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About the book;
One of the darkest times in human history was the insane design and execution to rid the world of Jews and “undesirables.” At the hands of the powerful evil madman Adolf Hitler, families were ripped apart and millions were slaughtered. Persecution, torture, devastation, and enduring the unthinkable remained for those who lived. This is the story of one woman who lived to tell her story. This is a narrative of how a young beautiful teenager, Helen Stein, and her family were torn asunder, ultimately bringing her to Auschwitz. It was there she suffered heinous indignity at the hands of the SS. It was also there, in that death camp, she encountered compassion, selfless acts of kindness, and friendship. Written by the award-winning, best-selling author of His Name Was Ben, comes a story of the resilience of the human spirit that will leave you thinking about Helen Stein and The Seven Year Dress for years to come after the last page is shut.
My take on the book;
I am a huge fan of this autor but none of her books I have read thus far, got me to invest quite as much as this book.
To start with. I love the young girls attitude at the start. Another old woman, another sad story. It was so human and so true to life that instead of judging her, I was taking internal bets on how long she will last against this old woman, and this old story. I won, not long.
The characters pop in this book. I have always admired the fact that this author writes exclusively for charity of no kill shelters and even SPCA's funding relocating of pets to forever homes. She also always uses her writing to shed light on issues of tolerance and in showcasing narrowmindedness as the evil it is. Usually she does this by making one of the main characters gay. This time she again shed light on the plight of Gay men and woman internationally but she made the main character a non practising Jewish woman / child. One that grows into her own sexuality as she grows into the WWII in Berlin and interesting take on how nothing surpasses our own natural instincts.
But these characters have so much to them. So many levels to be explored, to learn to know and all of them is always firstly human, secondly what ever else will help the plot along. By the end of the book, when it is reitterated that this is a book of hope, not dispair I was picking at a tear for truly, this characters spirit is such that nothing would get her down for long. And yes, the book is about hope because in the telling of the story we get to see the worst and best of humanity and we see how the best wins out by sheer will. And a promise made not to live, but to live well. Ok, so yes, I love this book? Can you tell?
To start with. I love the young girls attitude at the start. Another old woman, another sad story. It was so human and so true to life that instead of judging her, I was taking internal bets on how long she will last against this old woman, and this old story. I won, not long.
The characters pop in this book. I have always admired the fact that this author writes exclusively for charity of no kill shelters and even SPCA's funding relocating of pets to forever homes. She also always uses her writing to shed light on issues of tolerance and in showcasing narrowmindedness as the evil it is. Usually she does this by making one of the main characters gay. This time she again shed light on the plight of Gay men and woman internationally but she made the main character a non practising Jewish woman / child. One that grows into her own sexuality as she grows into the WWII in Berlin and interesting take on how nothing surpasses our own natural instincts.
But these characters have so much to them. So many levels to be explored, to learn to know and all of them is always firstly human, secondly what ever else will help the plot along. By the end of the book, when it is reitterated that this is a book of hope, not dispair I was picking at a tear for truly, this characters spirit is such that nothing would get her down for long. And yes, the book is about hope because in the telling of the story we get to see the worst and best of humanity and we see how the best wins out by sheer will. And a promise made not to live, but to live well. Ok, so yes, I love this book? Can you tell?
While in college, she won awards and was published for her short-story writing. One of these stories, Something Wonderful, was based on the couple presented in His Name Was Ben, which she expanded into the fictionalized novel in 2014. The first week out, His Name Was Ben, made it to top ten books sold in the Amazon Kindle store (topic: health/wellness/cancer). Her first novel, The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap, made it to Amazon bestseller lists and won awards, including best historical fiction of the year 2012 in Turning the Pages Magazine.
Semi-retired, she continues to work part-time as a Nurse Practitioner in Ventura County. When she's not writing, she does pro-bono consultation work with women with cancer, works in the Westminister Free Clinic as a volunteer provider, volunteers as a mediator in the Ventura County Courthouse for small claims cases, and involves herself, along with her husband, in dog rescue.
Profits from her books go to help rescue dogs.
Thank you for featuring my book at your great site and for the terrific review. Love, Paulette
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