The Hare with the Amber Eyes days 12 & 13

The first World War is a calamity for all the sophisticated families whose business and relationships span the continent. All sorts of racial rivalries and nastiness are emerging  and of course the Jews are a prime target for everybody - perhaps no more than usual, but with that loosening of the thresholds for violence that war brings.  The domestic life of the Ephrussi family, after an initial panic - where is it safe to be? - continues in Vienna. I'm struck by the battle that the girl Elizabeth has to get an education - girls don't go to the gymnasium, but there are a small  number who, if they pass the exam, can go on to the university.  I like the mixture of the macro (WW1) and the domestic - maybe it was like this in the WW2 when my mother was a child. Although Vienna isn't under fire, the bombing of civilians and cities hasn't started, the dangers are in the upheavals and being in the wrong place - like being in the path of the armies fighting in Russia.