Thanks for joining me again! Last time we talked about the meaning of the term the Rubicon and how it is a fitting title for my new book of the same name. I shared about how choice after choice led protagonist Jakob Schmidt to his point of no return.
As an author who tends to fly by the seat of her pants, I always await a secondary character arc with great expectation, and this time, God gave me Christian Richter. You might remember him if you have read The Prodigal Sons (TPS).
When we first meet him in TPS, Christian is the heroic leader of Jakob Schmidt’s Hitler Youth unit. He is a few years older, tall, blonde, and blue-eyed, a young man who embodies heroism, confidence, and faithfulness to the Nazi regime. At least, that is what we see. By the end of TPS, female lead character Emmy has discovered that he is someone quite different.
While there are things about his personal life that may not sit well with some readers, I feel that his story is important and well worthy of consideration.
In The Rubicon, a deep friendship blossoms between Christian and Emmy, and he attempts to reunite her with her estranged husband (Jakob). Christian also desires to face his own demons, yet reuniting the two lovers sends him spiraling back into the life he had hoped to escape.
Determined to try to change, he enlists in the army and qualifies to become an officer candidate. It seems that he has finally found the identity and purpose he longs for… but is it only another distraction from the aching truth underneath?
As we near the end of The Rubicon, Christian finds himself facing his own pivotal moment. Though he has determined to “lead a normal life,” and has successfully fought against his weakness for five years, his resolve is tested as his desperation for love mingles with the desperate conditions of the Eastern Front. After being abused as a child, and used for most of his youth, he has finally found someone who truly seems to care about him.
In an understated moment, Christian makes a choice that will end up costing him dearly but saving his life: he simply gets up and walks away. To have remained would have placed him directly in the path of a Russian bomb with no hope of survival, but he could not know that at that moment. His intention was to simply do what he believed was the right thing to do.
This was not an easy scene to include, but when we write truth into fiction, sometimes we have to be bold. We have to take risks. I hope that readers see the heart behind Christian’s entire story, the fact that he is one of my favorite characters, and the fact that I gush about him constantly on social media.
Further, I hope readers can see that Christian’s heart was to follow God all along. For many years, he just didn’t know how to do it. At first, he didn’t even try. Then he tried, but did so in his own strength. It was not until he lay recovering in a hospital bed that he reflected on this pivotal moment and realized that God must be the one to supply the strength to overcome his past.
We all want to overcome our weaknesses with the flip of a switch, but aptly-named Christian realizes that it won’t be that easy. At the end of the book, he says, “I’m willing to trust God for the things I haven’t figured out yet.”
Those who have been in combat often struggle to reintegrate into everyday life, even in the best of circumstances. Christian had added personal struggles. As a student of history I also think about his nation’s defeat in the war, the added shame of Germany’s crimes against humanity, and how the men of his era would have dealt with that in the years to come.
That’s a story for another time. Each of us could write a story about our search for identity, and how ultimately we only found it when we began to discover who we are in Christ.
Germany, 1935.
Jakob Schmidt joined the SS for the pride and prestige of the uniform. Now, all of Berlin lies before him, from career prospects to beautiful women who would like nothing more than to spend an evening in his company. Yet beneath the façade he carries moral injuries he wants no one to see.
Emma Vogel-Schmidt recently exchanged wedding vows with the young man she has loved since childhood. Now she finds herself estranged from him and full of regret. Jakob has given himself wholly to a regime she despises, but she wonders: did she allow politics to sever her from the love of her life?
She finds a lifeline in Christian Richter, Jakob’s former hero and mentor. A faithful friend who is hiding his own secrets, Christian devises a plot to reunite the young couple, and in so doing resolves to face his own demons.
While Jakob and Emma enjoy three years of wedded bliss, Christian finds a new identity as an officer in the swelling ranks of the German army. Will their joy withstand the devastation of war, or will they each be pushed past the breaking point?
Purchase The Rubicon here:
About Aubrey Taylor:
As a child, Aubrey spent countless hours creating characters and writing stories. This ended around age sixteen when music, friends and part-time jobs began to fill her time. After that came college, work, marriage, and children. It wasn’t until the world was beginning to come out of the COVID pandemic that God led her back to her love for writing, coupled with a passion she’d always had for history. It was time to start a new adventure!
Aubrey is the author of the German-perspective 20th Century fiction series, Gott Mit Uns. She lives in Upstate New York with her husband and three children. When she’s not writing or taking care of her home and family, she enjoys singing and dancing with friends from a German choir and a Bavarian folk dancing group. She is also a lover of Jesus Christ, The Holy Bible, history, tea, and cats!