![]() ![]() Gustav’s best friend at kindergarten is Anton Zwiebel, but when he brings Anton home one day, he is confused by Emilie’s reaction. ![]() The first is set just after the war, in 1947, and introduces us to Gustav Perle, a five-year-old boy who lives in the fictional Swiss town of Matzlingen with his mother, Emilie. The novel is divided into three parts, presumably to resemble the movements of a sonata. The Gustav Sonata explores some of these effects, as well as looking, on a more personal level, at other meanings of neutrality and of courage, separateness and strength. Switzerland is well known for its neutrality during the Second World War but, as we see in Rose Tremain’s The Gustav Sonata, even remaining neutral didn’t mean that Switzerland and its people completely escaped the effects of war. Then, you will have the right kind of life.” Do you understand me? You have to hold yourself together and be courageous, stay separate and strong. “So you see,” she said, “you have to be like Switzerland. ![]()
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