Thine Enemy by Philip Gibbs

Thine Enemy

by Philip Gibbs

The Book Club, c1950s,  hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, no inscriptions, age toned pages, dustjacket shows considerable wear with parts missing (see photographs)

“The scene of Philip Gibbs’ powerful novel is Germany on the verge of collapse in 1945 and during the immediate post-war years.
From his observations and experiences the author, with his usual integrity and perception, has drawn a vivid picture of like in the bombed and ruined cities of a defeated nation.  He describes the horror of the flight from Konigsberg when the German people suddenly knew what it was like to be refugees; of living in basements, cellars and shelters dreadfully short of food and medicine, realizing at last what it was to be conquered and occupied.
It is the story of Hilda Menzel, a young German mother fleeing from the Russian advance while trying to reach her family in Bavaria; of her sister, Christel, arrogant and proud in defeat as she was in victory; of their father, a kind scholarly man realizing gradually and painfully the shame of the German nation; of Captain Welles of the American Army, full of hate but bewildered by his growing love for Christel; of Franz Reber who had accepted blindly the Nazi ideology until realizing too late the monstrous thing it was.
This is a courageous novel with a tragic human story about those who were our enemies in the bloodiest and most terrible war in the history of the world.”