Excellent touching book..I like the character Justine for many reason filmmaker and willing to track her grandmother down so curoius to KNOW her!! Rediscovering her grandmother who she didnt know and finding out on the letters the difficult time her grandmother growing up during the holocaust losing many for her supporters and her family . I cried too ) nice story on istanbul and the culture too . Iffett the character/personatily reminds me of a nice friend I know in a forgeien country :-)Remmononed for those who like happy family reuniting and some mystery of family history on a painting of her grandmother and her life-long friend brief history of holocaust and culture of Istanbul . I'm gonna read some more of this author and plan To buy this book soon ! The love story in this book was not at all realistic. The happy couple knew each other for maybe three days and then bam- cliched declarations of love!Justine and her twin brother Richard become estranged from their beloved grandmother through their evil mother's shenanigans. I won't say more because I do not want to spoil anything. Gran lived through World War II and her experiences during that time were to me the most interesting part of the book.I have read a bit on the subject of WWII and post WWII era and found those parts a little unrealistic too. i.e. Gran just about always had enough to eat. Not at all true for so many. Read this book only if you are interested in a very light easy read.
I enjoyed the story. Repetitive scenes and a somewhat dull ending.
—bhavya
A sweet story but too predictable and pollyannish.
—joanne
Good story!
—Jim_Pam19
