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Christine's Revolution

Book 1

Julie Cozens' first novel, grew from the discovery that her forebears lived through the German Revolution. She knew about the French Revolution but a German one? The combination of an unknown (to her) revolution coupled with learning about German great (x3) grandparents, inspired the writing of this book.

For most people, the reality of events in Germany during the twentieth century has unfortunately overshadowed the important consequences of the German Revolution in the nineteenth century. In her novel, Julie aims to inform and inspire readers and to highlight some of the influences of the German revolution on the world.

Christine Busch, a Jewish teenager, lives in Heidelberg, Germany when the 1848 German Revolution begins. Along with her father, Gottfried, and twin brother, Johann, she becomes a volunteer in the planned peaceful marches. They aim to make the German state of Baden a republic, to bring democracy and equality to all people and to unite the German-speaking states into one country, rather than many small, German-speaking kingdoms.

Christine’s story demonstrates the roles women took and the sacrifices they made during the German Revolution and highlights the struggles the German Jewish community experienced generations before the holocaust. It also shows how the German revolution impacted not only the future of Germany but many other countries, including America and Australia.

Reviews

Dr Michael Braun, Heidelberg City Archives

Christine's Revolution is a family history of a special kind: with great skill, author Julie Cozens uses the biographical perspective as an authentic narrative form. She takes the reader with her to a time in Germany when the hope for democracy and freedom and the disappointment of this hope touched each other very closely. Christine and her family grope their way out of their Jewish "otherness" into the longed-for normality - almost always in the awareness that this will not be achieved despite some progress. For a long time, but in vain, the reader hopes that the almost incomprehensible tragedy of the family being torn apart forever in the turmoil of the revolution of 1848/49 will not be the last word. But even this ending Julie Cozens is able to give a twist that has something of a new beginning. Historically close to the facts, a story has thus been created that could hardly be more worth reading.

Jacqueline Nugent, Author, The Glass Treehouse

Christine’s Revolution is a fascinating historical novel about a Jewish woman living in southern Germany in the nineteenth century during the German Revolution. The politics and social unrest of that period in Europe, demonstrates that even a failed revolution can transform society – a lesson of hope with similarities to the time we are living in. Well worth the read.