So when I read about Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman on a book blog, I added it to my to-be-read pile immediately.
Prisoner of Night and Fog
In the book, Gretchen Muller is living in pre-WWII Munich under the protection of her Uncle Dolf, who has helped her family ever since her father took a bullet that was meant for him. She has grown up around the men of the National Socialist Party, listening to her beloved uncle, Adolf Hitler, give impassioned speeches as he tries to reshape German politics.
But one night, Gretchen stumbles into a young, Jewish reporter, who is asking a lot of questions. And some of those questions are about whether Gretchen’s father was really the martyr the Nazis have made him out to be–or if it’s more likely that they killed him themselves.
Everything Gretchen has ever been taught means she should consider Daniel Cohen beneath her, but he’s making her question everything. Was her father a martyr, or was he murdered? Should the Jewish people be subject to the Aryans? And, most frightening of all, is she falling in love with one of them?
I read Prisoner of Night and Fog and the sequel, Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke, in a matter of days. The books were meticulously researched and simply fascinating if you have any interest in WWII. Although Gretchen, her family, and Daniel were fictional, nearly everyone else in the stories once lived. And let me tell you, Ms. Blankman did a phenomenal job of humanizing Hitler while making you creeped out by him in nearly every scene he was in.
I was thrilled to get a chance to email back and forth with Anne Blankman for this post today. I’ve decided that getting to talk to an author about her books might be almost as fun as reading them.
Interview with Author Anne Blankman
Carrie Jo: I love that you were named after Anne Shirley! Did you like LM Montgomery’s book as a child? Or did you wish you’d been named after a different literary heroine?
Anne Blankman: Fortunately, I’ve always lovedthe “Anne” books! When I was eleven, I went with a friend and her mom to Prince Edward Island, which is where LM Montgomery lived and where her books are set. There’s a real “Green Gables” house—I think one of the author’s cousins used to live there—and lots of other places you can visit that are associated either with Montgomery or her books. At Green Gables, I saw Montgomery’s typewriter and I got chills when I realized that the letters “a,” “n,” and “e” were worn down from having been used so frequently!
CJ: I saw on your website you’re a librarian, a mom, and run races with your husband. When do you write?!? (And do you ever get to watch a TV show?)
AB: I don’t sleep. No, I’m kidding! Actually, I love to sleep. Soon after my daughter was born, I realized I would never be fully happy unless I was writing. So I learned to be very disciplined: I wrote PRISONER OF NIGHT AND FOG while my little one napped during the day and slept at night.
After I sold PRISONER and two more books, though, I started getting sick all the time. Every sniffle my daughter brought home from preschool turned into a nasty sinus infection for me. I figured out that I couldn’t do everything and had to make some changes. I cut way back on my hours at the library so I could devote more time to writing, and have been much happier and healthier ever since. And, of course, librarians tend to be wonderful people, and all of my coworkers were so supportive of my decision.
And yes, I love TV! 🙂 I pretty much didn’t watch any while I was drafting PRISONER, but now that my daughter’s in kindergarten and I can write during the day, on many weeknights you can find me and my husband curled up on the couch, watching a British murder mystery. Netflix streaming might be one of my favorite inventions!
CJ: Where did the seed of the idea for PRISONER OF NIGHT AND FOG come from? Did you start with Gretchen’s character? An interest in Hitler/WWII? Something else entirely?
AB: Ever since I read Anne Frank’s diary in seventh grade, I’ve been fascinated by WWII. But it wasn’t until I was home with a newborn that the idea for PRISONER OF NIGHT AND FOG (originally titled NIGHT’S EDGE) came to me. I’d read a nonfiction book about Geli Raubal, Hitler’s half-niece who lived with him when he was an emerging politician. Long after I finished the book, I couldn’t stop thinking about her and wondering what her life must have been like. I needed a fictional main character, though, so Gretchen Müller was born.
CJ: It’s glaringly obvious that you did so much research for these novels. (Wow, those bibliographies were long!) What was the most interesting aspect of the books to research? Which was the most boring?
AB: I’m a big history nerd, so I looooove research! Learning about the Ringvereine for CONSPIRACY OF BLOOD AND SMOKE was so much fun. Ringvereine were Berlin’s organized criminal underworld, somewhat akin to the America’s Mafia. They were so different from what I had expected, though, that I found them fascinating. For example, they were rarely violent, and they wouldn’t allow murderers or rapists to join their ranks. Surprising, right?
The most tedious part was mapping out and timing the routes my characters take. I had to figure out how long it would take them to get from point A to point B, if they would take an S-Bahn or a U-Bahn, that sort of thing.
CJ: Some of my favorite interactions in your books were between Gretchen and Dr. Whitestone. Did their characters spring from your own interest in Hitler’s psychological make-up? Or was it the other way around?
AB: Dr. Whitestone grew out of my desire to put a positive male adult in Gretchen’s life—until she meets him, most of her male role models have been Nazis, so I knew that she desperately needs to interact with a well-balanced, intelligent, and compassionate man.
CJ: I loved that in CONSPIRACY, especially, Gretchen and Daniel’s relationship matured–and that you examined the idea that love might not be enough to keep two people together when their passions began to diverge. It was so (refreshingly) realistic. Was that something you set out to do? Or did the stars aligning while you wrote?
AB: From the beginning, I knew that I wanted Gretchen and Daniel’s relationship to grow and change throughout the course of the two books. Falling in love can be easy, but staying in love is hard. I want to write about people who are eager to work at their lives—who fight for what they believe in, whether it’s an idea or a relationship.
CJ: Who is your favorite fictional couple?
AB: Can someone named after Anne Shirley pick any couple other than Anne and Gilbert Blythe? 🙂 A close runner-up, though, would have to Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy!
Thanks so much for having me!
One of the best part of these novels? They’re a duology, and the second came out yesterday, so you can devour them both without having to wait a year between books. And if you’re interested in winning a signed copy of Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke (Book 2) courtesy of Anne Blankman and HarperCollins, enter the giveaway below!
