Article 58

by Diana Mathur

Article 58, A Latvian Tale of Blood & Treasure. The 1940 world at war hardly notices Latvia, but for 17-year-old Karlis Perkons and his friends a choice emerges: fight back or die with their mothers.

Article 58 is Book I in The Linden Tree & the Legionnaire, a series inspired by the paintings and eyewitness accounts of Corporal Karlis Smiltens, the last surviving Latvian Legionnaire. As de facto war artist of the Latvian Legion, WWII's most misunderstood and controversial fighting force, Corporal Smiltens's full-color illustrations ground Article 58 in gritty authenticity. Smiltens has donated over two hundred artworks to the Riga War Museum.

134 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2016

Reviews

[Karen Dannenbaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't wait for the next book, absolutely intriguing, paints such a picture of Latvia during the war!

[DAGMARA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in Latvia during the first Soviet Occupation. Several older teens at risk for military conscription, yet still possessing the invincible spirit of their youth, plot resistance. Several of these young friends are sons of successful and prominent businessmen at a time when the Communist regime is seizing and nationalizing private industry. Diana Mather captures the tense atmosphere that must have pervaded those times, months of extreme uncertainty and fear as friends and acquaintances are arrested to disappear into the “Corner House.” A fashionable Riga residence, an art nouveau building on Lenin Street (formerly “Freedom Boulevard”), has been turned into a prison operated by the Cheka ( Secret Police) That the Checka employ torture and execution to extract information is common knowledge. Other citizens are simply summarily executed as enemies of the state under Article 58 which legalizes the practice. As foreign control strengthens, neighbors threatened with imminent execution or bodily harm readily accuse others, so trusting anyone else becomes extremely risky. The illustrations are works by Karlis Smeltens who served as a Latvian Legionnaire and whose works hang in the Latvian War Museum.
Setting the first novel of her fascinating historical fiction series in World War 2 Latvia bears witness to the many hours Diana Mathur must have devoted to researching this topic in Latvian archieves and in listening to eye witness accounts. An especially valuable contribution because this subject matter is so rarely addressed in English.

[Nicola Ranson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping account of a young man in Latvia during the Soviet invasion that preceded the Nazis in WW2. Based on Diana’s grandfather this is well researched and extremely exciting. It opened my eyes to yet another layer of what these poor people endured and why some were seen to have been sympathetic to the Nazis who took them out of one horror – and onto the next. However this is only the first of a trilogy and I have ordered the next to see what happens. Beautifully written and illustrated.