I read this book not knowing anything about the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, other than he was a pastor who lived during the second world war. It was very easy to read, with familiar language and cleverly written in a narrative style. It would translate well into a drama, as there is only one main scene set in a girls’ schoolroom in Flossenburg, Germany. The prisoners in this room have been brought from various parts of Germany at the end of the war, to live in a state of hope or despair depending on their offences. It is this state that makes them each have their own personal consultation with the well-known protestant pastor who put his God before the Fuhrer. Through their questions on life and death, Bonhoeffer tells his own story of conversion and a passion for the word of God no matter where this takes him. His famous quote ' I intended to master God - but He mastered me' led him through the fear of prison and death and eventually to the hangman's noose.

A riveting and inspiring read that makes me want to delve more into this man of God.

Ruth Aird, ETS & Bruntsfield Evangelical Church