Summary from Good Reads:
An extraordinary, propulsive novel based
on the true story of a family of Polish Jews who are separated at the start of
the Second World War, determined to survive and to reunite
It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer. The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships threatening Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland. But soon the horrors overtaking Europe will become inescapable and the Kurcs will be flung to the far corners of the world, each desperately trying to navigate his or her own path to safety.
My Thoughts:
This is the story
of the Kurc family and how despite being separated managed to survive World War
II as Polish Jews. Siblings, spouses and
parents are all separated at various times, some merely by city blocks but
others by continents. Some of the Kurc
siblings are simply in hiding but some are captured and sent away to horrible
places to work and barely manage to survive.
I will admit that
at first I had a hard time keeping all of the characters straight-there are a lot
of them! The alternating POV chapters made it a little harder but once I
settled into the story the characters became real people. The characters are all amazing and this is a
truly great story-so much so that I cannot wait to read it again! The things
that this family must go through just to survive are unthinkable.
This isn’t just a
story of war but that of survival and love that is based on the real life of
Georgia Hunter’s grandfather and his family.
When I read this in the author’s notes at the end, the story became just
that much more meaningful to me. This is family doing everything they can to be
together again and to ensure that they all make it through one of the worst
tragedies in world history.
4.5/5 stars
To see more info about the family, check out the author's site:
No comments:
Post a Comment