This story about the Austrian village of Aspen during the second world war was a delightful surprise. The characters are rich and the landscape is beautifully drawn. Lots of humor and insight into people. While clearly the Nazis are portrayed as bad, no one is two dimensional in Bemelman's writing. I never knew the creator of Madeline wrote anything other than children's books. Now I want to read more of his adult fiction.

Really interesting style of writing. Took a bit to get used to it but it grew on me. Strange. Liked the main character, Harlan, a lot but not Joan! Couldn't guess how it would wrap up but it finally did in the very last page or two.