Unter der Drachenwand

A young injured Austrian soldier is looking for peace in the countryside village Mondsee. The year is 1944 and Germany is on its last legs during WWII. Veit is plagued with PTSD and depression, and hopes he won't have to return to his troupe in Russia. During his stay he encounters a range of characters that give him a new perspective on life and war. From the narrow-minded nagging NS landlady, to a troupe of young girls trained into lockstep at a nearby summer camp, to the freespirited gardener with his love for South America who has hard time keeping his regime-critique to himself. Next to Veit lives a young German wife with her newborn, who escaped her parents and hometown, to equally seek solace in the Austrian countryside. Slowly a rhythm emerges, of simple tasks and walks by the sea, of learning to breathe again and a wish to finally start a life. If there's still the time.

I very much enjoyed this book and its beautiful passages about love and live, and the small moments one learns to cherish. While being told in first-person, it is also interlaced with letters from 3 people tangential to the cast in Mondsee. In total giving insights into the inner life and mentality of people living through the last years of WWII.