Author Irene Magers new novel,”Coach from Warsaw,” is the first book in a trilogy about a family dynasty that begins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It begins with a fairly happy-go-lucky bachelor who can’t help but fall in love with a young woman he encounters one wintry night but doesn’t see again – or formally meet – for another long year.
The story unfolds with two sets of characters located in different, distant countries: Dr. Herman Zache and his daughter Dorrit, a Russian family of modest means, and German noble Baron Johann Von Renz and his entourage.
Zache, an anxious physician-turned-educator with deteriorating health, is constantly on the move for reasons the author doesn’t disclose until midway through the book. Dorrit adores her loving father and attributes his odd behavior to the sadness that has consumed him since the untimely death of her mother. The twosome move from czarist Russia to Poland and ultimately to Berlin via coach, where Dr. Zache eventually reveals his haunting past.
Baron Johann Von Renz, a wealthy but bored bachelor, moves from the rural countryside to the capital of Germany to challenge himself with a career in medicine. The baron and Dr. Zache meet at the university where the two develop a relationship of mutual respect, resulting in the eventual marriage of Von Renz to Dorrit.
Social dances, formal gatherings and meetings with the German count, kaiser and other courtiers become a routine lifestyle for the newly betrothed, unassuming girl, with striking red hair and brilliant green eyes. She is a threat to other women who have their eye on Von Renz, but a delight to the gentleman of the court who are drawn not only by her beauty but her knowledge of subjects such as art and politics. Dr. Zache had compensated his daughter’s lack of a dowry with the endowment of an impressive education.
Magers weaves in historical events, as well as humor and evocative detail for a colorful portrait of life of fin de si cle Germany. Readers will grow to love the well developed characters, chapter by chapter.
“Coach from Warsaw” is available for purchase in paperback online at Amazon.com or from Barnes & Noble Booksellers at bn.com. The second and third books in the trilogy, “Night Crossing to Athens,” and “Last Train from Berlin,” respectively, are also available.
