The novel depicts Baron Amadeus von Liljercons, who works as one of the best literary portraits of a nation's conscience -- in this case, Germany during and immediately following Nazism. At the end of the War, the Baron returns home from a concentration camp, to his former estate, only to discover its occupation by American soldiers.
Wiechert served five months in 1938 in Buchenwald, and the Baron's difficulties in adjusting to a life of freedom in a shepherd's hut, are undoubtedly related.
It's the world that the Baron returns to -- that Wiechart himself returned to -- that is the real genius of Tidings. The guilt and reconciliation that are the heart of the story make this one of the best narratives of what a genuine Christian theology of forgiveness might look like. Tidings may not be for the faint-of-heart, but for those who see this book through to the end, it's a genuine theological and literary treasure.
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I received a free copy of this book from Plough Publishing in exchange for my honest review here.