Live Bodies

As a young man in Vienna in the 1930s, Josef Mandl was a member of underground left-wing groups battling the Nazis. In New Zealand during the Second World War Mandl is judged a communist agitator and interned on Somes Island along with several other Germans and Italians. Josef makes two unsuccessful attempts to escape, and in the process discovers Wellington as a place where he might live. He finds work, masters English, marries Nancy, begins a new life. He has continuing contact with Willi, a charismatic fellow internee who is a strong anti-fascist and torments Josef for his new respectability.

An Austrian Jew in a 1940s antipodean and colonial society, Josef Mandl is in harmony and in conflict with Austrians, Germans and New Zealanders alike. His story mirrors the alien experience everywhere.

Please note this copy has some creases on the spine and covers.

ISBN: 9780140273809

Size: Paperback, 264 pages

Publisher: Penguin 

Year: 1998