Glenn Haybittle

This was an impassioned story of love and brutality, told from multiple points of view over a span of several years, before and during WW II.
Isabella and Freddie had barely begun their life together when war separated them.
What most struck a chord with me was the character Oskar, and his love for his daughter Esme. How do you teach a child so young that the "bad people" want to hurt you just because you are Jewish? To hide who you are for your own safety but to not give up hope. There was so much ugliness, and desperation but Esme never gave up hope because of Oskar.

This was a thought provoking tale of the cruelty of war and I can't count the number of times my heart was in my throat and tears were in my eyes.

I received a complimentary copy for review.
… (más)

The author writes with such imaginative prose and wonderful description. I was there right with Alowa feeling red mud painted on my feet, pebbles between my toes, and a spider crawling around my ankles. Beautiful imagery as we the reader try to piece together exactly what is happening in the narrative. It’s meant to be very disjointed, with only bits of concrete information offered. There is the sense of a dystopian world we assume to still be Earth as Alowa and Solstice struggle to find answers through periods of consciousness and sleep.

My favorite part was when the narrative switched over to present day in the second section and became more clear. Zinnia and her son Felix, who is being bullied, were compelling characters and we follow them backwards in time as they connect to characters in other timelines.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the author.… (más)

This book is both beautifully written and heartbreaking in equal measure. This is the first Glenn Haybittle novel I have read, but not the first Holocaust novel I have read. This novel competes with the best of what I have previously read. Told through the eyes of Ala Silberman and her uncle Max Silberman. Ala is an aspiring ballet dancer from a Jewish family who would definitely be considered well off. As a young woman she finds herself going from living a cultured life inside Warsaw, Poland to having to adjust to the increasing pressures placed on Jewish people as Hitler’s power rises. Ultimately it culminates in Ala and most everyone she knows becoming interred inside the Warsaw Ghetto. The characters are richly described and complex. Each event is heart wrenching, and even though these stories may be familiar to many, they are no less horrifying each time they are told. I spent a lot of time hoping that there would be a happy ending for at least some of the characters involved and as events unfold it becomes clear that is not something that will be realized. Definitely an emotional story that is hard to read at times, but well worth reading. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.… (más)