July 6, 2021
Net Galley
Gallery Books
384 pages
ISBN:9781982158934
Historical fiction, digital, audio, arc, WWII
4/5
9/6/21-9/12/21
I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This review is my voluntary and unbiased opinion.
This novel reads like a moralistic fairy tale about being one with nature. Of course, things can appear magical but also dangerous at the same time. There is always a danger in trusting the wrong person too much. When raised in isolation it becomes difficult to discern what reality to believe. Unlike a fairy tale, much of the story originated from factual events of how some Polish Jews survived by retreating deep into the forest and swamp land. The author includes notes on her extensive research and inspiration regarding this book.
In 1922, an old woman Jerusza was 82 years old drawn by God to this home in Berlin to forever change the fate the child who lay inside. She had been watching Siegfried and Alwine Juttner living what she felt was a power hungry and aloof life. She knew things about people that others didn't. Her mother, who had killed herself with poisons in 1860, explained how the women in the family possessed a knowing of impossible things which was a gift from God for only the most fortunate Jewish women. Jerusza was the last in the bloodline and often felt it a curse to be burdened all her life following the voices which echoed from the forest. "But nature makes no mistakes, and now, as the sky filled with a cloud of silent blackbirds over the twinkling city, she knew the time had come."
By 1928, the girl was 8 years old when Jerusza had named her Yona which meant "dove" in Hebrew like the birthmark in the child's palm. She teaches Yona how to kill a man which confuses the girl who was taught how precious life is and should be protected. "Yes. But the most important life to protect is your own," Jerusza explained. She knew she needed to prepare the girl for the terrible things that were to come for she knew the day of her death would soon come.
After Jerusza died, Yona wandered the forest and one day found a young girl who collapsed in the forest. Yona cared for Chana, the 6 year old until she was well. Unlike Yona, she ran into the forest to escape the Germans and explained how they wanted to kill all Jewish people. Yona was shocked to learn about the world outside the forest and how dangerous it was to injure a small child. They find her parents Esta and Isaac who is in grave condition from a gun shot wound. Yona helps to save his life and stays with the family until they are well. When she suggests that it is time to move as they had been in the same spot for too long, Esta adamantly refuses Yona's help and insists that she is no longer needed. Five days later, Yona hears three gun shots and finds the family dead in the forest.
Soon Yona encounters more people in the forest who have escaped from the Jewish ghettos. She fears making herself known to others yet feels compelled to help them to survive. She teaches Aleksander how to catch small fish and make a fishing net so that he might feed the other 13 people in the forest with him. She volunteers to help the group from the city learn how to survive in the forest as the winter came. After awhile they encounter another group who are also trying to survive and hide from the Germans. With so many people living together there was bound to be some conflicts.
Yona leaves the group and finds herself wandering into the town which she meets more people who are people of faith and belief in God. They are not focused on religion but doing "God's work" by helping and protecting those trying to survive and escape persecution. By chance, Yona encounters a German commander who identifies as her biological father. Their reunion is met with mixed emotions and feelings about the state of the nation. She becomes torn between her acknowledgement that she is German by birth but raised by a Jewish woman in the forest.
The story is one of bravery, survival and conviction to one's beliefs and values. The events depicted in the novel were based on some real events of Jews who survived living in the forest to later share their experience with others.
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