Serenade for Nadia

 Serenade for Nadia by Zulfu Livaneli; translated from Turkish by Brendan Freely  416 pages

From one of Turkey’s bestselling authors, Zulfu Livaneli (don’t feel bad, I had never heard of him before either), comes a novel of an extraordinary love story mingled with a forgotten real-life tragedy intermingled with a spy-like thriller that is hard to put down. It’s a story-within a story-within a story that is virtually seamless for the reader. If you enjoyed the complexity of Margaret Atwood’s “The Blind Assassin,” I think you will geek-out with this novel.

Story One takes place on a plane in 2001. (Nothing to do with 9/11.) Maya Duran is headed from Istanbul to Boston to visit a professor that she in charge of escorting when he came to Istanbul University. While her plane-mates are sleeping,  Maya wants to get the story she just lived down in writing. This part is not long and is interspersed through Story Two.

Story Two finds Maya, a single mom who has a demanding job at Istanbul University with a teenage sone who spends more tiem on his computer that he does anything else.  Maya has been selected to shepherd Professor Maximilan Wagner, now an elderly “German-born Harvard professor” who has come to lecture at Istanbul University.  He brought with him one a bag and a violin.

It has been fifty-nine years since Maximilan has been to Istanbul, not since the death of his wife in 1942, aboard the “Struma,” a shocking tragedy that “led to the death of nearly 800 refugees fleeing the Holocaust” for Palenstine.  Max has one other reason for making the trip from Boston…he wants to play once more at the place he last saw his wife. However, when a white Renault begins to shadow them, Maya becomes nervous and starts to research Maximilan. She enlists the aid of her son, whose computer skills are invaluable.  The scene of Maximilan playing one last time for his Nadia is nothing short of heartbreaking, so have tissues at hand.

Story Three is Maximilian and Nadia’s story. I could feel the love they had for each other wrapping around my heart.

Livaneli has created a story, or I should say stories, that will live within me for many days to come. “Serenande for Nadia” receives  5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Second Winter

The Second Winter by Craig Larsen    416 pages

I have read a lot of World War II novels, but Craig Larsen’s is one of the most realistically brutal that I have encountered. It’s a great read with a lot going on. Larsen has adapted wonderfully Guy de Maupassant's 1884 short story, “The Necklace.”

The story opens in East Berlin in August 1969. Angela Schmidt is a violinist, who, along with other members of an un-named orchestra, are returning to West Berlin. Their bus is searched. It’s an intense scene that sets up this powerful novel. Angela’s nerves are testd as she is smuggling a diamond necklace that bears the Romanov crest along with some photographs that had belonged to her father. Angela’s story comes up now and again throughout the story, but in all honesty, that part could have been left out.

Then the story moves to Poland where a teenage girl, Polina, is taken by the Nazi’s and forced into prostitution. The story shifts again to the main protagonist, Fredrik Gregersen. It’s now the second winter, a harsh winter with brutally cold temperatures, heavy snows and howling winds of the Nazi’s occupation of Denmark. I swear sometimes I could feel how cold it was.

Fredrik is a farmer who is barely getting by. He lives on a farm with his son and daughter. Life is brutal, made even more so by the Nazis. In addition to eeking out survival on her farm, Fredrik is involved in transporting Jewish refugees out of country. During one such event, an Old Jewish man is forced to leave a bag filled with jewels.

This is as far as I’m going to go with the plot as I’m afraid I might give it away if I haven’t already. I enjoyed this novel a lot. I wish there had been a list of characters as there were many and sometimes I had to refer back to previous chapters in order to keep them all straight.  But Polina, the young girl who appears in the beginning and the end, offers a searing portrait of what life was like under the Nazi occupation.

The Second Winter receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Refuge Denied: The St. Louis Passengers and the Holocaust

Refuge Denied: The St. Louis Passengers and the Holocaust by Sarah A. Ogilvie and Scott Miller   224 pages

 On May 13, 1939, the German passenger ship, MS St. Louis sailed from Hamburg for Havana. Aboard were 937 German Jews trying to escape the rise of Hitler’s Third Reich. All had landing permits for Cuba and many had waiting numbers for the United States. Before this voyage, the St. Louis had been a luxury liner. Captain Gustav Schroeder insisted that the passengers was no different than any other passengers.

Fifteen days later, the St. Louis reached Havana. Much to their surprise, the Cuban government denied the passengers entry. Negotiations lasted several days. Cuba continued to refuse, and Schroeder set sail for America. Pleas were submitted to President Roosevelt. Without hearing from him, the ship anchored in the waters off the coast of Miami. They were so close that the passengers could see Miami’s lights. With no word from Roosevelt, Schroeder has no choice but to return to Germany. I can’t imagine the fear the passengers experienced.

When the ship returned, the passengers were dispersed to four countries: England, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

The years passed. In the United States, the Holocaust Memorial Museum was constructed. Two employees, Sarah Ogilvie and Scott Miller began to wonder what happened to those 937 German Jews. Were they swept up in Hitler’s determination to rid the world of Jewish people? Did any survive the concentration camps? Did any make it to America?

So began the research project that became this book. In 1996, Ogilvie and Miller began the arduous task of tracking down 937 people. It was a daunting task considering WWII had been over for more than 50 years.

Ten years in the making (that’s how long it took to track down all 937), this book is filled with tales of death, survivorship, research, dogged determination and sometimes just plain ol’ luck. What affected me the most was the passenger list and the photographs from the boat. Pictures of people without names makes them less personal. When you sit down to read this book, be sure to have a box of tissues handy.

 

I give Refuge Denied: The St. Louis Passengers and the Holocaust 6 out of 5 stars