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I hope all of you are doing well and doing the best you can during this time.
I've read one other book by Monica Hesse, Girl in The Blue Coat, set during World War II Holland in the secret underground. In this new book, she has written the "after" of a story, the "after" concentration camps are liberated and the lives at least some of those who survived lived "after". Hesse, in her afterword, shares that most books set at this time usually finish the story at the end of the war. Few take the story further. I've read many books about the Holocaust, too, and she's right. While the books fill the stories with people of great courage, some who make it and some who do not, usually the ending is hopeful, but not detailed.
This story is of Zofia, a young woman recently liberated from a camp. She knows her family is gone, except for a young brother, nine, Abeck. She first travels to her old home with the help of a Russian soldier, only to find an empty ransacked place. She reunites with one old family friend, then moves on to a displaced persons' camp. Hesse lets us into the story by letting Zofia tell it. A first-person voice is powerful, and this time, particularly so because we are taken into her thoughts as she anguishes over decisions, analyzes what response is expected of her along with the response she could also give. Her mind twirls in choices, wondering what is right, what is not, how to protect herself. It's both a story to agonize over this life as a reader and one that made me wonder how the survivors managed? How did they create lives "after"? There are small bits of writing that show Hesse keeps the sad tone expertly. This is not a happy story. Once, upon waking, Zofia shares she must have slept longer than she thought, says, "It's still dark outside, but the sky is a dark bruise instead of an inky black." There are some moments of happiness of those who choose it with courage instead of sinking into the past. I kept hoping for Zofia while reading every page! Monica Hesse has given what must be only a glimpse of one person, but it opens new learning about the time in these lives I hadn't considered before. Her author's notes at the back are also wonderful to read.
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| Thanks to Candlewick Press for the copy! |
Khalil lives upstairs with his family ad Mr. Hagerty lives downstairs. They are old and young, love having cake and cold milk together to help cool off, and share a few secrets that make them smile. The story is about their days, told by Tricia Springstubb in a story of genuine empathy for others, made all the more wonderful by Elaheh Taherian's full-color illustrations.