The Willow Wren cover art

The Willow Wren

A Novel

Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

The Willow Wren

By: Philipp Schott
Narrated by: Brian Webber
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

The touching and nuanced portrait of the rise and fall of Nazi Germany through the eyes of a resourceful German boy.

Ludwig is an odd and introverted child, growing up in Hitler’s Germany. While Ludwig’s father, Wilhelm, is a senior Nazi and a true believer, Ludwig escapes the unfolding catastrophe by withdrawing into nature and books. Eventually, when the Allied bombing campaign intensifies, Ludwig is sent to a Hitler Youth camp, where his oddness makes him a target for bullying.

As the war turns against Germany, the Hitler Youth camp becomes ever more severe and militaristic, and the atmosphere spirals towards chaos. After the Nazis abandon the camp, Ludwig returns home, and his father is presumed dead. With Ludwig’s mother descending into depression, the 11-year-old bears increasing responsibility for the survival of the family as starvation sets in under Russian occupation. Soon, it will be impossible to leave the Russian zone, so Ludwig decides that he must rally his despondent mother and lead her and his three younger siblings in an escape attempt to the west.

Based on a true story, The Willow Wren is a unique, touching exploration of extremism, resilience, and the triumph of the small.

©2021 Philipp Schott (P)2021 ECW Press
20th Century Biographical Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Biography

Listeners also enjoyed...

Save the Last Bullet cover art
Into Enemy Arms cover art
The Paris Assignment cover art
The Tin Ring cover art
A Killer in King’s Cove cover art
Maybe You Will Survive cover art
The Boy from Block 66 cover art
The Lost Diary cover art
Band of Sisters cover art
A Train Near Magdeburg cover art
The Endless Steppe cover art
The Soldier’s Girl cover art
The Girls in the Attic cover art
The Broken House cover art
Tears of Amber cover art

Critic reviews

“Philipp Schott pulls off the considerable feat of creating empathy for his characters without ever resorting to easy excuses for their sometimes indefensible choices...a fine, nuanced storytelling achievement.” (Frederick Taylor, historian and best-selling author of Exorcising Hitler: The Occupation and Denazification of Germany)

No reviews yet