1944 Diary is set in the Dutch city of Delft during the 2nd World War. But the War is very much in the shadows. just a backdrop. It is more about the author’s struggles and doubts about his ability to be a writer, his inclination to be a doctor, and the conflicts of his feelings for his wife and child and his mistress. The author, Hans Keilson, is a German of Jewish faith. He is in hiding in Delft. Not to spoil the ending, he survived the war and lived to age 101, a significant writer, poet, doctor, and psychoanalyst – he died in 2011.