The World That We Knew, by Alice Hoffman
Simon & Schuster - 2019
Fantasy - Historical
E-book
384 Pages
Fantasy - Historical
E-book
384 Pages
* I received this digital ARC courtesy of Simon & Schuster Canada, via NetGalley in exchange of an honest review. This does not influence the following opinions which are my own.
My Rating (out of 5)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
First off, you should know that "war stories" are NOT my thing. I really hemmed and hawed about whether I wanted to read this book. While the time and place of the story would normally have me giving it a hard pass, something about it spoke to me and was quite insistent that I do read it. So when I gave it 5 stars, that is saying a lot. I am so glad that I read this book.
The story begins during the rise of the Nazi forces to power. As they gain power and momentum and their agenda becomes better known to the people, widow Hanni Kohn knows she cannot leave, but she also knows that to save her twelve year old daughter Lea, she must send her away. To ensure her safety, she plans to ask a Rabi to create a golem - a magical creature resembling a person but made with earth and clay, to travel with Lea and protect her. In the end, it is the rabi's daughter Ettie that creates the magical creature in order to use Hanni's payment to provide for her own and her sister's escape, for she too knows that to stay is almost certain death. Their creation - named Ava, is mother's love personified.
Lea and her golem protector Ava, head off to France, as does Ettie and her sister. Over time, Lea falls in love and faces a moral and heart rending dilemma, Ava dances with a heron and discovers that she is more than what she was made to be - that she loves deeply though was never intended to, and Ettie becomes a fighter for the resistance. Their paths twist and cross each other as their greater story unfolds, all the while, the angel of death is near.
Despite the horrors of the war, there is definitely a beauty to the story. Hoffman's prose, as always, is stunning. The story is filled with loss, love, sacrifice, determination and survival. The magic strongly based in folklore, the history real, and the characters both believable and likable. The story is heart rending but at the same time heart warming The contrast of immeasurable love against the evil and horrors of the war is powerful and moving.
The World That We Knew is a stunning story that i won't soon forget.
The story begins during the rise of the Nazi forces to power. As they gain power and momentum and their agenda becomes better known to the people, widow Hanni Kohn knows she cannot leave, but she also knows that to save her twelve year old daughter Lea, she must send her away. To ensure her safety, she plans to ask a Rabi to create a golem - a magical creature resembling a person but made with earth and clay, to travel with Lea and protect her. In the end, it is the rabi's daughter Ettie that creates the magical creature in order to use Hanni's payment to provide for her own and her sister's escape, for she too knows that to stay is almost certain death. Their creation - named Ava, is mother's love personified.
Lea and her golem protector Ava, head off to France, as does Ettie and her sister. Over time, Lea falls in love and faces a moral and heart rending dilemma, Ava dances with a heron and discovers that she is more than what she was made to be - that she loves deeply though was never intended to, and Ettie becomes a fighter for the resistance. Their paths twist and cross each other as their greater story unfolds, all the while, the angel of death is near.
Despite the horrors of the war, there is definitely a beauty to the story. Hoffman's prose, as always, is stunning. The story is filled with loss, love, sacrifice, determination and survival. The magic strongly based in folklore, the history real, and the characters both believable and likable. The story is heart rending but at the same time heart warming The contrast of immeasurable love against the evil and horrors of the war is powerful and moving.
The World That We Knew is a stunning story that i won't soon forget.
Happy Reading,
Christine
No comments:
Post a Comment