I think I’m going to contemplate this one for a long time. It was such a heavy book. Richly layered and complex in the ways character and history tends to be when you humanize all participants in its making. The few thoughts I’m sitting with in these hours post completion, is that history matters and whose voices cultivate that narrative of history is of the upmost importance. 

Women are often sideline in the larger conversations of historical events that drastically shifts philosophy and way of life for the world. But usually at the crux and turning points of many of these historical events, women have helped lay and solidify the foundations. Vianne and Isabelle are two sisters in pre and post war France in the 1940s, experiencing what is collectively known around the world as one of histories most important lessons to learn from. 

Following these two sisters, most estranged for the entirety of the war and their perspectives on French nationalism and resiliency, makes for such an interesting dynamic and conversations about peace. For Isabelle, peace would only come when Fran’s had reclaimed occupation and freedom from Germany; but for Vianne, peace solely rested with the survival of her children. Watching their characters develop over the years they spent in France during WWII, made for a significant evaluation of self as a reader. I spent so much time placing myself in their shoes, wondering about my community and what the extension of my own gifts and connections could present to uplift and stabilize what was deliberately being broken.

I so badly want to think I would be a ferociously brave human, working with resistances to endure the freedom of my nation, but at the end of the day, I am human and I am a part of a whole and maybe my ferocious bravery isn’t there, but needed elsewhere. It’s a powerfully written novel with dark and real themes about humanity. 

The best and the worst versions of ourselves. What we lean toward in times of survival and how we grow the small increments of power given to us, for the good of others or the gain of self. 

I usually don’t enjoy deeply entrenched books about war, but Kristin does a fabulous job of detailing the war, adding nuance to the story, and elevating the voices of women and children so often left out of the narrative in significant and empowering ways. I appreciate her bravery and humility in writing this story well and presenting it readers with the care of a wounding history for Jewish people and a necessary reflection for all.