Über Alles: A Novel of Love, Loyalty, and Political Intrigue In World War II
Dieter, the orphaned son of a music professor, becomes the resident "piano man" in a pub favored by students and Nazi military personnel.
Sofie is the indulged daughter of a prominent Wehrmacht general and a graduate music student at Berlin's finest university. She serves as her father's hostess in his elegant home on Wilhelmstrasse, which is frequented by prominent leaders of the Third Reich. Sofie enjoys the new popular music being written and performed in America - but banned from most German halls. She and her fellow students regularly visit the pub where Dieter plays. This leads to an invitation to Dieter to tune her piano in the Wilhelmstrasse residence, and an unlikely alliance forms between the two young people.
They learn that each had a Jewish mother. Dieter's is deceased and Sofie's remains in her native Poland where she is a senior operative of the SSW, Poland's European intelligence-gathering network. When The Oster Conspiracy, an attempt on Hitler's life by some of his military officers, is uncovered, the blanket of suspicion comes dangerously close to Sofie's father and the young couple are forced to flee secretly to Prague, Czechoslovakia.
There they are relatively safe until a minor Gestapo operative becomes suspicious of their identity and begins to delve into their backgrounds.
This intensely captivating tale leads to Theresienstadt, Germany's most unusual concentration camp, where musicians were forced to perform for their Nazi tormentors.
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"Über Alles is a well-constructed novel focused upon one of the pivotal eras of human history. It succeeds both as an engaging romantic tale and as a solid look back at World War II. Readers will be well rewarded." -Gregory Coleman, President, BuzzFeed; former president, Reader's Digest
"Finding a good read to wrap yourself around is tough these days. Writers feel compelled to pen twisted and bizarre plots. Nothing seems real, everything is sensational. So, when a book comes along with a true-to-life story that's so bold, so intriguing, and so well written as to hold a reader captive, it's rare. Such a book is Über Alles, by Rob Neff. His poignant love story/wartime thriller is set against the harrowing backdrop of Hitler's Germany. Neff's strong, dimensional characters come to life as they defy the power of the Nazis over the power of love. As someone who lived under the black storm cloud of World War II, Neff presents a singular vantage point that rings true. If you are prepared to vicariously travel back to World War II; if you are willing to tie your heart to a story that will fill-and break-it; if you want a book worthy of your valuable leisure time-then you must read Über Alles." -LAURIE BOGART MORROW, author, The Hardscrabble Chronicles
". . . moves along with a narrative authority that relaxes the reader into focusing on the story and the characters . . . the narrative flow is strong, clear and vivid . . ." -T. Chandler Hardwick, Headmaster (retired) of Blair Academy, Blairstown, NJ
" . . . I found it impossible to put down, reading 100 pages a sitting . . ." -Arnold Koch, journalist, Melrose Free Press, JazFax, Boston Business Journal, AdWeek
" . . . an absolutely riveting account of the lives of two musical artists . . . in that decade when the Nazis sought to eradicate anyone they deemed racially impure or sexually deviant . . . You won't be able to put it down . . ." -George Marriner Maull, multiple Emmy-nominated Artistic Director and conductor of The Discovery Orchestra (formerly the New Jersey Philharmonic Orchestra).
"As a student of WWII history, I was impressed with the personal insights about key events in the Nazi rise. In the end, this wonderful novel, through its female protagonist, left me with a haunting plea which is timeless: I want the ability to be just a little different, so long as I am honest, hard-working, and law-abiding. I don't want a tone-deaf government minister telling me what songs to sing or what ancestors my companion must have. Am I unreasonable?" -Ret. Major Jason Howk, author and lecturer, NC
". . . kept me engaged-always had me wondering where it would lead next-neither predictable nor overtly twisted. Perfect. My best read in three years. . ." -Dr. Dennis Stark, Academic and Biomedical professional, Cap d'Antibes, France
"Robert Neff explodes onto the scene with his first historical novel. The treachery of the Third Reich and bits of nearly forgotten history unfold through vividly written characters and relationships. The love between a half-Jewish piano player and a Wehrmacht general's half-Jewish daughter sets the theme in 1938 Germany. Neff's fictional characters are real in every other sense, and the story of Hitler's city for the Jews, Theresienstadt, evokes needless suffering, loss, and the strength of the human spirit. Love drives a story that confronts a history we must never forget: Neff has brought a slice of that history alive in this page-turner." -Richard Pabst, CIA, Station Chief/Austria (Ret.)
