Overview
It is May 2014, and Dr. Klara Lieberman—forty-nine, single, professor of archaeology at a small liberal arts college in Maine, a contained person living a contained life—has just received a letter from her estranged mother, Bessie, that will dramatically change her life. Her father, she learns—the man who has been absent from her life for the last forty-three years, and about whom she has long been desperate for information—is dead. Has been for many years, in fact, which Bessie clearly knew. But now the Polish government is giving financial reparations for land it stole from its Jewish citizens during WWII, and Bessie wants the money. Klara has little interest in the money—but she does want answers about her father. She flies to Warsaw, determined to learn more.
In Poland, Klara begins to piece together her father’s, and her own, story. She also connects with extended family, begins a romantic relationship, and discovers her calling: repairing the hundreds of forgotten, and mostly destroyed, pre-War Jewish cemeteries in Poland. Along the way, she becomes a more integrated, embodied, and interpersonally connected individual—one with the tools to make peace with her past and, for the first time in her life, build purposefully toward a bigger future.
Review
Klara has just discovered her mother has lied to Klara her whole life. Klara has been told that her dad left them, abandoned her. When the truth is, he was killed in a train accident. When Klara discovers the truth, she immediately takes a sabbatical from her job as a professor and travels to Poland to uncover her father’s past and to reconnect with his family. It is not as easy as she expects.
Klara has been neglected for most of her life by her mom. So, my heart really went out to her when she discovers the truth. But, this does not stop her. I loved her tenacity and her intelligence. She also has some hang ups from her childhood and she struggles to overcome these challenges as she tries to navigate her new world.
This story is full of self-discovery history, mystery, family drama and a little bit of romance. I enjoyed the setting of Poland and especially the family history and emotional tales of the Holocaust.
Need a novel about family that is full of history and drama…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
Purchase Here
reecaspieces 