Errors of Night

by Rj Stewart

Overview

Former Nazi Gen. Julian von Wille makes a pilgrimage to Italy in search of atonement for his theft of a valuable poem his soldiers took from the wounded body of a prominent Marchesa. He seeks to speak with her, to explain himself, and to ask her forgiveness, but because of a stroke she is unable to speak. She has her own regrets for leading orphans in her care into harm's way. In ways neither expects, they settle old scores.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780996544122
Publisher:	Ronald Joe Stewart
Publication date:	10/16/2022
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.55(d)

Editorial Reviews

2023-02-08
In Stewart’s historical novel, an aging Nazi general returns to Italy in search of forgiveness for an act he committed during the war.

Presiding over the Italian Cassino battlefield in 1944, German Gen. Julian von Wille leads an army in retreat. Tasked with slowing Allied advances, his tactic is to “introduce complications” by means of destruction. Amid the chaos, he takes possession of a satchel, containing a rare Percy Bysshe Shelley poem and an unusual artwork, found on the wounded body of a marchesa. After shouldering the burden of guilt over this theft for 40 years, von Wille returns to Italy with his son, a priest, to return the satchel. He finds the marchesa paralyzed by her wartime injuries and rendered mute by a subsequent stroke. The elderly woman is also tormented by the horrors of her past, having lost two of the men she loved to the war and having failed to save the lives of the children at her orphanage. The general’s musical background and the discovery of an old harpsichord may hold the unexpected key to making amends. Stewart’s novel draws on factual wartime events, particularly the Nazi looting and subsequent Allied bombing of the Monte Cassino monastery, to skillfully weave a gripping fictional narrative that examines remorse and reconciliation. Written in the first person from the perspectives of the marchesa, the general, and others, the novel takes on a confessional quality. Stewart has a vivid descriptive style that often borders on the poetic: “The war came, burrowing beneath our skins like ticks.” On occasion, the author overembellishes his tale with grandiose monologues improbably assigned to characters such as Attilio, the gardener: “I am God’s own angel tending the garden of His troubled children.” However, this remains an emotionally complex, finely wrought novel that keeps readers guessing until the very end.

Stewart’s poetic flair for detail and firm grasp of military history make for a truly compelling read.

Kirkus Reviews