Publishers Weekly
07/26/2021
In this exquisite piece of historical fiction, Feldman (Paris Never Leaves You) explores post-WWII Germany as viewed by a Jewish woman who escaped as a child. Meike “Millie” Mosbach fled Germany at 16 in 1938 with her younger brother, David. During the war, the two began new lives in the U.S. She studied at Bryn Mawr and began a career in magazine publishing, while he enlisted in the Army and underwent intelligence training. In late 1945, both return to Berlin, where Millie helps the Army root out former Nazis from the publishing industry and David helps rescue displaced persons. Meanwhile, Millie searches for their parents and younger sister, Sarah, who were unable to secure passage out of the country. Millie returned with a black-and-white view of the world—Germans bad, Americans good—and Feldman does a good job tracking her education of the gray area (“You lost family to the Nazis. I lost family to both sides,” a German woman tells her). This will stay with readers long after the final page is turned. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
NAMED ONE OF BOOKBUB'S BEST HISTORICAL FICTION 2021
A LEE WOODRUFF PICK
"A gorgeous, shattering novel that could not be more timely about the dark damage of hatred and the persistence of love."
—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Is This Tomorrow
"This exquisite piece of historical fiction... will stay with readers long after the final page is turned."
—Publisher's Weekly
"[A] moving, unsentimental tale, which is also a love story"
—WSHU Public Radio, NPR
"Feldman has captured that period in time when the world and the lives of its survivors was in tatters. Millie finds love but much more: She finds herself. This vivid novel should be required reading for those who are wondering why we still to this day find that it is far easier to hate other people than to pause and try to understand them."
—Historical Novel Society
"An illuminating historical drama with plenty of action and even some romance, evoking a lesser-known historical period"
—Book Page
"[A] thoughtful and affecting page-turner."
—Kirkus
"Feldman steers her characters into the gray areas where it is important to look beneath the surface to find the truth and to extend forgiveness to oneself as tenderly as it is offered to others.”
—Booklist
"Engrossing"
—BookBub
"Written in such graceful prose... should appeal to anyone with a willingness to be moved and entertained by an unusually poignant, if occasionally painful, war story."
—East Hampton Review
"Any history fan will enjoy this"
—East Hampton CT Library
"Ellen Feldman masters the two great challenges of the historical novel, mapping the human heart as expertly as she does another time and place A terrific read, brilliantly written."
—Kevin Baker, author of Dreamland and Paradise Alley
"Postwar Berlin springs vividly to life in this engrossing, emotionally powerful novel ...Millie is Feldman’s most complex and engaging character yet: tough, smart, and uncompromising, much like the book itself. Beautifully written, rich with detail and a brilliantly drawn cast of characters, The Living and the Lost is a culmination of Feldman’s extraordinary powers as a writer with an unrivaled grasp of history and the human heart."
—Liza Gyllenhaal, author of Local Knowledge
"A beautiful, atmospheric novel... Through the eyes and heart of Millie, we consider the pain of turning away, of betrayal, and the price survival exacts. Feldman’s crisp, smart dialogue adds to the delight."
—Elizabeth J. Church, author of The Atomic Weight of Love and All the Beautiful Girls
Kirkus Reviews
2021-07-14
After finding refuge from the Nazis in America, a young Jewish woman returns to her native Berlin in 1945, as the Allied occupation begins.
As we learn from flashbacks, Millie Mosbach and her younger brother, David, fled Germany as teenagers in 1938, sponsored by a generous American couple. Now Millie, a graduate of Bryn Mawr, and David, an American military officer and combat vet, have signed up for official duties in their homeland—Millie as part of a de-Nazification program, David to help with displaced persons. Millie is in turmoil, though, holding out hope that their missing parents and younger sister may still be alive—and hiding what she sees as a shameful secret about her escape. This book feels different from other historical novels about the Holocaust, partly because of its postwar Berlin setting. Author Feldman offers nuance, even irony here. While not giving any slack to the evildoers, she reminds us that some ordinary Germans also suffered under the Third Reich—Millie meets one woman whose son was murdered by the Nazis because they thought he was “mentally infirm.” The author also reminds us that antisemitism was rife in the U.S. when this story takes place. (Gentlemen’s Agreement, Laura Z. Hobson’s novel about discrimination against American Jews, was published in 1947.) Feldman’s writing is mostly workmanlike, though her description of the shattered Berlin—a “bombed out Wild West”—is striking. The last section of the book disappoints. It turns out that Maj. Harry Sutton—Millie’s boss and love interest—has been harboring a secret too much like Millie’s. Millie also falls and bloodies herself—literally—once too often, with Harry always rescuing her. In general, loose ends get tied up too neatly.
An often thoughtful and affecting page-turner, some clumsy plotting aside.
