How does a Nation recover from its collective shame, how does it rebuild itself into a modern state and deal with its horrendous past and the difficult path ahead? Restructuring of the political landscape & the influence of religion are strong themes in this historical family saga & post war drama set in Germany 1940 - 1976. The Black Eagle Inn is an old established restaurant and part of a family farm business in the sleepy Bavarian countryside. Childless Anna Stockmann has fought hard to make it her own and keep it running through WWII. The family is divided by rivalry between family members since her own youth but at the heart of this story one of Anna's nephews, Markus, owns her heart and another nephew, Lukas, owns her ear, while her husband Herbert is still missing-in-action.Religion dictates life in Heimkirchen's enclosed Catholic community that was almost unaffected by the fighting in the war. Anna's brother Hans-Ulrich is involved in the church as well as in post war party politics. He finds that the new generation, his own off spring, are not functioning as well as the older one would like. Bitter conflicts arise in the new forming Germany and the family members all need to decide how to respond to the challenges ahead. This is war fiction without immediate war, it is literary history about Germany after the Nazi rule with gay, racial, religious and feminist themes, describing the way one family experiences the forward move of a shamed Nation.Fischer tells a great family saga with war in the far background and weaves the political and religious into the personal with belated or indirect impact of war on people. *****"An epic masterpiece, Back Eagle Inn, by the very talented Christoph Fischer, has concluded his brilliant trilogy with this, his best yet.From the gripping first traumatic pages through to the surprising end this read does not disappoint.The characters are compelling and we can't help falling in love with ...the family, flawed and imperfect as they all are.They are who we are, who we love, who we struggle with in our daily lives, who support us and help us have a sense of worth, they are the best and worst of the human condition expressed through gripping dialogues and historical scenes. Black Eagle Inn burns its image into the heart and mind of readers and lingers on for days after the last page is closed."- Paulette Mahurin, author of The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap - ****Praise for Fischer's previous work:"powerful, engaging - you cannot remain untouched""Fischer deftly weaves his tapestry of history and fiction, with a grace""I fell in love with Sebastian...A truly inspiring read for anyone!!!!""This is a MUST read. INTELLIGENT, SENSITIVE, ENGAGING , PERFECT."***** Thoughts by the author on the book:Why I wrote THE BLACK EAGLE INNI was born 25 years after the end of the war. Our history lessons at school ended with the year 1945. One of the most urgent and important questions remained unanswered for me: How did a country with so much shame and horror in its past recover and move forward? How could it? I don't think anything can ever make up for what has happened and nobody can forgive or atone for the collective guilt. But can the new generation ever deservedly rid itself of the stigma the previous generation has brought to the country?Only ten years after the end of the war a wave of Italian and Turkish Immigrants filled the hole in the German employment market, ten years after that a new right wing party formed in Germany.The Sixties brought the Bader Meinhoff Complex, student revolts and family conflicts. Many of the young adults were disillusioned with politics and turned violent. It took a new generation of politicians to instigate a modernisation of German society.My book should be interesting for those whose knowledge of Germany also ends with 1945. We know about the Nuremberg Trials but what does the little man do with this broken country?