Non-fiction biographical book by Leslie Maitland, daughter of Hannah (Janine) Gunzburger, a German Jew from Freiburg, Germany whom with her family escapes, over four years, only steps ahead of the Nazi oppression, fleeing into France and ultimately obtaining asylum in the U.S. via Cuba. Along the path of her youth Janine falls in love with Roland Arcieri, an Alsatian Catholic, from Mulhouse, France, whereby they are separated for fifty years until they find one another when Roland is seventy, living in Canada, and Janine is sixty seven living in New Jersey. Mailtand's investigative journalism provides an almost too in depth account of the perils encountered by her grandparents, Sigmar and Alice, and her mother, Hannah Janine, her brother, Norbert, and her sister, Trudi, as they flee across France, the Altantic Ocean, Cuba and ultimately settle in New York. The love between Janine and Roland endured over many decades, hardships and loss. I was surprised at how many photos, letters, artifacts, and historical documents remained so many years after fleeing France via Marseilles, Havana, Cuba, New York and Freibrug. I thought the book could have been edited 150 pages shorter without losing the essence of the research. Maitland went into too much detail that didn't enhance the story and/or could have been abbreviated. “More than one enemy has risen against us to destroy us. In every generation, in every age, some rise up to plot our annihilation. But a Divine Power sustains and delivers us.” The book is billed about the story of two lovers separated during WWII. The woman is Jewish and her family flees Germany to Cuba. The lovers swear undying love but never reunite. While her father is dying the daughter launches on a mission to find her mother's first love. Interesting timing. The book starts out interesting and quickly becomes mind-numbingly boring. The author/daughter launches a very dry historical recounting of Hitler's rise to power and the treatment of the Jews. Something that has been described so many times before and certainly in a more compelling way. I gave up on the book.
Do You like book Crossing The Boarders Of Time (2000)?
Interesting true account of of young girl escaping Nazi Europe, but was a bit too long.
—egle
Recommended by DH's U of C magazine. Looks very interesting!
—nizi
