#ReadingWales25 The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook
Rhidian Brook’s The Aftermath has been on my radar ever since I watched a film with the same name and discovered it was adapted from a book by a Welsh author.
The story is set in Hamburg in 1946, a city ravaged by repeated waves of bombing from the Allied Forces. The task of restoring some kind of order from the chaos is underway In the British Occupied Zone. It’s a mammoth undertaking. Food is in short supply; bomb craters make the roads treacherous and gangs of feral children play among the ruined buildings. Through the rubble stream thousands of displaced citizens “walking in dazed, languid fashion, going nowhere in particular, carrying the remnant objects of their old lives.”
The task of rebuilding falls to Colonel Lewis Morgan, a sensitive and principled man. British officers are expressly warned to be on their guard against “dangerous elements” in the German population and their families are given explicit instructions how to behave to any Germans they may encounter.
Don’t try to be kind — this is regarded as weakness. Keep Germans in their place. Don’t show hatred; the Germans will be flattered. Display cold, correct and dignified curtness and aloofness at all times.
Morgan’s attitude however is more compassionate. His fellow officers consider all German people to be potential insurgents just waiting for the signal to unlease their pent up anger on the occupying force. But in the streams of people “walking in dazed, languid fashion … carrying the remnant objects of their old live,.” Morgan sees simply people who need to be fed and housed.
Reconciliation rather than retribution is, he believes, the only way forward. But he’s careful about openly expressing his views , recognising that to show sympathy towards their former enemy goes against the official line.
His solicitude extends into his personal life. When Lewis and his family are given accommodation in a large riverside house, he draws the line at evicting the current owners — a German widower and his daughter. Instead, he proposes that they all share the house, a decision that challenges both families emotionally and psychologically.
For Lewis’s wife Rachael, the presence of the Lubert family in their shared house is particularly challenging. In her eyes they are the people responsible for the death of her son in the Blitz, making it difficult to accept her husband’s attitude of tolerance and forgiveness. Slowly it becomes apparent that Stefan Lubert also understand the meaning of grief, his beloved wife disappeared during a bombing attack and has never been heard of since.
Cleverly Brooke resists a very simplistic good versus evil depiction. The British soldiers and their commanders are sometimes crass, too ready to accept the “all Germans are vile” line but also sometimes fair and just. Some element of the German population resent being viewed as inferior and want a return to the glory years of the Reich; others just want to find their loved ones and begin to rebuild their lives.
It’s a novel strong on atmosphere, capturing the bleakness of life in the city but also showing how even in the darkest days, people can find moments of beauty and tenderness.
The film is well worth watching but the book is even stronger.
My Life in Book Titles 2025 : BookerTalk
[…] might be surprised by: The Aftermath by Rhidian […]
Brona
Thanks for giving me another interesting Welsh writer to tuck away on my wishlist 🙂
BookerTalk
It’s taken me a while to get around to reading it but I’m so glad I did Brona. Hope you enjoy it too
Liz Dexter
This sounds very interesting – I’ve been reading a few books with this setting recently.
WordsAndPeace
Oh I see you are still sharing about ReadingWales.
So sad that I didn’t have time to finish this long audiobook, that would have been for my first ReadingWales participation.
I reviewed the book this Sunday – The Prefect, by Alastair Reynolds:
https://wordsandpeace.com/2025/04/06/sunday-post-139/
BookerTalk
I’m still counting it as a participation in Reading Wales. I still have one of my reviews yet to write…..
Jane
I really appreciated the way this showed German life after the war, I didn’t know there was a film but I might leave that, I hate it when books I enjoy get reduced to a love story (but may be I’m being unfair?!)
BookerTalk
I understand Jane. I’m not pushing you to watch the film but do want to reassure you that there is more to it film than romance – you do get a good sense of how the wife is struggling with grief which affects her attitude to German people.
A Life in Books
I enjoyed this very much but wondered whether the film would miss the mark. Perhaps I’ll give it a try.
BookerTalk
It can’t show as fully as the novel how this couple feel about German people. But it’s still interesting
Calmgrove
Oh, I’m glad you liked this – though I’ve yet to see the film adaptation this struck me as very nuanced while shining a light on how ordinary Germans in defeat had it worse than Brits. I have his The Testimony of Taliesin Jones waiting, one of my possibles for Dewithon this year though nudged out by other titles and themes.
(My review of this novel, in case you missed it: https://wp.me/p2oNj1-61K).
BookerTalk
I’ll take a look at your review later Chris. I did like the way he balanced the story – the Brits just took a stance about the Germans without giving any consideration to the fact they had also suffered loss
Kate W
I read the book before I saw the film and from memory, thought the book was better, simply because the book explored a couple more themes in detail (I think the film focused a bit much on the romance element??).
BookerTalk
That was my feeling too Kate. The film did focus on the romance element but I enjoyed the novel more because it examined the issues of conflicting attitudes to the German population.
Lisa Hill
This was such an impressive book, I must keep an eye out to see if he has written anything else.
BookerTalk
He’s written four novels in total – the latest one dates from 2018. He seems to be doing a lot of work for TV
margaret21
Oh, I very much like the sound of this one. Bother, I was going to give my TBR a rest.
BookerTalk
Oh sorry to add to your TBR Margaret though I promise this will deserve its shelf space
margaret21
😊