The World That We Knew: A Novel
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL
On the brink of World War II, with the Nazis tightening their grip on Berlin, a mother’s act of courage and love offers her daughter a chance of survival.
“[A] hymn to the power of resistance, perseverance, and enduring love in dark times…gravely beautiful…Hoffman the storyteller continues to dazzle.” —The New York Times Book Review
At the time when the world changed, Hanni Kohn knows she must send her twelve-year-old daughter away to save her from the Nazi regime. Her desperation leads her to Ettie, the daughter of a rabbi whose years spent eavesdropping on her father enables her to create a mystical Jewish creature, a rare and unusual golem, who is sworn to protect Hanni’s daughter, Lea. Once Ava is brought to life, she and Lea and Ettie become eternally entwined, their paths fated to cross, their fortunes linked.
What does it mean to lose your mother? How much can one person sacrifice for love? In a world where evil can be found at every turn, we meet remarkable characters that take us on a stunning journey of loss and resistance, the fantastical and the mortal, in a place where all roads lead past the Angel of Death and love is never-ending.
On the brink of World War II, with the Nazis tightening their grip on Berlin, a mother’s act of courage and love offers her daughter a chance of survival.
“[A] hymn to the power of resistance, perseverance, and enduring love in dark times…gravely beautiful…Hoffman the storyteller continues to dazzle.” —The New York Times Book Review
At the time when the world changed, Hanni Kohn knows she must send her twelve-year-old daughter away to save her from the Nazi regime. Her desperation leads her to Ettie, the daughter of a rabbi whose years spent eavesdropping on her father enables her to create a mystical Jewish creature, a rare and unusual golem, who is sworn to protect Hanni’s daughter, Lea. Once Ava is brought to life, she and Lea and Ettie become eternally entwined, their paths fated to cross, their fortunes linked.
What does it mean to lose your mother? How much can one person sacrifice for love? In a world where evil can be found at every turn, we meet remarkable characters that take us on a stunning journey of loss and resistance, the fantastical and the mortal, in a place where all roads lead past the Angel of Death and love is never-ending.
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The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
365 pages
What’s it about?
It is 1941 and Hanni Kohn is desperate to get her 12-year-old daughter Lea out of Berlin and to safety. Seeking out a renowned rabbi, she instead meets Ettie, his precocious teenage daughter. Hanni and Ettie come to an unusual agreement. Ettie will create a mystical golem to protect Lea on her journey. For this, Ettie will get enough money for she and her sister to escape Berlin themselves. Set in France during the second World War, this novel follows Lea and her protector Ava as they leave Germany and try to travel through France to safety. In alternating storylines we also meet Victor and Julien, brothers who each escape capture as the Jews are being rounded up in Paris. When Julien and Lea meet they vow to stay alive for each other.
What did it make me think about?
How much I love Alice Hoffman's writing and how thankful I am that she is such a prolific writer!
Should I read it?
I am obviously a fan of Alice Hoffman and would read anything she wrote. This novel takes on good versus evil and Alice Hoffman writes a very unique story. This is a beautiful book!
Quote-
"Night after night, in the trees or in the grass, Lea dreamed of her mother. She heard Hanni's voice in the wind, in birdsong, in falling leaves.
I was with you when the roses bloomed with silver petals, when you saw Paris for the first time, when that you looked at you, when you learned prayers at the convent, when you ran through the woods.
Every time Ava took your hand, it was my hand that you held."
If you liked this try-
The Golem and the Jinni by Helen Wecker
The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Love & Treasure by Ayelet Waldman
The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
365 pages
What’s it about?
It is 1941 and Hanni Kohn is desperate to get her 12-year-old daughter Lea out of Berlin and to safety. Seeking out a renowned rabbi, she instead meets Ettie, his precocious teenage daughter. Hanni and Ettie come to an unusual agreement. Ettie will create a mystical golem to protect Lea on her journey. For this, Ettie will get enough money for she and her sister to escape Berlin themselves. Set in France during the second World War, this novel follows Lea and her protector Ava as they leave Germany and try to travel through France to safety. In alternating storylines we also meet Victor and Julien, brothers who each escape capture as the Jews are being rounded up in Paris. When Julien and Lea meet they vow to stay alive for each other.
What did it make me think about?
How much I love Alice Hoffman's writing and how thankful I am that she is such a prolific writer!
Should I read it?
I am obviously a fan of Alice Hoffman and would read anything she wrote. This novel takes on good versus evil and Alice Hoffman writes a very unique story. This is a beautiful book!
Quote-
"Night after night, in the trees or in the grass, Lea dreamed of her mother. She heard Hanni's voice in the wind, in birdsong, in falling leaves.
I was with you when the roses bloomed with silver petals, when you saw Paris for the first time, when that you looked at you, when you learned prayers at the convent, when you ran through the woods.
Every time Ava took your hand, it was my hand that you held."
If you liked this try-
The Golem and the Jinni by Helen Wecker
The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Love & Treasure by Ayelet Waldman
This book has left me devastated. The many brave people in France and Germany in 1941 to 1944 who gave their lives for strangers, astounds me. This book shines a light on those people the history and the love that still happens in times of tragedy and the ugliest time in our history. While it took some time to understand how the book and its characters would all come together, when it did the story was beautiful and tragic and leaves you a crying mess. Well done.
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