example—Etta Huber fears for the safety of her sons. Max, the elder, has mysteriously returned home from the front, but he’s unreachable, barely himself, altered forever by what he has witnessed. His 15-year-old brother, Georg, is at a school for Hitler Youth, drilling in preparation for the hopeless and final burst of fighting to come. Meanwhile, Etta’s husband, Josef, grows more distant and nationalistic; he wants to fight for German pride, too. Then Max disappears, and Georg flees from his school, an act for which he could be hanged, and the novel shifts into an increasingly dizzying nightmare until its harrowing conclusion. Binder provides a family’s-eye view of the terror and trauma, offering readers a unique perspective on the war. The narration closely follows Etta and Georg in turns, delivering the details of privation and fear as well as surprising moments of kinship and generosity with an unforgettable grace. “They planted boys in the stony fields and up along the hills,” Georg observes. “They planted them, and crosses grew.” The future is unimaginable, Binder writes—and yet, somehow, those who are left will find a way to carry on.

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