A TOUCH OF EARTH

by Janina David ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23, 1969

A successor to A Square of Sky (1965) this continues the ""Wartime Childhood"" of Janina David, a Jewish child of the Warsaw ghetto who before long became a Catholic convent pupil, Danka Markowska. Before that she had been sent to stay in the country with Eric, a German hairdresser, and Lydia, his faithless wife. Throughout Eric considers her as his own although -- when pressed by the danger of discovery -- he sends her away to the convent, later moved to another installation. They are protected to a degree, but not from the cold, all kinds of deprivation, illnesses, hunger (the only meat in months ""a horse's jaw complete with teeth""). Emotionally attracted to the Catholic faith she assumes, she finds at the end an inability to reconcile God with the experience at Auschwitz and the anonymous death of her parents.... In terms of the many more terrible litanies which have appeared -- almost a hiatus, but not quite. A plain and softspoken account of genuine sympathetic interest, however late in terms of the modern reader's receptivity to an experience they have shared at this remove many, many times.

Pub Date: Sept. 23, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Grossman

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION