An intricately woven story of tragedy and hope.
Shapiro presents a set of parallel stories, set in Germany in different eras.
In 1941, Josef Zohren is recruited at age 15 from his elite Gymnasium school and shipped off to training the next day to join the Einsatzgruppen, a special task force under the Schutzstaffel whose focus is on dealing with what antisemitic Germans call the “Jew problem.” He struggles to deal with the expectations of his role as a Nazi, and, and when he’s paired with Hans Bringmann, a loyalist to the cause, he begins to question where his own allegiance lies. In another storyline set in 1938, Max and Gerda Biermann, the Jewish owners of a toy store in Munich, are facing struggles of their own after the Nazi regime issues a decree that results in the loss of their business. After relying on Gerda’s incredible talent at making fine knit and crocheted animals and Max’s work as a day laborer to survive, they’re eventually forced into hiding by German soldiers, which upends their lives. Postwar Germany in 1957 finds 16-year-old Friedrich Becker grieving the recent loss of his adoptive mother, Minna. Spurred by her death to investigate the identity of his biological parents, Friedrich meets Sigrid, an orphan who works at an orphanage and joins him in his search. He remembers nothing of the time before his own adoption, but he has a crocheted bear named Bärli, which he had with him at age 4. Over the course of this layered narrative, Shapiro demonstrates an exceptional talent for storytelling as he highlights war’s capacity to separate people, but also to draw them together in common cause. Indeed, the story effectively shows how conflict can bind people together across generations and, as it happens, across time itself. As the various timelines intertwine, the author’s fine attention to detail results in a satisfying reading experience. Overall, the work ably reminds readers that although “there is no hope of creating a better past,” the future is still full of possibility.
An intricately woven story of tragedy and hope.Pub Date: June 17, 2025
ISBN: 9798998501517
Page Count: 324
Publisher: Brandylion Press
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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