I watch Vati’s face change. He guffaws. ‘Is that all?’

It’s the best I could do in the moment.

‘Well, could you?’

‘No, Herta. The front row is reserved for men of importance and their families.’

‘That’s a shame.’

‘He really admires the Führer, eh? And the daughter, Erna, isn’t it? I hear good things about her. I asked your brother about this Erna, as you seemed to be spending a lot of time with her. He said she is very highly regarded in HJ circles. These are the sort of friends you should be spending your time with. Well, I could probably swing an invitation for the evening party. Leave it with me – I’ll see what I can do.’

‘Thank you, Vati. They will be so grateful.’

‘Yes, yes, but no promises. Is there anything else?’

‘Nothing else.’

‘Then you must let me get on. I’ve urgent matters to deal with.’ He waves a hand dismissively at me and goes back to the paperwork on his desk. I stare at the top of his head, bent over his half-written letter. He picks up his pen, the nib scratching as it moves across the page.

You failure, Herta Heinrich. You are no better than a worm, putting your own interests before that of the Fatherland. Once, you pledged yourself to me. And now? Are you a deserter?

A sickness settles at the base of my belly. The rot remains and I know of only one way I can properly rid myself of it for good, though I dread it.

Mutti has gone to visit a children’s home in Burghausen. She hopes the SS-run home and school will be a model for her own venture. With Vati working behind the closed door of his study, there is no one; Karl’s absence is stronger than ever.

Restless, I wander into the garden room. Outside, the colours of summer have gone. The huge tree has shed its leaves, exposing the great bulk of the treehouse I never visit any more. For a moment, I ache to see Erna. I should go and apologise, come clean and tell her about Walter. But I can’t, I’m not brave enough. I pick up today’s Leipziger from the table and turn the pages, hoping for a distraction as I scan the headlines.

COUNTRY-WIDE TOUR FOR DUKE AND DUCHESS OF WINDSOR!

NEW CAR COMPANY, VOLKSWAGEN, PLANS AFFORDABLE CAR FOR EVERY MAN IN GERMANY!

BRITISH DELEGATION VISIT LEIPZIG, TO ADMIRE SPEED AND EXTENT OF MOTOR-ROAD NETWORK.

Then:

ACCLAIMED GERMAN ACTRESS SET TO ROT IN JAIL AFTER CONVICTION OF RASSENSCHANDE

The well-known and previously highly regarded actress, Dora Heck, has been tried and convicted of the heinous crime of Racial Defamation. It is unusual for a woman to be convicted of such an anti-German crime, given that women are usually the victims of rape or sexual coercion by the perpetrator. In this case, however, the actress, who was close, our reporters believe, to some of those in the higher echelons of the Party, had travelled to London, under the guise of promoting her latest film. The Gestapo officers, who secretly followed her having received a tip-off from a concerned member of the public, discovered she was having unauthorised sexual relations with a German Jew now living in London. Upon her return, she was arrested, tried and found guilty. Before she was sent to prison, Fräulein Heck was subjected to the humiliation of having her head shaven and being paraded through the city centre as a warning to others not to repeat her mistakes.