Hard by the Door — Martin Wilson

Returning by plane from a vacation in Las Vegas, Heinz Linge, who lives in New London, Connecticut, finds himself sitting next to Kate Mittelstein. Heinz and Kate have both bought the same snack to tide them over the journey. This leads to a misunderstanding which sees Heinz imagining that Kate is simply helping herself to his snack. Kate discovers her mistake in the luggage claim area when she realizes her snack is lying untouched in her carry-on bag. There is an earnest apology followed by an invitation from Heinz to have a drink together. Feeling ashamed of her behavior, albeit unwitting, Kate agrees. Thus begins the first major romance in the story. They settle down together and when Kate is expecting their first child Heinz finally tells her about his unbelievable past. He had told her he was Swiss. Now he confesses to being German. And then the greatest revelation: he was known by Hitler having served as his barber for a year. He is wracked with shame for not having killed Hitler when he had the chance. Hitler was, he told his wife, simply insane. Kate reminds him that she is half Jewish. Head over heels in love with his wife Heinz tells her jokingly that now they must stop seeing each other. Kate, equally besotted, tells him she will always love him regardless of what he hadn't done. Their first child is a boy who is clever and wins a place at Yale. Their second child is a girl who grows up to be a nurse. Fanaticism reappears in Heinz's life when his boy marries the daughter of a born-again Christian. Heinz recognizes in the born-againners the same spirit that fueled the Nazis in Germany. The story follows Heinz and Kate to their deaths and then switches to Elizabeth, their daughter. Elizabeth is in possession of Heinz's greatest secret. Adam, her brother, who has gained a PhD in the field of in vitro fertilization, plays a role in the birth of Sonny – a child of a colleague of Adam's father. Sonny becomes a famous architect and is given the task of creating a monument to all the victims of Nazi persecution. There are secrets here that only Elizabeth and her brother know. The story ends with brother and sister agreeing that they are right in taking these secrets to the grave with them.