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The childhood world of Hugo Hamilton is a confused place. His father, a brutal Irish nationalist, demands his children speak Gaelic at home whilst his mother, a softly spoken German emigrant who escaped Nazi Germany at the beginning of the war, encourages them to speak German. All Hugo wants to do is speak English. English is, after all, what the other children in Dublin speak. English is what they use when they hunt down Hugo (or Eichmann as they dub him) in the streets of Dublin, and English is what they use when they bring him to trial and execute him at a mock seaside court. Out of this fear and confusion Hugo tries to build a balanced view of the world, to turn the twisted logic of what he is told into truth. It is a journey that ends in liberation but not before this little boy has uncovered the dark and long-buried secrets that lie at the bottom of his parents' wardrobe.… (more)
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Hugo's father was autocratic and often angry. Sometimes his anger manifested itself by banging doors but at other times the children and sometimes even their mother bore the brunt of his anger. Small wonder that Hugo rebelled. On one occasion his father asked him the sum of 5 and 6 and although Hugo knew the answer he kept giving the wrong one. The father eventually got a switch and beat him until he gave the right answer. Fortunately, the mother was there to bake cakes and tell stories and sometimes she was able to dissuade the father from punishments. Considering the life she had experienced growing up in Nazi Germany as an orphan it is a wonder she wasn't the one who was angry.
This is an intimate and often painful read but ultimately enjoyable and interesting.