1942.
With the Nazi Party at the height of its power, the occupying army empties
Poland's towns and cities of their Jewish citizens. As neighbor turns on
neighbor and survival often demands unthinkable choices, Poland has become a
moral quagmire—a place of shifting truths and blinding ambiguities.
Blending
folklore and fact, Helen Maryles Shankman shows us the people of Wlodawa, a
remote Polish town. We meet a cold-blooded SS officer dedicated to rescuing the
Jewish creator of his son's favorite picture book; a Messiah who appears in a
little boy's bedroom to announce that he is quitting; a young Jewish girl who
is hidden by the town's most outspoken anti-Semite—and his talking dog. And
walking among these tales are two unforgettable figures: silver-tongued Willy
Reinhart, commandant of the forced labor camp who has grand schemes to protect
"his" Jews, and Soroka, the Jewish saddlemaker, struggling to
survive.
Channeling
the mythic magic of classic storytellers like Sholem Aleichem and Isaac
Bashevis Singer and the psychological acuity of modern-day masters like Nicole
Krauss and Nathan Englander, They Were Like Family to Me is a testament
to the persistence of humanity in the most inhuman conditions.
Now in Paperback!
Available October 4.
“One of the most original and
consistently captivating short story collections to have appeared in recent
years…(They
Were Like Family to Me) is
a singularly inventive collection of chilling stark realism enhanced by the
hallucinatory ingredient of top-drawer magical realism, interrogating the value
of art, storytelling, and dreams in a time of peril and presenting hard truths
with wisdom, magic, and grace.” —Jewish
Book Council
“Moving and unsettling…Like Joyce's Dubliners, this book circles the
same streets and encounters the same people as it depicts the horrors of
Germany's invasion of Poland through the microcosm of one village…Shankman's prose
is inventive and taut… A deeply humane demonstration of wringing art from
catastrophe.” —Kirkus Reviews
“...by turns forthright and tender,
oblique and intimate, brutal and ethereal…Though each story stands beautifully
on its own, it is the completed tapestry of interwoven details that finally
reveals the entire picture and provides the full emotional depth of the
collected stories…The author’s greatest accomplishment is in leaving the horror
to speak for itself, and instead giving voice to the enchantment.” —Historical Novel Society
They Were Like Family to Me
This book is profound and meaningful. Thanks for this great feature and giveaway which I would treasure and cherish. being Jewish this book is memorable and would be enjoyed. elliotbencan(at)hotmail(dot)com
ReplyDeleteThis one sounds really interesting! I am adding it to my TBR!
ReplyDeleteI love short stories. I am torn between so many. I love Back Again by Susan May & The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. Thank you for the giveaway.
ReplyDeleteThanks for featuring this book for the tour!
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds awesome and right up my alley. I do so love a great historical fiction read. The cover is quite eye catching too. Thanks for the review, Margaret, I'll add it to my TBR list. :)
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