Inspired by an incredible true story of two Jewish friends who survived the Holocaust, this “heartfelt and memorable tale of family, love, resilience, and the triumph of human spirit” (Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author) spans World War II from Budapest to Austria and the postwar years from Naples to Caracas, perfect for fans of The German Girl and We Were the Lucky Ones. Spring 1946: … Lucky Ones.
Spring 1946: Best friends Vera Frankel and Edith Ban arrive in Naples. Refugees from Hungary, they managed to escape from a train headed for Auschwitz and spent the rest of the war hiding on an Austrian farm. Now, the two young women are starting new lives abroad.
Armed with a letter of recommendation from an American officer, Vera finds work at the United States embassy where she falls in love with Captain Anton Wight. But as Vera and Edith grapple with the aftermath of the war, so too does Anton, and when he suddenly disappears, Vera is forced to change course. Their quest for a better life takes Vera and Edith from Naples to Ellis Island to Caracas as they start careers, reunite with old friends, and rebuild their lives after terrible loss.
Moving, evocative, and compelling, The Light After the War is a timely and “unforgettable story of strength, love, and survival” (Jillian Cantor, USA TODAY bestselling author).
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THE LIGHT AFTER THE WAR by Anita Abriel takes place mainly post-WWII and is based on her mother’s life as a Holocaust survivor. Vera and Edith had been best friends all their lives, and when the Germans came to Budapest, they first lost the men in their lives, then it was their turn. On the train to Auschwitz, their mothers put a plan in motion to help them escape. Vera and Edith make it off the train, but are horrified when they realize they left their mothers behind. So begins their journey to freedom and their future. The focus of the novel isn’t as much their trials during the War after they escape, but more what happens during the next stage of their lives. A chance meeting with an American officer sends the two friends to Italy, and a chance at a job for Vera, where they slowly work toward accepting that they are each other’s family and need to decide what dreams and paths they should follow.
Vera and Edith take turns being the strong one as they cross Europe, and then the ocean, and navigate different cultures as they try to find their place and follow their dreams. Ultimately, this is Vera’s story. There are twists and turns; happiness, disappointment and heartbreak. It’s a story of friendship, family, love, strength, and resilience.
I enjoyed the characters and the storyline. I really like the look at life in for Jewish immigrants who went to other countries to start over. The novel was easy to read and kept me turning the pages.
Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
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Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “The Light After the War” by Anita Abriel, Atria Books, February 4, 2020
Anita Abriel, Author of “The Light After The War” has written an amazing, intriguing, intense, captivating and riveting novel. The Genres for this Novel are Historical Fiction, Romance, and Fiction. The timeline for this story is just after World War Two and goes to the past when it pertains to the events or characters. The author describes her characters as complex, and complicated. The themes that are in this book are friendship, sisterhood, family, love, and hope.
Vera Frankel and Edith Ban have grown up together in the same apartment house in Hungary. They are more like sisters, than friends. Vera and Edith are able to escape during the war and hide for 2 years in Austria. The two of them manage to get to Naples and Vera gets a job at the United States Embassy. Vera is familiar with different languages. Edith has a talent for sewing and making dresses. Vera does fall in love with a Captain from the Embassy.
Vera and Edith are dealing with loss, and manage to live in several places, looking for a sense of purpose, healing from the tragic memories from the War, and finding themselves. This is a beautiful and well-written story depicting the tragedy of war and the aftermath. Anita Abriel vividly describes the characters, the landscape and the events in this story. I would highly recommend this intriguing and thought-provoking novel for readers who appreciate Historical Fiction.
Anita Abriel’s debut novel, The Light After the War, touches on the Holocaust and the mass exodus of Europeans to South America and the USA after WWII. The focus is more on friendship, survivor guilt, and the struggle to get by after the war. This isn’t a story about WWII per se, but a story of trying to cobble together a life in the wake of a war. Normal has to be redefined. Expectations must be reset. Women spent the war taking care of themselves and others, yet they’re once again expected to live within the confines of old social mores that force them to pursue husbands for safety and stability and social acceptance.
The main characters are lifelong friends who are raised almost like sisters. Edith is talented but a bit flighty. She is understandably despondent over the loss of her fiancé and parents. She is portrayed as man-crazy, but I was left with the impression that her great losses during the war make her pursue life with abandon. She embodies carpe diem! She is going dance and party while she can, for who knows what tomorrow will bring. Vera is smart, but she quickly gives up her dreams to bring home the bacon. She is in survival mode. Vera’s heart is heavy with survival guilt; it is such a driving force for her that it seeps out of her pores. Even though Edith is the one actively looking for a man, it is Vera who repeatedly captures men’s hearts.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and found it so engaging that I finished the book within a couple days. However, there were a few plot points that I found unbelievable enough that they cling to my brain as the most memorable events in the story. Even though the book is based, at least loosely, on the author’s mother’s life, I had a hard time believing that two teenaged girls would successfully escape from a concentration-camp-bound train. Equally difficult for me was the sudden disappearance of Captain Anton Wight as well as the story’s denouement (which I won’t give away).
The story is well paced and the writing is descriptive. There is just enough history included to make it a meaningful and enjoyable novel rather than a memoir. I loved Edith and Vera’s indomitable spirit and fortitude. Their loyal friendship and perseverance are great takeaways in any era.
The Light After the War by Anita Abriel is an excellent historical fiction that is involves two young women who are best friends (Vera and Edith) that are from Budapest, Hungary and are Jewish. The novel is focussed primarily in the years 1946-1950 after the ending of WWII.
This story gives the reader an inside view of the aftermath of the lives of two young Jewish souls that have been through horrific experiences of tragedy and loss, and a glimpse of what paths are taken for them to find themselves again, working through their grief, and creating a life forward despite all they have went through.
This book takes the reader through the war-torn landscapes of Hungary, Austria, and Italy to the shores of America, to the tropical regions of Latin America, towards their final destinations. Without giving too much away, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the different locations and how each area, culture, and the people were affected by the war.
I enjoyed reading the dynamics between Vera and Edith and found that by being slightly opposites, they were able to each bring out the best in each other. I was impressed with their love and sister-like bond and loyalty for one another, and that all of their trials just made their relationship stronger. I enjoyed reading their respective stories and I especially enjoyed the ending.
The plot was engrossing, quick, descriptive yet easy, appropriately-paced, and the few surprises that came along with a few unexpected twists and turns, made this a great read that willed me to complete it to the end in less then 2 days.
A great HF that is most definitely unique in its locations and post-war time period that sets itself apart from the rest. Thoroughly enjoyed.
5/5 stars
Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.
This is a heart-wrenching story of survival, love, tragedy, true friendship, faith and hope. Vera Frankel and her best friend Edith Bar have lived across the hall from each other ever since they were born 3 days apart in the same hospital in Budapest, Hungary. When they are teenagers, after Vera’s father is sent to a work camp, the girls and their mothers are sent first to the ghetto and then put on a train for Auschwitz. Alice, Vera’s mother, comes up with a plan to shove the girls off the train on one of their stops. The girls survive being shoved off the train and it is up to them to survive without the Germans finding and killing them. This is a fantastic read of what happened after that and is inspired by the author’s mother’s survival during World War II. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster/Atria for the ARC of this riveting page-turner in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a WWII Historical Fiction fan.
What a journey. This book tells the story of two Jewish Hungarian girls, Vera and Edith, who escape the train to Auschwitz. Through the author’s incredible writing, we learn their strengths and weaknesses as they struggle to find freedom and make a life for themselves after World War II. Along the way they find love, careers and suffer heartbreak as they discover their new lives.
This is one of those hard to put down books. The story is not real deep or depressing as you might associate with the subject. It was more informative and hopeful. As I read the book, I felt I knew these girls, like they could have been some of my own Hungarian ancestors. The story was very detailed and descriptive. I went through a wide range of emotions while reading. I just wish the book was longer. I would have enjoyed learning more about Vera and Edith and their lives as they got older.
In this fascinating story of friendship, survival, hope, and love, the author takes us on a journey across multiple continents in the post-war years of 1946-1950, with accompanying flashbacks from the war. Vera Frankel, a young Jewish woman from Budapest, and her best friend, Edith Ban, survive the years of the war living on dreams, hard work, and minimal food.
With the end of the war, the two young women travel to Naples in search of jobs and a future. Vera, strong, smart, and hardworking, takes a job and becomes involved with an American Army officer, Captain Anton Wight. All is not as it seems with Captain Wight as Vera eventually discovers. Edith, creative and artsy, dreams of becoming a fashion designer. Their choices eventually pull them along a different path than they envisioned.
Travel with these two young women from Budapest to Naples through Rikers Island to Caracas, Venezuela and onto Sydney, Australia in this emotionally compelling story. Interspersed with historic detail and romance, the book is an interesting and worthy read.
This ARC copy was received from Atria Books and Netgalley.com. The above thoughts and opinions are wholly my own.
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