The Crush of Wine and War

The year is 1989 and Sivan Mayr has returned home after a prolonged absence. He is walking the streets of St. Jakob, Austria, and hears words that stir up resentment and anger at events going back to World War II. A man who is being heralded as a hero is nothing more than a rogue in Sivan’s eyes. The man who left Hannah Maislinger and their child could never be considered heroic.

Hannah Maislinger was an irrepressible youth growing up in the town of Moosfeld who considered becoming a nun as her sister Greta did. However, her future shifted upon meeting Sebastien Brandl. Hannah was working at a local eatery when she met the raffish young man. Hannah’s parents were flummoxed at her change of heart, but Sebastien managed to win them over with his unabashed honesty and charisma. Hannah would soon be working at the Brandl family’s restaurant and marriage between Hannah and Sebastien a foregone conclusion.

Despite Hannah’s and Sebastien’s happiness, the world around them has become precarious. The rise of the Nazi Party has led to a state of siege enveloping Austria and citizens are strenuously urged to join. Sebastien and Hannah are unnerved by the repressive measures of the local Nazi officials and have witnessed the destruction firsthand. Sebastien begins to evolve from sentiment to action in expressing his antipathy to the National Socialists.

Max Mayr is a vintner in Vienna who has become equally alarmed at the vehement tolerance exhibited at Jewish citizens and others considered “unpure” by the Nazis. Max married a refugee named Lili who survived a pogrom in her home country. The pair have two children and Max will do anything to protect them as their heritage makes them vulnerable to the latest pogroms. Max begins to forge a path of resistance similar to Sebastien in that its revelation would have fatal consequences.

The emotions are still raw and exposed as survivors of a near-apocalyptic war join in harmonious celebration forty-plus years later. The Crush of Wine and War may be fiction in certain ways, but the historical backdrop provides the gravitas in the dramatic interplay between characters. The decision to oppose tyranny feels right to Sebastien, but Hannah is conflicted over her husband’s activism. Concern over her family and friends leads to her questioning his actions. Despite initial reluctance, Max Mayr throws himself fully into aiding the underground as he knows the perils of acquiescence.

Author Molly Fumia exceptionally writes of a fragile time when friendships were severed by differing allegiances and families were ravaged by the cataclysmic hand of fate during war. Fumia’s novel is compelling reading on all counts.