Hannah is a Jewish prisoner in the “model” ghetto of Theresienstadt, created to try and convince the world that the Nazis are treating Jewish people humanely. Hilde, still a true believer, wants to make a propaganda film set in Theresienstadt; she makes us wonder how we ourselves would behave in the face of complete authoritarian rule and the resultant ignoring of all facts detrimental to the ruling government. This novel should be required reading for Americans, as our current administration and many countries around the world once again embrace authoritarianism, we can hopefully learn timely lessons from the dreadful history of the German Nazi Party, with its state-sponsored alternate reality.
From the author of Cradles of the Reich comes a poignant and inspiring tale of resistance, friendship, and the dangers of propaganda, based on the real story of Theresienstadt, for fans of The Forest of Vanishing Stars and The German Wife.
Hannah longs for the days when she used to be free, but now, she is a Jewish prisoner at Theresienstadt, a model ghetto where the Nazis plan to make a propaganda film to convince the world that the Jewish people are living well in the camps. But Hannah will do anything to show the world the truth. Along with…
Nineteen: A Daughter’s Memoir of Reckoning and Recovery, by Leslie Johansen Nack begins not long after the end of her previous memoir Fourteen, still in Southern California, where we’re thrown into a truly dysfunctional situation, with her mentally-ill mom back in the mix part-time and her ambitious dad wrangling everyone into working for him, sometimes to an abusive degree. Leslie’s life keeps her unrooted and unsure of herself, and she finds solace in men’s adoration of her beautiful face and body. The security and love she is desperately looking for eludes her and, perhaps predictably, the men turn her on to alcohol, and then drugs, which seem like the perfect way to cope with the emptiness of her fruitless search for self—at least, at first.
For fans of Stephanie Thornton-Plymale's American Daughter and Cea Sunrise Person's North of Normal comes Leslie Johansen Nack's emotional follow-up memoir about her battle with addiction following a traumatic childhood—and her inspiring journey toward healing and happiness.
In the mid-1970s, after sailing to French Polynesia with her sisters and father, Leslie Nack returned to the US with her family. In Southern California, she began the integration process back into American life, which meant being tossed back and forth between an alcoholic, mentally ill mother and an abusive, overbearing father who took her to deliver sailboats, sent her on a wilderness…
Jake and Sophia already have a beautiful healthy teenage daughter when Sophia decides she wants to become a surrogate for a couple unable to conceive. Jake isn’t happy, but he tries to support her to the best of his abilities (you may well want to yell at him a few times). The family dynamics shift and re-shift multiple times, and Jake makes many a mistake along the way. Sophia seems almost unbelievably good, but turns out to be very human indeed. And Emily, their changeable, idealistic teenager is written as believably as all of the adults, which is always a pleasant surprise. This is no thriller, but A Fine Layer of Dust made me gasp aloud, which I don’t do often. All this, and there’s two rescue beagles—just sayin.’
Attorney Jake Trenton’s perfectly ordered life unravels when he loses a promotion and his wife announces she wants to become a surrogate. While he spends even more time at the office to prove his worth, he worries about the effects on their family if Sophia carries a baby for a stranger.Once Sophia explains how important it is to her to bear a child for someone who can’t, Jake reluctantly agrees. However, when the embryo transfer is successful, Jake’s carefully constructed world crumbles beneath the memory of his brother’s death, which occurred years ago in the same month the baby is…
When Jennifer Shea married Russel Redmond, they made a decision to spend their honeymoon at sea, sailing in Mexico. The voyage tested their new relationship, not just through rocky waters and unexpected weather, but in all the ways that living on a twenty-six-foot sailboat make one reconsider what's truly important. In this charming, meditative memoir, Jennifer recounts that fateful first year, moving back and forth with the currents of her life. On their voyage, the couple sailed Watchfire to Baja California's Sea of Cortez, where they spent twelve months before sailing south along Mexico and Central America and through the Panama Canal. Jennifer's unique experience on the boat weaves through time as she explores the events that lead to taking her first step onto Watchfire-from her bohemian 1960s childhood in Southern California to the years she spent as a struggling actor in New York.
