Ordinary Heroes : A Novel
 
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ABOUT THE BOOK Ordinary Heroes FROM OUR EDITORS Like many other GIs, Stewart Dubinsky's dad always refused to talk about his experiences in World War II; but Stewart had been told that his father had rescued his mother from the horrors of a German concentration camp. Then, after his father's demise, Dubinsky finds a packet of letters that challenges every lofty conception he holds of his old man. However, as he probes deeper into his father's past, Stewart discovers that war sometimes has a way of undermining every expectation. A first-rate thriller by a master of the craft. FROM THE PUBLISHER "Stewart Dubinsky knew his father had served in World War II. And he'd been told how David Dubin (as his father had Americanized the name that Stewart later reclaimed) had rescued Stewart's mother from the horrors of the Balingen concentration camp. But when, after his father's death, he discovers a packet of wartime letters to a former fiancee and learns of his father's court-martial and imprisonment, he is plunged into the mystery of his family's secret history and is driven to uncover the truth about this enigmatic, distant man who always refused to talk about his war." "As he pieces together his father's past through military archives, letters, and, finally, notes from a memoir his father wrote in prison, secretly preserved by the officer who defended him, Stewart starts to assemble a dramatic and baffling chain of events. He learns how Dubin, a JAG lawyer attached to Patron's Third Army and eager for combat experience, got more than he bargained for when he was ordered to arrest Robert Martin, a wayward OSS officer who, despite his spectacular bravery with the French Resistance, appeared to be acting on orders other than his commander's." "In pursuit of Martin, Dubin and his sergeant had parachuted into Bastogne just as the Battle of the Bulge reached its apex. Pressed into the leadership of a desperately depleted rifle company, the men were forced to abandon their quest for Martin and his fiery, maddeningly elusive comrade, Gita Lodz, as they fought for their lives through the ferocious winter battle that would determine Europe's fate." Reconstructing the terrible events and agonizing choices his father faced on the battlefield, in the courtroom, and in love, Stewart gains a closer understanding of his past, of his father's character, and of the brutal nature of war itself. FROM THE CRITICS Janet Maslin - The New York Times … Ordinary Heroes works best through vivid, anecdotal descriptions: authentic-sounding stories of foxhole ordeals, battlefield casualties and a particularly terrifying parachute drop. Even when expressed stiltedly ("and tears still would not come, leaving me in a state of constipated agitation"), these memories have immediacy. The author's anguish about war is unmistakably real. Publishers Weekly When retired newspaperman Stewart Dubinsky (last seen in 1987's Presumed Innocent) discovers letters his deceased father wrote during his tour of duty in WWII, a host of family secrets come to light. In Turow's ambitious, fascinating page-turner, a "ferocious curiosity" compels the divorced Dubinsky to study his "remote, circumspect" father's papers, which include love letters written to a fianc e the family had never heard of, and a lengthy manuscript, which his father wrote in prison and which includes the shocking disclosure of his father's court-martial for assisting in the escape of OSS officer Robert Martin, a suspected spy. The manuscript, hidden from everyone but the attorney defending him, tells of Capt. David Dubin's investigation into Martin's activities and of both men's entanglements with fierce, secretive comrade Gita Lodz. From optimistic soldier to disenchanted veteran, Dubin-who, via the manuscript, becomes the book's de facto narrator-describes the years of violence he endured and of a love triangle that exacted a heavy emotional toll. Dubinsky's investigations prove revelatory at first, and life-altering at last. Turow makes the leap from courtroom to battlefield effortlessly. (N

Submitted On:

09 Sep 2007

File Author:

Turow, Scott

File Size:

7.69 MB