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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This book begins after the end of World War II with flashbacks to times before and during the war. It is the debut novel from this author and is based on her mother’s life during and after the war. I read a lot of books about the WWII but have read very few about what life was like for the survivors after the war and this well written and well researched book answered a lot of the questions I had about how people worked to try to put normalcy back in their lives.
The book begins in 1946 when Vera and Edith, best friends since childhood, arrive in Naples. They had grown up in Budapest and managed to escape from a transport to Auschwitz. They had spent the last several years hiding out at a farm in Austria. Both women are happy to be alive and they know that they need to find jobs to survive. Vera is ready to go back to living again but Edith has been broken by her life during the war and losing the love of her life. They both find love until life interrupts their plans and they have a chance to go to America. When those plans get derailed, they end up moving to Caracas. They find jobs and hope for the future there and both of them flourish as long as they try not to think about the losses in their pasts. Will Vera and Edith be able to move forward and find love and joy in their lives or will their pasts continue to keep them find finding happiness?
This is a wonderful book about friendship, love and survival. I loved the strong friendship between the two women and their perseverance to create a better life for themselves. If you are a fan of WWII fiction, this is a book that you don’t want to miss.
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
A finely-woven story of post-war romance, second chances, and resolve that refuses to give in or give up. The setting details are evocative and inviting. Well done!
Fans of Georgia Hunter’s We Were The Lucky Ones should race to grab Anita Abriel’s The Light After The War, spanning continents and set against a vividly drawn canvas of World War II and the post-war period. Based on Abriel’s own family history, The Light After The War is a heartfelt and memorable tale of family, love, resilience and the triumph of human spirit.
Based on a true, untold story, Anita Abriel’s The Light After the War paints a wonderful portrait of two young women, both Holocaust survivors, trying to find love and meaning in the aftermath of WWII. From Italy to New York to South America, Abriel brings the friends and the times to life in real, moving, and unexpected ways.
This novel uniquely begins after WWII, then returns to events and scenes to fill in the story. This is the journey of two girls, born three days apart, and the wonderful closeness they share as they survive and build their lives after fleeing from a train transporting them to Auschwitz. Their true story, their travels and their accomplishment are remarkable. This was an unforgettably fantastic book!
THE LIGHT AFTER THE WAR is a fast-paced, compelling story about two amazing young Jewish women trying to rebuild their lives after losing everything but each other to the Nazis. It’s a sweeping tale of survival, of guilt, of a once-in-a-lifetime friendship, and of the power of the human spirit.
Set against evocative backdrops–from Naples to Caracas–readers root for Vera and Edith as they attempt to forge a place in the postwar world, make peace with past actions, and allow themselves to move beyond their devastating history.
Are their paths easy? No, but they find good people along the way, and the fact that their story is true, makes it sweeter. Despite the darkness that surrounds them, Vera and Edith work hard to find hope and success, love and light.
I tore through this novel!
This novel is the story of two close friends. It starts with the time period during World War II. Two friends Vera and Edith have suffered unspeakable loss of family and loved ones. They get the chance to start new lives and they move more than once. They fight to overcome everything they’ve gone through. And they will be challenged over and over. The story is full of family, friendship, love, and loss. I enjoyed the way that the women’s lives were always changing, in both good and bad ways.
How does one find light after so much darkness? With hope, love and empathy. Abriel’s tribute to her mother is compelling and heartfelt with lots of surprises. This tale of Hungarian Jewish survivors of the death camps retells that history and reminds us of the power of family.
The Light After the War is by Anita Abriel, better known as Anita Hughes. This book was inspired by the true story of her mother Vera during World War II, but really it is more about Vera and her friend Edith’s stories after the war is already over. I still really enjoyed it and overall found it to be a pretty light read given the subject matter.
There was a lot more romance than I was expecting, and overall the book was a lot different than I had expected it to be. The Light After the War is definitely a tear-jerker but for a lot more reasons than World War II and the treatment of the Jews. I ended up starting out on the audio and am glad I did. It helped a lot with pronunciation for names and places since it is almost entirely set in different countries, and I really liked the narrator’s (Jess Vilinsky) accents for Vera and Edith. I did think she slipped with them sometimes and had odd inflections on words, but overall she was a good narrator for the book.
I thought it was a very quick read and it is a heartwarming one as well. I couldn’t believe some of the things that happened with Edith and Vera and if it weren’t inspired by a true story I’d find it hard to believe, especially a lot of the romance aspects. I do wish Abriel would have specified what was real and what was fictional in the author’s note and some things were a little unresolved for me, but it was a pretty emotional read for me and very enlightening.
Song/s the book brought to mind: One Sweet Love by Sara Bareilles
Final Thought: Although I do wish The Light After the War would have gone a little deeper into Vera’s story in relation to during the war, it really just scratched the surface there for me, I was still fascinated by Vera and Edith’s stories. There is a lot of loss, but also love, friendship, and romance. If you like lighter historical fiction I would definitely recommend checking out The Light After the War.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy of this book, all opinions and thoughts are my own.
The Light After the War by Anita Abriel is a story about the next years after World War II for two Hungarian refugee women that saw them from a train to Auschwitz to Austria to Italy to Venezuela and finally to Australia and California. So many coincidences, which, I guess, were real after the war in Europe when so many people were killed or displaced. May people ran into their relatives and friends by accident. It is still happening today. May people lost their families and the loves of their lives. Such was the case for Vera and Edith. Their mothers were best friends who pushed the two young women off the train taking the four of them to Auschwitz. They wandered for a few hours and then ran into a young man who took them to a nearby farm where the wife chose to hide them. As it turns out they stayed there for over a year, helping on the farm until the war was over, and then some. Eventually Vera met a US Army officer who promised to see if he could find their parents, or Edith’s boyfriend, Stefan. Amazingly, some months later he returned with no news. They were not on survivor lists or on death lists, but he did give them passage to Naples, some money to live on, and a letter of recommendation for Vera to find work as a secretary to his friend there. Things were looking up.
These women were so lucky, at the same time they went through so much. Things went well for the, mostly. Vera is an excellent character with Edith not as finely drawn but certainly sympathetic. They ran into people willing to take advantage of them, but some willing to help them. Both married before the story was over, with divergent results. The story is a good one, full of detail, hope, and tragedy. It is a happily-ever-after, which is good after the misery of the time. Good, compassionate people far overreach the not so good ones. People unknowingly set horrible things in motion. Such is life. I enjoyed this book, although I was always nervous to turn the page. I recommend it without reservation
I received a free ARC of The Light After the War from Netgalley. All opinions and inferences contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #thelightafterthewar
There is so much in The Light After the War that truly shines: Unforgettable love, family, faith — and the courageous resolve of two young women to mend their lives and seek new beginnings in a world tragically changed. Fans of historical fiction are sure to devour this tale of hope, reinvention and the power of friendship to heal the heart’s deepest wounds.
Set against the vividly drawn backdrops of Naples, Caracas and Sydney in the aftermath of WWII, The Light After the War by Anita Abriel is a beautifully written and heartfelt novel. I was completely swept up in Vera’s and Edith’s lives, their friendship, their heartbreaks and their triumphs. An unforgettable story of strength, love, and survival.
Inspired by her own mother’s remarkable life, Anita Abriel takes readers to four continents as she celebrates the power of hope, optimism and female friendship in The Light After the War. If you are a reader who believes in embracing life and love — even after unspeakable loss — you will treasure this book.
I was utterly moved and transfixed by The Light After the War, a beautiful novel that spans a decade across four continents in the wake of World War II. You’ll be swept away by this fast-paced, heartbreaking, and hopeful tale of friendship, family, second chances, and the enduring power of love, based on the true story of author Anita Abriel’s mother and her fascinating journey away from war-torn Europe in the 1940s. A must-read for anyone interested in the emotional toll of the Second World War.
Inspired by her mother’s story, Anita Abriel’s The Light After the War takes readers across the world following the paths of girlhood friends Vera and Edith from Budapest to escaping the Nazis and hiding out in Austria, to Italy and Venezuela.
Believing they had lost their families and loved ones, the girls try to move on with their lives after the war. Edith dreams of becoming a fashion designer and Vera had hoped to be a playwright but settles for copywriting.
The background of Jews migrating to more tolerant societies was new and interesting. There is referred violence and death relating to the Holocaust and the girls must resist predatory men, but there is nothing graphic in the story. The concentration is on their determination and friendship, and the charmed luck their beauty brings in the form of helpers and aides along their journey.
Easy to read and easy to digest, with star-crossed lovers and jealousy, the novel felt more like a romance than heavier WWII-era historical-fiction fare. The resolution will satisfy those who believe in fate and true love.
I was given access to a free book by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
The author has published under Anita Hughes with several books becoming Hallmark Channel movies.
4 stars
The Light After the War is the story of two Jewish-Hungarian girls who survived the war and had to make new lives. The story is told through flashbacks of Vera and Edith during the war. How does one go on after losing everyone close to them? The author, Anita Abriel’s mother was a survivor and Anita wrote this book based on some stories she heard from her mother.
I had lots of conversations with myself wondering if I could survive and go on living. When the war ended, nothing became any easier for Vera and Edith as they found their way to Naples, then on a ship to New York where they could not get pass Ellis Island. Finally, on a ship to Caracas and several years later Vera goes to Australia and Edith ends up in Beverly Hills.
This is a story of survival, loss, redemption, and happiness. At times, I thought there were a few to many coincidences, but I think they were necessary to show how the human spirit can choose to go on and make a good life. I have lots to think about and this story will be on my mind for awhile. Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Anita Abriel’s heartfelt novel of love and friendship in the years after the Second World War is based on her mother’s own experience, and her intimate connection to the story and characters infuses every word. The Light After the War charts an unforgettable journey to a world struggling to rebuild after the horrors of war, and a pair of extraordinary women who must discover anew how to love and live. Fans of historical fiction won’t want to miss this evocative, heartbreaking story.
Anita Abriel sweeps the reader around the world in this true tale of survival, endurance, and triumph. The Light After the War is a feast for the mind and the heart, not soon to be forgotten.
I’m always eager to read another historical fiction book about World War II–especially when it’s based on truth–even though the genre sometimes seems saturated. Apparently this book was inspired by the author’s own mother’s story, and I read the book hoping there would be an afterword where the author filled the reader in on the factual parts of the novel. However, I was disappointed to find there wasn’t any more information–at least not in the advance copy.
The Light After the War is about two life-long friends, Vera and Edith, who after having escaped a train heading for Auschwitz and hiding until the war is over, are now trying to put their lives back together without any of their family. The story is told from Vera’s point of view, and while the novel is mostly about their search for love, it also deals with some heavy subjects, especially when Vera’s memories of the war are revealed.
It’s because of those serious subjects, that I expected the story to go deeper. The dialogue sometimes felt stunted or dry, and the transitions were blunt. Sometimes the story moved from one thing to another so quickly I would have to reread the previous sentence to find out if I missed something. However, I still enjoyed it, highlighting several beautiful lines. I read it quickly, too, eager to find out what would happen. Several plot points seemed unrealistic, but it’s hard to make that call when I’m unaware of the parts of the story that were based on facts.
The best parts of the book were traveling to all the different locations with Vera and Edith on their search for contentment and peace. And while the ending was predictable, I didn’t mind it. I would recommend this one to readers who enjoy lighter historical fiction with themes of romance, travel, and friendship.
Thank you to the publisher, Atria Books, and Netgalley for the advance reader copy!
I enjoyed this book so much. Inspired by an incredible true story of two Jewish friends who survived the Holocaust. Great character development and such a moving look at the lives of these two women after WII. I was pulled into their lives from the beginning and rushed through pages to find out how their story would end. Their journey took them from war torn Hungary to South America and ultimately California and Australia.