Two Brothers

Two Brothers is a novel by the British writer and screenwriter Ben Elton, published in London by Bantam Press in 2012. The story begins in Berlin in 1920: two baby boys are born almost simultaneously, raised in the same household by the same parents, sharing everything and treated as twins, though they are not blood relatives—one is Jewish, the other Aryan. In the early days, origins seem not to matter; the two boys are simply each other's closest companions. But as the Weimar Republic collapses and the Nazi movement tightens its grip, every shift in the political wind begins to seep into the life of their family: lineage is remeasured, friendship and kinship are repeatedly tested, and even the most ordinary neighbor's face may turn informer. The novel spans the years from 1920 to 1945, following the fate of the two brothers and the women, elders, and friends around them through the dark era of anti-Jewish laws, street violence, exile, and war, until they are forced to confront an almost unbearable choice—who, in extreme circumstances, can survive. Drawing on his own family history, Elton interweaves humor with grave subject matter, and critics have regarded the book as his most personal novel.