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Eclipse of the Son is the third novel in the "Cider
and Schnapps" series of novels by Caron Harrison. Karl Dreisler has
been found "not guilty" of the murder of the neo-Nazi Josef
Garisch. However, this verdict has only come with the assistance of
Siegfried, Karl's estranged son. Siegfried has had a change of heart, and
has renounced his neo-Nazi views and way of life to his father. Others in
Karl's family are still not too sure about this turnaround on the part of his
son, but Karl is convinced that Siegfried has come true.
Unfortunately, Siegfried has married the neo-Nazi Sophie, who is expecting his
first child. Sophie romantically believes that Siegfried is still devoted
to the cause, and that his apparent 'betrayal' was merely a face-saving
exercise for the neo-Nazis. Despite their now contrasting politics,
Siegfried loves his wife, and feels that there is very little he can do to
disillusion her. For the moment though, Siegfried and his friend
Wolfgang, who has also denounced neo-Nazism in his love for Karl's daughter
Sabina, would appear to be safe whilst their former colleagues try to regroup
and to work out what has happened. However, Siegfried and Wolfgang know
for sure that they will never forgive and forget.
After his release from prison in
Germany, Karl knows that it will probably take Katherine, his wife, a long time
to forgive and forget his sleeping with Ilse, Siegfried's mother.
However, Katherine is a generous and loving wife and mother, and it is not long
before relations between her and Karl return to something of normality.
It takes Karl a little while to adjust to English life at Lane Head Farm in
Penchurch (just outside Hereford), but his wife and sons have done a good job
of keeping the farm going in his absence. However, returning home means
seeing old enemies as well as old friends. Andrew Kellet, the heir to
Froxley Grange, has never forgiven the former German POW for stealing Katherine
away from him. Karl's recent predicament in Germany has been reported in
the local papers, and this has given Kellet all the ammunition he needs to goad
Karl. However, it is Richard, Katherine and Karl's son, who actually
punches Kellet. Katherine is horrified - the last thing that she would
ever want for her sons is that they would follow their father into having a
criminal record. So, Katherine goes to see Kellet to try and see if he is
willing to call off the charges. Kellet is willing - for a price...
Now that the neo-Nazi movement has
been blown wide open, Gustav Halstrup, Siegfried's childhood friend and idol,
steps into the breech to see if the son really has followed in his father's
footsteps. Gustav gives Siegfried the ultimate test: he must kill his father,
or Sophie and his unborn child will die, and he will be ruined or killed
himself. Siegfried's previous skills and knowledge as a neo-Nazi assassin
has kept him and Wolfgang one step ahead of his former colleagues - until
now. Try what he can, Siegfried seems unable to escape the past.
The ideal opportunity to kill his father would appear to be at Sabina and
Wolf's marriage in Penchurch, a union which he himself made possible in the
days when he had been trying to turn Sabina against her father, or ruin her at
the very least, by having Wolf court her. In the event, Wolf and Sabina
had really fallen in love, and this had caused Wolf to repent his fascist
views. Siegfried attempts to summon up all his old ghosts from Penchurch,
and all his old hatred, but reckons without the intervention of his very own
guardian angel... Katherine also seems incapable of escaping the
past. Much as she looks forward to the family reunion that her daughter's
wedding entails, Karl's reconciliation with Siegfried means that his eyes will
be on Germany when Sophie's child - his grandchild - is born. Another
meeting with Ilse would seem to be inevitable, and Katherine dreads the test of
her husband's fidelity coming so soon.
Caron Harrison has created a complex
and intricate plot within Eclipse of the Son. A lot of it does hinge on
events in her first novel, Shades of Grey. To me, it seems a pity that
Caron Harrison has not left this first novel to stand on its own. It was
a very good and exhilarating first novel, that dwelt on the hidden story of how
German POWs were treated after the war. Added to this was a strong plot
and superb characterisation. You could not help but urge on Karl and
Katherine as they sought to cement the foundations of their love, despite the
many obstacles in their way. Given the resolution of Eclipse of the Son,
I feel even more strongly that Caron Harrison should have left Shades of Grey
in the past, and that she had gone onto create new characters for Divided
Loyalties and Eclipse of the Son. Yet it is too late to do this now, and
from the intricacy of the plotting involved in Eclipse of the Son, it is
possible that this is the course of events that were always going to
happen. Like Mark
Robson, Caron Harrison would appear to have planned out her fictional
universe to the nth degree. And unlike J K Rowling, when Caron Harrison
threatens to kill off major characters, she does not flinch (although she does
lead you up the wrong path, so that you are suitably shocked and surprised when
deaths do occur). However, I do feel that only a humourist like Terry
Pratchett can get away with a title that has such a pun - 'Eclipse of the Son'
does not feel right for this book, although I am not sure what alternatives I
could think of. As to whether Karl, Siegfried, and Wolf should really be
in fear of their lives, then one can only recall Frederick Forsyth's 'The
Odessa File', which is set at the same time as Eclipse of the Son, a narrative
that shows only too clearly that Britain and the West were only partially
successfully in re-educating the Nazis after the Second World War. To
bring it all to home, I have just read today that the leader of the British
neo-Nazis has just moved to my town.
If only Britain had a stronger film
industry, then maybe "Cider and Schnapps" could rival the Godfather
series. Although, unlike Michael Corleone, I don't think that Karl
Driesler could be turned into an icon of modern Britain, Germany, or Europe
even (despite his belief that his problems are inextricably bound up in his
nationality). To paraphrase Jonathan Safran
Foer's Everything
is Illuminated, Karl Driesler is a good man who was born into a bad
time. If not the filmworld, then the TV world might want to take a look
at Caron Harrison's work as a possible successor to Catherine Cookson.
But will love win the day? To find out, I'm just going to have to read
the sequel - as ever, Caron Harrison is keeping us guessing as to what will
happen next. Once the whole series is complete, I am sure that we will be
better able to judge the narrative as a whole. But once again, Caron
Harrison has done more than enough to show the strength of the independent
market, and to lay down the gauntlet to those editors that just commission and
waste tens of thousands on meaningless froth.
Authortrek Rating: 8/10
Kevin Patrick Mahoney
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Visit
our Caron
Harrison page |
Read
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interview |
