The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I've read a lot of Holocaust fiction yet I keep being surprised that authors find new ways to describe both the mass horror and individual losses and triumphs in stories. This book was no exception.
The story is about two young Jewish people who fall in love in Prague just as WWII is beginning. While there is a short window of time when they can both leave Europe and escape the Nazis, and they marry hastily, ultimately the woman (Lenka) declines, preferring to stay with her family until they can all leave together. The book follows both her story, through the concentration camps of Europe, as well as her husband (Josef)'s resettlement in America. They quickly lose touch. Prior to the war, Lenka is an art student, so she survives the camps through creating art for the Nazis (as well as a great deal of resilience and of luck.) Josef makes a life for himself in America, but always wonders about his first wife who he left behind. Eventually Lenka makes it through the war and herself marries and has children as well.
It is only at their grandchildren's rehearsal dinner decades later that they accidentally reunite. The plot was an unusual twist, and I really enjoyed reading about the theme of art throughout the book. The writing was wonderful, and the characters very well-developed.
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