Saturday, July 6, 2024

Review: Stars Maintain Their Glow by M G da Mota


 

Genre: Historical fiction

Description:

The novel takes the form of two, inter-connected, ‘memoirs’.

The first is from neutral Portugal during World War II, between 1940-42. The second is from East Prussia, also in World War II. There is then a third section which brings the two together, and which is set during the recent pandemic. (The novel was released in 2023.) The three parts are very different.

The first immerses the reader in the world of espionage and glitterati of neutral Portugal during World War II. It is a brittle world of anxious people – the Portuguese need desperately to keep their country out of the war. Refugees stream into the neutral country, carrying what little of their lives they have been able to save. Every café, restaurant and casino is awash with people trying to sell or buy whatever they can. Information is a valuable commodity. A newly minted spy is sent to take advantage of this, as a member of the British Embassy in Lisbon. Now moving in exalted circles, he becomes besotted with the daughter of a local aristocrat: Maria-Eduarda. He takes (and manufactures) every opportunity to be with her. She finds him mildly diverting. But it becomes apparent that they have very different expectations of the relationship.

In the second the point of view is of Herta, a young girl living in East Prussia in 1943. The hardships which the German people are enduring for the Fatherland are laid out, as bare as their food cupboards. Everyone is cold and hungry, and fed up with potatoes. Then word goes round: “the Russians are coming!” They flee. But not quick enough. This section follows Herta and her family to the end of the war and beyond. The child grows into a young woman, the nightmares recede, she goes to university to study languages, then to Berlin to work as a translator. The Berlin Wall goes up. Berlin is another city full of spies trading information …

The third part relies on a bizarre coincidence: that a descendant of a half sister of Maria-Eduarda happens to live next door to the, now elderly, widow of that new minted spy who was sent to Portugal, and who then bobbed up again in Berlin after the war. Despite the passing of so many years restitution is finally made and we learn what happened to Maria-Eduarda.

Author:

M G da Mota is Margarida Mota-Bull’s pen name for fiction. She is a Portuguese-British novelist with a love for classical music, ballet and opera. Under her real name she also writes reviews of live concerts, CDs, DVDs and books for two classical music magazines on the web: MusicWeb International and Seen and Heard International. She is a member of the UK Society of Authors, speaks four languages and lives in Sussex with her husband. She has photos and information on her website, flowingprose.com.

Appraisal:

The author is Portuguese, which informs the section set in that country delightfully. The Portuguese part of the story rattles along, the sexual avarice of the spy (Gerald Neale) for Maria-Eduarda being ramped up all the time. The denouement is genuinely shocking. The morals which underpin it feel historically accurate. Since #MeToo we don’t tend to think like that any more.

The second part of the story, set in East Prussia is a tough read. After the lushness of the first, warm, Portuguese part it is like being doused in cold water. All the characters bear such deep scars. And we are shown, graphically, why. How the family recovers after the war is a miracle in itself. However, when Herta moves to Berlin her life becomes tolerable, then pleasant.

Da Mota is ambivalent as to how much of the book is based on facts. I cheated and read the explanatory notes at the end early on. This was because the story is, from the start, bracketed with interventions from Valeria, Maria-Eduarda’s descendant. And for some time it was not clear to me who she was nor why they were there. You may wish to do the same. It does slightly undermine the ‘memoir’ claim – which is a pity, because the first two-thirds of the novel work well as such. Throughout, Da Mota’s prose holds a hint of veracity (odd things are included, odd things are left out) as if she is at times concerned to be truthful to her sources. Both tales feel as though they have been translated in from other languages. It reads very much as a novel of its time, and of Mitteleuropa.  

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Graphic descriptions of sexual violence occur in the two historical parts.

Format/Typo Issues:

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: Judi Moore

Approximate word count: 135-140,000 words

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