The year is 1937. On a remote hilltop some distance from Vienna stands a hotel called The Retreat. Founded by a man who is determined to cleanse himself and his guests of all Jewish traits, it is a resort of assimilation, with daily activities that include lessons in how to look, talk, act - in short, how to pass - as a gentile. But with Hitler on the march, the possibilities of both assimilation and retreat are quickly fading for the hotel's patrons, men and women who are necessarily - and horrifically - blind to their fate. | The Retreat by Aharon APPELFELD, Paperback | Indigo Chapters