Toccata in "D": A Micro-Novel

Patrick Van Mil was a freelance writer in Banff, Alberta.

Christa Hoffman is an organist for a small German parish during World War II. She meets a hard-working, yet uninspiring, young German soldier who proposes marriage. After the marriage, she has an affair with her former lover. Feeling enormous guilt, Christa along with her husband emigrates to Canada to work on a farm.

Schroeder’s control of suspense throughout this story compels one to read on; but the ending,

another artistic statement on guilt, is a groaner. It seems trivial because the story, as is, isn’t believable. The author could have made the story into a full-fledged novel where the characters are fully developed to the extent the reader feels sympathy for their plight; or he could have concentrated on one event in the story and turned it into a good short story whose intensity reveals something both to the characters and the reader. Instead, Schroeder has combined both forms into a “micro-novel,” which doesn’t really go anywhere, giving only tantalizing tidbits to whet one’s appetite.