Genre Fiction
![L. Annette Binder - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B0061QU80Y.jpg)
The Vanishing Sky
For readers of Warlight and The Invisible Bridge, an intimate, harrowing story about a family of German citizens during World War II.
In 1945, as the war in Germany nears its violent end, the Huber family is not yet free of its dangers or its insidious demands. Etta, a mother from a small, rural town, has two sons serving their home country: her elder, Max, on the Eastern front, and her younger, Georg, at a school for Hitler Youth. When Max returns from the front, Etta quickly realizes that something is not right-he is thin, almost ghostly, and behaving very strangely. Etta strives to protect him from the Nazi rule, even as her husband, Josef, becomes more nationalistic and impervious to Max's condition. Meanwhile, miles away, her younger son Georg has taken his fate into his own hands, deserting his young class of battle-bound soldiers to set off on a long and perilous journey home.
The Vanishing Sky is a World War II novel as seen through a German lens, a story of the irreparable damage of war on the home front, and one family's participation-involuntary, unseen, or direct-in a dangerous regime. Drawing inspiration from her own father's time in the Hitler Youth, L. Annette Binder has crafted a spellbinding novel about the choices we make for country and for family.
In 1945, as the war in Germany nears its violent end, the Huber family is not yet free of its dangers or its insidious demands. Etta, a mother from a small, rural town, has two sons serving their home country: her elder, Max, on the Eastern front, and her younger, Georg, at a school for Hitler Youth. When Max returns from the front, Etta quickly realizes that something is not right-he is thin, almost ghostly, and behaving very strangely. Etta strives to protect him from the Nazi rule, even as her husband, Josef, becomes more nationalistic and impervious to Max's condition. Meanwhile, miles away, her younger son Georg has taken his fate into his own hands, deserting his young class of battle-bound soldiers to set off on a long and perilous journey home.
The Vanishing Sky is a World War II novel as seen through a German lens, a story of the irreparable damage of war on the home front, and one family's participation-involuntary, unseen, or direct-in a dangerous regime. Drawing inspiration from her own father's time in the Hitler Youth, L. Annette Binder has crafted a spellbinding novel about the choices we make for country and for family.
Editorial Reviews
"The Vanishing Sky paints a haunting portrait of a nation slowly collapsing. The story is gripping, and the characters are fully realized, flawed individuals." ―New York Journal of Books
"The Vanishing Sky is a heartrending and blazingly lucid depiction of Nazi Germany as not a simple monolith of evil but as an oppressive, fanatical political regime that was encountered, accommodated, rejected, and survived by ordinary people, people just like you and me." ―Miriam Toews, author of WOMEN TALKING
"A hugely ambitious novel whose consummate, patient artistry is moving beyond measure." ―Matthew Thomas, New York Times-bestselling author of WE ARE NOT OURSELVES
"The Vanishing Sky is so fiercely imagined, so wondrously conjured, that what you hold not only pulls you into its history but into a world of pure yearning, determination, struggle, and hope." ―Paul Yoon, author of THE MOUNTAIN
"[Binder] uses Etta Huber, a hausfrau in a rural village, as a means of feeling her way back into the past, channeling the anguish and uncertainty of the final months of the fighting." ―New York Times Book Review
"A heartbreaking portrait of an ordinary family shattered by a war they didn't want." ―The Times
"An intimate tragedy that's all the more powerful for refusing the ending we fervently hope for." ―The Daily Mail
"At a moment when American readers uneasily watch our own leaders stoke ethnic and religious tensions - often to tragic ends - in a way that we have not quite seen before in our lifetimes, the Hubers' story feels particularly revelatory. . . Binder is a deft writer with a gift for choosing vocabulary that elevates the observations of normal people into carefully rendered art. . . The Vanishing Sky tells a tragic story, but it also serves as a meditation on tragedy and the everyday cruelty by which tragedy is so often begotten." ―The Washington Independent Review of Books
"The Vanishing Sky reveals the German home front as I've never seen it in fiction... Binder tells her story patiently, like an artist placing tiny pieces into a mosaic; this literary novel isn't one to race through. But I find it gripping, powerful, and a brave narrative, unsparing in its honesty." ―Historical Novels Review
"A masterful story of war, horror, and love...Binder provides a family's-eye view of the terror and trauma, offering readers a unique perspective on the war." ―Kirkus Reviews
"A fresh take on the madness of war." ―Publishers Weekly
"This stark accounting of the personal damage inflicted by war draws its power from its homey details, as one family's life is blown apart." ―Booklist
"L. Annette Binder's sad, intimate f...
"The Vanishing Sky is a heartrending and blazingly lucid depiction of Nazi Germany as not a simple monolith of evil but as an oppressive, fanatical political regime that was encountered, accommodated, rejected, and survived by ordinary people, people just like you and me." ―Miriam Toews, author of WOMEN TALKING
"A hugely ambitious novel whose consummate, patient artistry is moving beyond measure." ―Matthew Thomas, New York Times-bestselling author of WE ARE NOT OURSELVES
"The Vanishing Sky is so fiercely imagined, so wondrously conjured, that what you hold not only pulls you into its history but into a world of pure yearning, determination, struggle, and hope." ―Paul Yoon, author of THE MOUNTAIN
"[Binder] uses Etta Huber, a hausfrau in a rural village, as a means of feeling her way back into the past, channeling the anguish and uncertainty of the final months of the fighting." ―New York Times Book Review
"A heartbreaking portrait of an ordinary family shattered by a war they didn't want." ―The Times
"An intimate tragedy that's all the more powerful for refusing the ending we fervently hope for." ―The Daily Mail
"At a moment when American readers uneasily watch our own leaders stoke ethnic and religious tensions - often to tragic ends - in a way that we have not quite seen before in our lifetimes, the Hubers' story feels particularly revelatory. . . Binder is a deft writer with a gift for choosing vocabulary that elevates the observations of normal people into carefully rendered art. . . The Vanishing Sky tells a tragic story, but it also serves as a meditation on tragedy and the everyday cruelty by which tragedy is so often begotten." ―The Washington Independent Review of Books
"The Vanishing Sky reveals the German home front as I've never seen it in fiction... Binder tells her story patiently, like an artist placing tiny pieces into a mosaic; this literary novel isn't one to race through. But I find it gripping, powerful, and a brave narrative, unsparing in its honesty." ―Historical Novels Review
"A masterful story of war, horror, and love...Binder provides a family's-eye view of the terror and trauma, offering readers a unique perspective on the war." ―Kirkus Reviews
"A fresh take on the madness of war." ―Publishers Weekly
"This stark accounting of the personal damage inflicted by war draws its power from its homey details, as one family's life is blown apart." ―Booklist
"L. Annette Binder's sad, intimate f...
Readers Top Reviews
Elizabeth W. Schmidb
Beautifully told, in precise yet lyrical language, this is the story of a German family at the very end of The Second World War. Few novels have addressed this period which Binder explores with grace and insight. Utterly gripping, historically accurate and very, very sad. A most worthwhile read.
NH Snowbird
This very interesting book describes a period and situation near the end of WWII that is unique; the effects on an ordinary German family in the final days of the war. This well researched book needs to be read slowly, savoring the carefully written descriptions and feelings of the family members. Highly recommended!
Jennifer
I read The Vanishing Sky this weekend. I’m blown away by the author’s skill as a writer. I felt like I was alongside with Josef, Etta, Max and Georg as well as all the people and places she described throughout. The majority of books I’ve read relating to Germany during World War II have been stories about Jews. Thus it was even more interesting to read a different perspective focusing on the struggles of a German family and the impact the war had on them while sharing how little they all knew about what was going on. I highly recommend The Vanishing Sky by L. Annette Binder. What an amazing accomplishment for a debut novel!
Stan Wiegand
One thing about a "good read" is that instance when the author does such a great job with characters and story that they come to life in your head; then, it's no longer just reading the story; it's a psychological experience. I remember from long ago, a talk by Michael Crichton in which he called books a kind of "time machine" that takes the reader on a journey to another place and time with the author of the story as a guide. That's what Ms. Binder did for me with this novel. The writing was so fluid that it created pictures in my head uninterrupted by any errors; an all-to-often occurrence in today's world with such heavy reliance on word processors. I especially enjoyed the nuances of products, food, habits, possessions and other character details of the period, as well as some plot and character twists that were unanticipated.
A. Johnson
I found this book to be profoundly moving. It is a story about loss. War has terrible consequences. The author made a difficult choice by asking us to universally sympathize with loss, no matter which side of a conflict we were on. A son is a son, and a mother is a mother, and a wife is a wife; the universal language is love, and war destroys all.
