Author: Heather Morris

I’d heard a lot about this book and it was recommended by many of my friends. It is a novel, but based on a true story.

Lale, a Slovakian Jew, is transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. He makes a vow to himself that he will do whatever is necessary for him to leave the camp when the war ends. He ends up getting the job of tattooing numbers on the wrists of the tens of thousands of people who enter the camps, many of whom will never leave. He falls in love with Gita, who won’t even tell Lale her last name because she never expects to leave the camp.

Life for both of them is unspeakably hard although Lale’s connections help Gita get a less strenuous job in the camp. The stories Lale tells are so inhumane it is so hard to fathom how anyone could do these things to anyone else.

After three years they manage to leave the camp, but not together or at the same time. They eventually find their way back to one another, with the help of the Red Cross.

Goodreads Rating: * * * *

Author: Marina Endicott

I’m not sure where I got this book from or who recommended it but it’s been on my shelf for a long time. I know I was avoiding it; when I went looking for a book I saw it but never wanted to read it.

It’s a good book so whatever put me off it was silly. The story takes place in Saskatoon, although you’d never know it except for some mention of street names (8th Street, Avenue R, etc.) and a few locations (The Senator and the Pat).

Clara is a forty-ish woman who has taken care of both her mother and father as they were dying. One day she is involved in an accident with another car that held an entire family. When the mother, Lorraine, is taken to hospital it is discovered that she has lymphoma. Clara brings the rest of the family to her home – Clayton, the husband, three children, and the mother-in-law. Clayton disappears in her car but is soon replaced by Lorraine’s brother Darwin.

Clara loves the children and she is making plans for what she will do when Lorraine passes. But what happens when Lorraine recovers and lays claim to her family again?

Goodreads Rating: * * * *

Author: Kristin Hannah

It is hard to believe this book is written by the same author as Firefly Lane. The Firefly series was a nice story (like a beach read) but this one has some real depth to it. I checked the publication dates; this one was written five years earlier than Firefly Lane.

Vianne and Isabelle are sisters living in France at the beginning of the Second World War. Their father came back from the Great War a damaged man and, when his wife died, he more or less abandoned his daughters. Vianne married young and Isabelle was sent off to a variety of boarding schools, all of which she managed to escape or be expelled from.

When the Nazi’s take over France Vianne’s husband is sent to the front and Vianne is forced to billet Nazi soldiers in her house. Isabelle is convinced she can do something to aid the French in the war and soon joins the Resistance.

The story follows all the character through to the end of the war with vignettes that happen several years after the war. I loved the stories and it has been a long time since the ending of a book made me cry.

Goodreads Rating: * * * * *

Author: Armando Lucas Correa

Although I enjoyed the book, it is the true story that it was based on that I found more interesting. In 1939, 937 Germans boarded the MS St. Louis expecting to disembark in Cuba and escape the ever-increasing anti-Semitic persecution in Berlin. Before they could board they had to purchase visas and purchase return tickets although there was never any intention to return. They also had to turn over all their possessions for this one chance to escape.

When the transatlantic liner docked in Havana the entry rules had changed and only 28 passengers were allowed to enter the city. The remainder, after being turned away by the United States and Canada, were allowed entry into the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and France. With the exception of those who landed in the UK, it was only a short time before they were submitted again to the persecution they had hoped to escape and many died in concentration camps before the end of the war.

The novel is told from the point of view of Hannah, a 12-year old at the time of the crossing, and Anna her 12 year-old great niece. Hannah and her mother were able to land in Cuba but her father, her best friend and his father were sent away. Life in Cuba was not easy for the family as they always felt unwanted. Anna’s father, Hannah’s nephew, was killed in the 9/11 towers before Anna was born. Anna knew very little about her father and during a trip to Havana the gaps in Hannah’s story are filled in.

Goodreads Rating: * * *