Book Blurb:
Ana will never forget her mother’s face when she and her baby brother, Oskar, were sent out of their Polish ghetto and into the arms of a Christian friend. For Oskar, though, their new family is the only one he remembers. When a woman from a Jewish reclamation organization seizes them, believing she has their best interest at heart, Ana sees an opportunity to reconnect with her roots, while Oskar sees only the loss of the home he loves. Roger grows up in a monastery in France, inventing stories and trading riddles with his best friend in a life of quiet concealment. When a relative seeks to retrieve him, the Church steals him across the Pyrenees before relinquishing him to family in Jerusalem.
Renata, a post-graduate student in archaeology, has spent her life unearthing secrets from the past–except for her own. After her mother’s death, Renata’s grief is entwined with all the questions her mother left unanswered, including why they fled Germany so quickly when Renata was a little girl. Two decades later, they are each building lives for themselves, trying to move on from the trauma and loss that haunts them. But as their stories converge in Israel, in unexpected ways, they must each ask where and to whom they truly belong.
My Review: 4.5 stars
Once We Were Home by Jennifer Rosner was an evocative and moving novel that kept me up ‘til the wee hours of morning to finish. Although I rarely reread a book, I did reread this one before I wrote this review. Besides the incredibly interesting plot, I wanted to recall the small nuances that made this story come alive. I can’t believe her sophomore novel was just as good as her debut from 2020, The Yellow Bird Sings .
Told from the POV of four characters, Roger, Ana, Oskar and Renata, was the perfect way to present the story. These children were separated from their parents during the war for various reasons and this story focuses on the resettling of them after the war. Whether they were stolen, given away, or don’t know how they got to where they were, these children acclimated to their circumstance.
As the war ends, families and Jewish organizations begin to search for these missing children in earnest, often uprooting them for new lives they learned to love. Each of the characters are based on real stories of kids from WW2. I loved Rosner’s quiet way of telling a story, her words chosen thoughtfully and her ability to create such longing and angst in her characters. She instilled humor and hope by portraying authentic friendships and an abundance of riddles peppered through the story between two of the characters.
I was thrilled to see the character from The Yellow Bird Sings have a role in this book. The two books are complete standalones, however, fans of her first book will be thrilled with the cameo. I highly recommend this work of historical fiction!
Quotes I liked:
Well, what is a mother if not a nesting box.”
“How can you find what you don’t know is missing?”
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