THE RED TOQUE LOVE AND LOSS IN THE TIME OF TITOBy Cynthia Herbert-Bruschi AdamsThe Red Toque continues the stream of myriad fascinating stories from WWI. The novel offers moments of beauty, love, and peace, but also contains grim facts only recently understood about the horror which, following the war, Communism continued to unleash on the citizens of then Yugoslavia.This book follows one family from their days in Austria/Hungary until just after the conclusion of WWII that forever rearranged their lives. The message I take from it—war is horrible, and the Fascists and Communists destroyed far more than any conqueror can ever reap. Lands, cultures, and human lives are all sacrificed for the sake of power and control. And the worst aspect of this is, of course, what the Nazis did to the Jews and peasants; but also what the “good guys” did at the end of the war to keep control of those who might disagree with them.Not only did people from the same towns turn against their own, but the brutality and secrecy of these attacks led to years of further horrors and hatreds. Wounds did not heal, and the damage has continued to fester as other genocides occur.Adams cleverly takes us through the lives of this family as they fight for survival and cope with what befalls them, while rebuilding lives of meaning and seeking to unlock the secrets still hidden. The six children follow different paths in their journeys to understand and forgive, drawing the reader in at several levels. A complex book with challenge and adventure throughout—more salient than ever as rising echoes from the past threaten the reigning world order. Must be read to be believed.