Poignant and eerily moving — with the plot a knife at the end — Taylor (whose own story as an author is interesting in and of itself) delivers a correspondence between two German business partners and friends. Max, a German Jew living in the United States, and Martin, a German gentile who returns with his family to Germany pulled by the promise of rebuilding the country following the Great War, write letters to each other over the course of sixteen months from 1932 to 1934.

"Who is this Adolf Hitler who seems rising towards power in Germany? I do not like what I read of him."

Taylor managed to build so much backstory and stress as the messages continue and the dates on the letters, and their contents, tick closer to a future we know is inevitable. But Taylor still surprises by the end. Astoundingly, this was first published in 1938 in Story magazine, and that knowledge, coupled with the dates of the letters, add an incredible amount of tension to this impactful novella.

Audiobook, as narrated by [a:George Newbern|3461329|George Newbern|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and [a:Rob Shapiro|2887475|Rob Shapiro|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]: Wonderful performances from Newbern and Shapiro here as they deliver a back-and-forth correspondence. To be able to allow the deeply moving story from Taylor to rise up above a performance through the simple act of reading letters, attests to the skills these two men assuredly possess.