Drawing upon a long-suppressed episode in American history, when thousands of German immigrants were rounded up and interned following the attack on Pearl Harbor, In Our Midst follows one family, the Austs, as they struggle to stay together in a new America—one gripped by hatred, suspicion, and fear.
Nina and Otto Aust, along with their teenage sons, feel the foundation of their American lives crumbling when, in the middle of the annual St. Nikolas Day celebration in the Aust Family Restaurant, their most loyal customers, one after another, turn their faces away and leave without a word. The next morning, two FBI agents seize Nina by order of the president, and the restaurant is ransacked in a search for evidence of German collusion. Ripped from their sons and from each other, Nina and Otto are forced to weigh increasingly bitter choices to stay together and stay alive.
(Nancy Jensen’s novel The Sisters was a #1 Indie Next Pick and was listed by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Fiction books of 2011. She has received grants and fellowships, and her first book, Window: Stories and Essays, was published in 2009. She teaches at the Bluegrass Writers Studio at Eastern Kentucky University.)
In Our Midst is available from Dzanc Books, as well as Barnes & Noble and Amazon.