Hana

As Marie describes this book, and one other that she has read by this author, she read them in one breath. She gave Hana to me, and within a day I could concur. Alena Mornštajnová writes in a way that captures the reader's attention. Hana is broken into three parts, each in a different voice, but all part of the same story, a story of 3 generations, spanning the last years of Empire, the hopeful years of Republic, the descent into Fascism, and the awakening afterwards. 

This is not a story that is singularly about the Holocaust, but about the individual lives of two women, who are forced together by the difficult circumstances after WWII. While it is fiction, the story is compelling to read, as it no doubt is drawn from life, and the reality that faced so many. In many cases it is incomplete, as it does not answer every question, but it does a good job at holding the readers interest.

I recommend this here, as it contains much detail, and I believe quite factual, about the circumstances facing people during the years preceding the Second World War. Seen through the eyes of children, parents and grandparents, Jewish and non Jewish. It is a glimpse into the minds of several people facing the unthinkable.