Stories set in WWII are especially emotional. Tinged with the sorrow of separation, invariably death and misery follow. When there are Jews involved it becomes even more complicated. You see how the actions of a single man effected millions of lives. You also see how people (some of them) did nothing to stop the carnage and others in a small but myriad ways helped individual people and in this way, nations survived.
We have two distinct families - one a Christian family. Recently having lost their mother in a tragic car crash, the father does not seem to be able to live in the same environment and despite having the care of two very young children, he enlists to fight. In the same building we have an older Jewish man. He lost his wife in the same accident, and now finds that with Germany invading Europe, his only son who went to Hungary to enroll in Jewish religious school is now missing with his wife and young daughter. Both survivors in this building fear the worst. One the war and the other the unknown because news of the Jewish incarceration was slow to reach the world. By the time it did, it was far too late for many.
On the sidelines we have a naive young woman Penny. She has always been in love with Eddie and volunteers her services to look after the children whilst Eddie is away. She is an extremely protected young woman with no self esteem at all and seems such a wrong choice. Eddie however gratefully accepts her offer not knowing that she is in love with him and hoping that this would give her an opportunity to win his heart over. The children do not like her taking care of them but the option of going to live with an unwilling grandmother is not one they want to accept so its no choice for them at all.
How all of them survive the two years of not knowing what the future will hold, the uncertainty of life and how they have to survive for their own sakes if nothing else is this story.
Very descriptive of Jewish rituals and the meaning of them (that was interesting) and the ties that bind families together was told very well. It took a while to actually get into the book but I am glad I persisted.
This was a free download from Amazon.
I am a fan of Lynn Austin's books. Glad this was a good read for you.
ReplyDeleteThis one sounds good to me
ReplyDeleteI am drawn to books set during this time period for some reason. I haven't heard of this book or the author, but this does sound good. Thank you for the warning about the slow start to the beginning of the book.
ReplyDeleteI just snagged this book at a library sale, so I'm glad to see you liked it. Thanks for the heads-up about it starting slow, though.
ReplyDeleteI think historical fiction set in this time period is interesting and usually sad. I haven't read this particular Lynn Austin book but I have seen it at my library. Glad you liked it.
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