Summary

The prologue starts during the preparation for an annual harvest party at Burg Lingenfels, in Ehrenheim Germany on November 9, 1938. This section is written in the third person but from the perspective of Marianne von Lingenfels. As the prologue opens, Marianne is running around the castle, checking in on party preparations. Marianne has inherited an annual party (and castle) from her husband’s Aunt, a French-born German Countess. She enters her husband Albrecht’s study as he is in the midst of working on a letter and though she asks him to come see the party, he does not leave the study. Marianne goes upstairs to check on her children Elisabeth and Katarina, ages 6 and 4 respectively. Her son Fritz, age 1, is away with a nurse. Elisabeth asks a question about Hitler invading Poland which Marianne dismisses. Tension between Elisabeth and Marianne is clear, and Marianne...