September 1, 1939: Łódź, Poland is on the brink of invasion.
When the sirens begin, the professor is sitting at the Astoria Café.
The Astoria really did exist, but Professor Viktor Bauman is only a figment of a boy’s imagination.
In this work of historical metafiction, our present-day narrator recounts the story of Viktor Bauman, a disillusioned academic forced into the Łódź Ghetto, Elsa Dietrich, a captive Gestapo secretary, and Lieutenant Carl Becker, a troubled policeman whose fixation with Elsa is pushing him towards unspeakable cruelty.
The Requisitions is a novel about history, memory, and an author writing himself back into the lives of those who once lived.
“Vibrant, shadowed, compelling and ultimately symphonic, The Requisitions offers the gift of love in an impossible situation. What starts in a Polish town in a cafe in 1939 ends in the hearts of readers, everywhere, now. Moving and, as intended, memorable.”
Nor Hall, author of Those Women and The Moon and the Virgin
“… masterful prose and plotting, and a unique and imaginative approach to the subject, blending personal memoir, historical metafiction & philosophical inquiry into the deepest recesses of the human soul...sobering, unsettling...but comes out—just barely—on the side of a case for hope."
Janet Hulstrand, author of A Long Way from Iowa
“There is an inherent lyricism throughout this original and ambitious novel that seamlessly combines historical metafiction, memoir and cultural history along with philosophical inquiry. Deeply researched and masterfully constructed, The Requisitions traces the lives of captivating characters and leaves us with a deep sense of having traversed an arduous and unforgettable journey—during World War Two and beyond.”
Heather Hartley, poet, author of Knock Knock and Adult Swim
“The Requisitions achieves that rare success of bringing meta-fiction into focus … in the hands of this masterful storyteller, we are walked through this brutal piece of history, carried in and out of the personal while the political rains down upon the cafes, the apartments, the homes and lives of those on both sides of invasion.…it is no exaggeration to say I could not put it down. Bravo.”
Eleanor Anstruther, author of A Perfect Explanation
“Mighty writing. Powerful thinking and astonishing storytelling. Any book about the Nazi occupation of Poland must explore the depths of human cruelty but the necessarily hard-hitting sections are countered by hope and human kindness, as life is. The way historic and contemporary tales weave in and around one other is compelling; such an imaginative approach.”
—Feasts & Fables (Substack)
“The brutality of war lingers as an aftertaste in my mind alongside the undeniable warmth of friendship and loyalty. This is not a book for the faint of heart … I love books that make me think and examine my ideas of the world. The Requisitions forces me to assess the relationship between history and memory. Are they the same? How do they differ? How do we tell the story of those who cannot speak it for themselves?”
—Beyond the Bookshelf (Substack)
“This page-turning book is a must-read for all those who value the work of a master storyteller in command of his material.”
David A. Andelman, journalist & author of A Shattered Peace: Versailles 1919 and the Price We Pay Today