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An Elephant In The Garden by Michael Morpurgo

Feb14

All For One

An Elephant In The Garden by Michael Morpurgo is a powerful dual timeline novel that I just could not put down. It is perfect for ages ten years and over. Whatever your age, this is a beautiful novel that will educate and entertain.

The story is set in present day in a nursing home and also looking backwards to Dresden in 1945.

An old lady is dismissed as having dementia when she talks about the elephant in her garden. Only a young boy recognizes it as true and longs to hear her tale.

We witness the dreadful destruction of Dresden by the Allies. Michael Morpurgo writes powerfully about the fires of hell that engulf the town. Like the story of Lot in the Bible, the family must move forwards and not look back.

Families come in different shapes and sizes. This family is a mother, two children and a baby elephant. The elephant is an orphan and views the human mother as her mother. The baby elephant brings out the mothering instincts in the human mother.

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I Have To Save Them by Ellie Midwood

Feb2

The Angel Of Auschwitz

I Have To Save Them by Ellie Midwood is the most powerful, heartbreaking and horrifying dual timeline novel that I just could not put down.

The story starts and ends with the same day in 1961. It bookends the tale. There is a choice to be made – what would you choose?

Much of the novel is set in Auschwitz and is grounded in fact as we follow German citizen, Orli, who was betrayed by her Nazi husband six years earlier. We also ‘hear’ events from 1961 as we see “She may have left Auschwitz’s walls, but the walls of Auschwitz have never left her … tormenting her with nightmares of the past.” As a medic who was under Josef Mengele in Auschwitz, Orli saw terrible things, things that would haunt her forever. It took real strength of character not to crumble as she clung “to her humanity in the face of such brutality.”

Within the infirmary in Auschwitz there grew up a friendship between the nurses. They had to be strong in order to support each other. They offered kindnesses where they could. It felt like a drop in the ocean but “whoever saves a single life saves an entire universe.” The women stood together through it all. “Together we’ll pull through.”

There were times when they felt evil was too much to bear but “they were warriors, each one of them a beacon of resilience, a beacon of hope.” They had to hold on to the hope that one day the sun would shine again. “She knew that even in the darkest times, there was always a glimmer of light, a way to hold onto humanity.” The light shines in the darkness as the angel of Auschwitz walked among them.

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Return To Berlin by Ellen Feldman

Jan30

Powerful, Horrifying & Thought Provoking

Return To Berlin by Ellen Feldman is a powerful, heartbreaking and horrifying historical novel that educates while we read.

This is a dual timeline story as we begin in postwar Berlin but also look backwards to pre-war Berlin and America.

Berlin is a complicated city. It had been the seat of Hitler’s power and contained the bunker where he ended his life. Pre-war Jewish life was eroded bit by bit. People ‘disappeared’ or were able to flee to America. Families were split up.

Post war Berlin was a place not only for Berliners but also for Americans, British and Soviets as the city was divided into zones. Whilst the population of Berlin did support the Nazis way of life – either by being complicit or through their silence – the women and girls suffered from much brutality when the Soviets rode into town.

This book throws up many conflicting emotions in the reader. Like the main character, I wanted to dislike the Berliners who stood idly by whist the atrocities were committed – but the treatment of women and girls by the Soviets horrified and disgusted me. Return To Berlin will definitely mess with your emotions.

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Forever Lovely by Linore Rose Burkard

Jan29

Enchanting

Forever Lovely by Linore Rose Burkard is a delightful dual timeline novel that totally charmed me. It is the second book in the Forever In Time series but can be read as a stand-alone.

Modern day New York and Regency England are the settings in the novel. Time travelling characters seamlessly slot into life in New York as there is a Jane Austen convention in town. The reader, along with the characters, wander the streets, marveling at the sights.

Linore Rose Burkard has comprehensively researched early nineteenth century language as her characters could easily have been lifted from a Jane Austen novel with their speech. There is much gentility which is charming.

As a character views the modern world through the lens of Regency England, she finds much wonder in the world.

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