The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman – 372 pages

ARC from Simon and Schuster and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Book Blurb:

In Berlin, at the time when the world changed, Hanni Kohn knows she must send her twelve-year-old daughter away to save her from the Nazi regime. She finds her way to a renowned rabbi, but it’s his daughter, Ettie, who offers hope of salvation when she creates a mystical Jewish creature, a rare and unusual golem, who is sworn to protect Lea. Once Ava is brought to life, she and Lea and Ettie become eternally entwined, their paths fated to cross, their fortunes linked. Lea and Ava travel from Paris, where Lea meets her soulmate, to a convent in western France known for its silver roses; from a school in a mountaintop village where three thousand Jews were saved. Meanwhile, Ettie is in hiding, waiting to become the fighter she’s destined to be. What does it mean to lose your mother? How much can one person sacrifice for love? In a world where evil can be found at every turn, we meet remarkable characters that take us on a stunning journey of loss and resistance, the fantastical and the mortal, in a place where all roads lead past the Angel of Death and love is never ending. 

My Review: 4.5 stars

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The World That We Knew is a literary book that has deep and symbolic undertones. I love all Alice Hoffman books and this one is no exception. The Golem (Ava) was an added bonus for me as I love the very idea of them. It’s a little known aspect of Jewish history and I love that Alice Hoffman, a mainstream author, is bringing the idea of it, as well as more stories of the Jewish persecution to the masses.

Through strong storytelling and a richly layered story, I was immersed in the the many characters lives. Sisters, brothers, and mother/daughter relationships stood out strong throughout the book. Each character had a uniquely individual storyline yet they all had a common denominator. They showed incredible courage, immense strength, and emotional hardship as the atrocities were everywhere. As they grew, the reader was able to see how they changed from small and innocent to hard and weathered.

Hoffman brought to light many places and unknown stories from the Holocaust that I found myself Googling. The magic of the Golem of the mysticism of the Heron offered a presence that was needed in the story. They made for a richer reading experience. As many of you know, Hoffman is known for adding touches of magic into most of, if not all of her books; it’s one of my favorite things about her writing. This one read lyrically although I’m not sure if that came from the narration or not. I listened to the first half and read the second half, so I had Judith Light’s (remember her from Who’s the Boss?) beautiful rendering in my head.

If you’re a fan of historical fiction, especially Jewish historical fiction, you should for sure pick this one up.

Quotes I liked:

If you are loved, you never lose the person who loved you. You carry them with you all your life.”

“When you were young you were afraid of ghosts, and when you were aged you called them to you.”

“Night after night, in the trees or in the grass, Lea dreamed of her mother. She heard Hanni’s voice in the wind, in birdsong, in falling leaves. I was with you when the roses bloomed with silver petals, when you saw Paris for the first time, when that boy looked at you, when you learned prayers in the convent, when you ran through the woods”.

‘If a soul was formed by meaning and purpose, did not every blade of grass have a soul, for each had a purpose.”

“That was how evil spoke. It made its own corrupt sense; it swore that the good were evil, and that evil had come to save mankind. It brought up ancient fears and scattered them on the street like pearls. To fight what was wicked, magic and faith were needed. This was what one must turn to when there was no other option.”