Read The Black Laurel Storyline:
Much of the action of The Black Laurel takes place in Berlin, 1945. But it is not a novel about Germany. It concerns a group of English people whose duties or interests place them in Berlin during the first summer of the Occupation. They are involved with each other through their position in occupied territory or through their friendships, and by their interest in the fate of one German who has been arrested and condemned. The action moves swiftly between the ambitions and anxieties of a General, the curious intentions of a Very Important Person, the feverish or helpless twistings of Germans trapped by defeat, the education, friendships and loves of young men. As in life, the private conflicts meet and distort the human relations. When Major-General Lowerby's oldest and closest friendship gets in the way of his ambitions, which does he choose? When William Gary, for whom human beings have been instruments, tries to turn to a human loyalty and devotion, can he escape the...Pages of The Black Laurel :
