The Living and the Lost: A Novel
Sep 2021 · St. Martin's Griffin
4.5star
2 reviewsreport
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336
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About this ebook
A gripping story of resilience, love, and forgiveness as a young German Jewish woman returns to post-WWII Berlin to confront her past and unexpected future.
"A deeply satisfying and truly adult novel." —Margot Livesey, New York Times best-selling author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy
Millie (Meike) Mosbach and her brother David escape to America just before Kristallnacht, leaving their parents and little sister behind in Berlin. Millie attends Bryn Mawr on a special scholarship for non-Aryan German girls and finds work at a magazine in Philadelphia, while David enlists in the army and is posted to the top-secret Camp Ritchie in Maryland.
Now, they are both back in their former hometown, haunted by ghosts and hoping against hope to find their family. Millie works in an office rooting out dedicated Nazis from publishing, consumed with rage at her former country and its citizens. David helps displaced persons build new lives, while hiding his more radical nighttime activities from his sister. They both grapple with guilt at their own good fortune, except for Millie's boss, Major Harry Sutton, who seems too eager to be fair to the Germans.
In bombed-out Berlin, where drunken soldiers brawl, spies ply their trade, and unrepentant Nazis scheme to rise again, Millie must come to terms with a decision she made as a girl in a moment of crisis, and with the enigmatic Major Sutton who understands her demons. Atmospheric and page-turning, The Living and the Lost is a story of survival, forgiveness, and love in the aftermath of war.
"A deeply satisfying and truly adult novel." —Margot Livesey, New York Times best-selling author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy
Millie (Meike) Mosbach and her brother David escape to America just before Kristallnacht, leaving their parents and little sister behind in Berlin. Millie attends Bryn Mawr on a special scholarship for non-Aryan German girls and finds work at a magazine in Philadelphia, while David enlists in the army and is posted to the top-secret Camp Ritchie in Maryland.
Now, they are both back in their former hometown, haunted by ghosts and hoping against hope to find their family. Millie works in an office rooting out dedicated Nazis from publishing, consumed with rage at her former country and its citizens. David helps displaced persons build new lives, while hiding his more radical nighttime activities from his sister. They both grapple with guilt at their own good fortune, except for Millie's boss, Major Harry Sutton, who seems too eager to be fair to the Germans.
In bombed-out Berlin, where drunken soldiers brawl, spies ply their trade, and unrepentant Nazis scheme to rise again, Millie must come to terms with a decision she made as a girl in a moment of crisis, and with the enigmatic Major Sutton who understands her demons. Atmospheric and page-turning, The Living and the Lost is a story of survival, forgiveness, and love in the aftermath of war.
Ratings and reviews
4.5
2 reviews
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October 31, 2021
I received a free electronic copy of this excellent historical novel from Netgalley, Ellen Feldman, and St. Martin's Press - Griffin. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am pleased to recommend Ellen Feldman to friends and family. She writes a tight, suspenseful tale with depth and intensity and a real look into the chaos and hardship suffered by the German people after the war was lost. The Living and the Lost is a window on WWII that we don't often encounter. Berlin, after the death of Hitler and the end of the conflict, was a mess, and we read all about it in this fascinating novel. We accompany Kindertransport siblings Meike 'Millie' and David Mosbach as they return to Berlin, David as an American soldier, Millie under the protection of the US military as a translator, and see Berlin through the eyes of ones who were natives of and had loved the city as they mourn the turmoil of Berlin, and seek news of their parents and little sister who were captured as they all tried to flee. This is a story I found myself reading all night long. Couldn't put it aside until it was finished, and then found myself wishing for more. Feldman is an author I follow.
About the author
Ellen Feldman, a 2009 Guggenheim fellow, is the author of Paris Never Leaves You, Terrible Virtue, The Unwitting, Next to Love, Scottsboro (shortlisted for the Orange Prize), The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank (translated into nine languages), and Lucy. Her novel, Terrible Virtue, was optioned by Black Bicycle for a feature film.
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