Akin by Emma Donoghue

Donoghue is the author of mega-selling Room, for which she wrote the screenplay now airing on Netflix. Akin is her new book and the story of an odd couple. 

First there's Noah, a recently retired science academic about to turn eighty and celebrating it with a trip to France, his place of birth. Noah has never got over the feeling of abandonment when his mother, Margot, stayed behind in Nice during the war, to care for her famous photographer father, Pere Sonne, shipping off young Noah to his dad in New York. Armed with a bundle of obscure photographs, he hopes to make sense of those missing years, before Margot rejoined the family on American soil.

Enter eleven-year-old Michael, born on the wrong side of the tracks, the son of Noah’s nephew who died of an overdose, while Michael’s mother is jailed for a drug deal she probably had nothing to do with. Mere days before his trip to Nice, Noah is asked to care for the boy to prevent him going to foster care. There is nothing for it but to take Michael along to Nice too. It is an uneasy pairing: the urbane, cultured Noah, the foul-mouthed boy with an addiction to gaming and junk food.

But Noah toughs it out, it’s just a temporary arrangement, and the two explore Nice together and slowly form a bond. Along the way, Nice is described in all its glory and Noah is the perfect tour guide with his knowledge of French, the arts and of the town’s history. This history frequently turns to the war years and the secret life of Margot, the work of the resistance and in particular the Marcel Network who saved hundreds of children from the concentration camps. But which side was Margot on?

Akin is a brilliantly layered book, offering a heart-warming look at how blood can be thicker than water, and the characters of Noah and Michael so sensitively drawn so that you feel for each of them. There is the story of the developing art of photography and the images are described so well you can picture them in your mind. But it is the story of the war in Nice, the occupation and the slow unravelling of secrets that really draws you in.

This is such a rich read, I could almost read the whole book again and would be sure to find plenty more nuggets to enjoy. It's a brilliant book, and likely to be one of my top reads for the year. Happily it is in multiple formats, so while you can't access a print copy, you can order it as an ebook. See the links below.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: Akin (normal print copy)

Akin (large print copy)

Akin (ebook on Epukapuka)

The Book Shop of the Broken Hearted by Robert Hillman

I feel tricked; but in a good way. There are so many novels out there set in World War Two that I must confess I tend to avoid them after having read so many. The back of this excellent novel says it is set in rural Australia in 1969, the title was interesting, and the cover caught my eye. But wait, there’s more.

Kind-hearted farmer Tom is recovering from a disastrous marriage to the troubled Trudy; made much worse by the fact that he adored his wife’s young son Peter (not Tom’s biological son) who has left to live in a dubious religious community with Trudy. Then Tom meets Hannah, who has opened a book shop in the township, and they begin a lovely relationship. Except that Hannah is a Hungarian Jew who lost all of her family at the hands of the Nazis, including her young son at Auschwitz. Of course.

We learn about the horror of Hannah’s past life experiences as well as Peter’s desperate efforts to be reunited with his beloved Tom. The Australian rural community feature strongly and local colour is perfectly captured. There are barriers to Tom and Hannah’s relationship due to their disparate worlds and things do not always go smoothly.

This is a novel about lost souls trying to find love and make it work in a complicated world, and of two very different people both grieving for those they have lost.

I loved this book. As with many good books I did not want it to end but read it quickly because I had to know how everything turned out. Robert Hillman is an award-winning writer and an excellent storyteller who writes very elegantly without being sentimental.

One of the best books of my reading year and highly recommended.

Reviewed by Katrina

Catalogue link:  The Book Shop of the Broken Hearted

Sarah’s Key a film by Gilles Paquet-Brenner

Based on the novel by Tatiana de Rosnay, this is a moving film which links an event in Paris during World War Two with a woman’s discoveries around her husband’s old family apartment. In 1942, the Jewish Starzynski family are rounded up by the police for transportation to Nazi concentration camps. Thinking she will be back soon to free him, little Sarah locks her younger brother in a cupboard, setting in motion a train of events that will haunt her the rest of her life.

American journalist, Julia Jarmond, is living in Paris with her French husband, renovating an old apartment that has been in her in-laws’ family since the war. While researching a story around the arrest of Paris Jews in 1942, she stumbles on a link with the apartment and finds herself investigating what happened to the Starzynskis.

This is a sensitive drama that takes an aspect of the Holocaust and makes it very personal. Kristin Scott Thomas has that knack of portraying the emotions you feel as the story of what happens to Sarah unravels. There’s another amazing performance by young Sarah, played by child actor, Melusine Mayance, a rising star perhaps? Beautifully and atmospherically filmed.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: Sarah's Key, the movie
Catalogue link: Sarah's Key, the novel

Recommended reads about the Holocaust

Auschwitz: the complete guide by Perry Buck

“That’s a weird title,” said my work colleague as she brought my reserved book to me. Her tone suggested that she didn’t quite approve of my reading choice. Auschwitz: the complete guide is, as the title suggests, a guidebook to visiting Auschwitz, but it is also much more. In 1992 Perry Buck was on his OE with a friend (he’s British). 

They had been tramping in Poland when the friend suggested they visit Auschwitz. Perry was hesitant because he didn’t want to feel it was just another tourist stop. He felt that the place was too important for that. Albeit reluctant to go, he did.

Perry Buck became a journalist and travel writer. He has been to Auschwitz many times since that initial visit. His book is much more than a travel guide. The first part covers the history of Oświęcim, the town where Auschwitz came to be sited, and of Poland itself. 

The next section describes the rise of the Nazi Party and the Third Reich, leading into the invasion of Poland and the start of World War II. It describes their desire to rid Europe of Jews, and the steps they took. This section finishes with the end of the war and the aftermath. 

The third section is about Auschwitz and its continuing impact and significance. It is the fourth part that forms the travel guide, and contains valuable information and advice for planning a visit.

The final section covers other places to visit in Poland, including other death camps and Kraków.

Even though I am not planning to visit Auschwitz in the near future, if at all, the book was very interesting and informative. A must-read for anyone who does want to visit, but also for those interested in learning about the Holocaust.

My grandfather would haveshot me: a black woman discovers her family’s Nazi past by Jennifer Teege

This was the very next book on my reserves list, and what a perfect follow-on to Auschwitz: the complete guide. Perry Buck actually mentions Jennifer Teege’s book in the section about other camps in Poland.

Jennifer is a half Nigerian German woman, born in 1970. She was fostered out when a baby, but spent many weekends with her mother and her grandmother until she was officially adopted by her foster parents when she was 7. 

When in her 30s, Jennifer was looking for something on depression to read in the local library. She took a book from the shelf and was surprised to recognize the woman in the photo on the cover – it was her birth mother. She borrowed the book and read it through in one sitting, for she learnt through that book that her mother’s father was Amon Goeth, the commandant of Płaszów concentration camp. He was the commandant, played by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List who liked to shoot random concentration camp prisoners from the balcony off his bedroom, while his lover, Ruth Irene Kalder, Jennifer’s beloved grandmother, lay on the bed in the room.

Jennifer tells the story of how she came to terms with her family history, and finally overcame the depression that had dogged her much of her adult life.

Two very different books on a related subject – the Holocaust. I recommend them both.

Reviewed by Jessie Moir, Hastings District Libraries