The cup of wrath

This magnificently evocative novel based on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer will introduce readers to a courageous Christian who joined the underground convinced that it was his duty to work for Hitler's defeat. In this, her first novel, Mary Glazener has captured the warmth, humanity, and intrigue of this young German pastor and theologian who at thirty-nine years of age was executed by the Nazis at Flossenburg concentration camp on April 9, 1945, for his part in the "Officers' Plot." This highly readable work combines the essence of many stories of World War II---namely, the Church's struggle to survive the Third Reich; a family's commitment to save each other, their neighbors, and Germany; an extraordinary friendship between a teacher and his student; a resistance movement, filled with risk, espionage, and repeated set backs; and the many Christians and Germans who risked their lives to save the Jews.