Federation Star - January 2017

12B Federation Star January 2017
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
Review by Sue Bookbinder, Jewish Book Festival committee member
This book is based on three reallife
characters whose lives fasciers
of the only all-female work camp
look at some of the doctors and prisonnated
Martha Hall Kelly. From in Germany, one that was performing
her extensive research she produced an horrific operations on its prisoners.
amazing historical novel.
Caroline Ferriday, a woman from a
The author provides insights into very wealthy family in New York City,
a horrible time through the eyes of works at the French consulate. Dedicated
to helping charitable causes, she
these women, their families and their
loved ones. She describes the events, sends food and clothing to orphanages
countries and people with clarity and overseas. When Caroline hears about the
finesse. Though we are shaken by the horrors of Ravensbruck, she becomes
horrors she describes, we are so caught driven. This caring, intelligent and ethical
woman, caught up in her charitable
up with the characters themselves that
we can’t look away and we can’t stop passions, has missed having love in her
reading more.
life. She falls for a handsome, though
The WWII story provides an intimate married, French actor who’s performing
Thursday, March 2, 1:00 - 3:30 pm at Beth Tikvah
Mrs. Houdini by Victoria Kelly
Review by Lee Henson, Jewish Book Festival committee member
Harry Houdini is a man whose a person well worth getting to know a
name stayed at the forefront of bit better. She is portrayed as a strong
his field – magic and illusions – willed, independent person, and the
since his heyday in the early 1900s. Yet times as turbulent as one imagines the
not too much is known about his wife “Twenties” might have been. Victoria
and partner in his act, Bess.
builds a portrait while she writes about
Victoria Kelly takes this historical what might have been, and twists it. She
figure and builds a novel around her that takes us beyond the moment in 1943
entertains in a multitude of ways. She when the real wife of this famous illusionist
declared that he had been unable
has written a love story that resonates
with many who have found equal partners
in their spouses; a historical novel; and gives us a glimpse of hope.
to communicate from beyond the grave
and a bit of science fiction for spice. The This 320-page book reads very
Bess Houdini as written by Victoria is quickly. I found myself spending more
Thursday, March 2, 1:00 - 3:30 pm at Beth Tikvah
Modern Girls by Jennifer Brown
Review by Linda Smith, Jewish Book Festival committee member
On the lower east side of New wishes for her to go to college. Dottie
York City, the changing times is a dutiful daughter and sister to the
of the 1930s are the backdrop family she loves dearly. She loves new
for the relationship between a Jewish fashions, her time with her girlfriends,
mother and her daughter. Yiddish and and having a steady boyfriend. It is assumed
that this “beau” will be her future
English are spoken by both generations
while they individually struggle to husband when he has achieved financial
honor the sanctity of the family. security.
Dottie Krasinsky is a “modern girl” Her mother Rose, a Jewish immigrant
from Russia with a devoted
who aspires to better herself in her job.
She has been made head bookkeeper husband, is the mother of five children.
at her company although her mother One, a twin, succumbed to polio. The
Thursday, March 2, 1:00 - 3:30 pm at Beth Tikvah
in NYC, and their love affair is beautiful
and touching. Caroline somehow
manages to do it all. Her and impact
on the “rabbits” (the name given the
Ravensbruck women who are victims
of horrific surgeries) turns out to be
enormous.
Kasia is a teenager living in Poland
who, along with her best friend
and wished-for boyfriend, joins the
underground resistance. Kasia is bold
and feisty – the one to watch. Their
decision leads Kasia to be imprisoned
at Ravensbruck, where she becomes one
of the “experiments.” While undergoing
horrific pain and the fear of death,
Martha Hall Kelly is a native New Englander now living in
Atlanta, where she is writing her next book. Lilac Girls is her
first novel, a book she wrote for five years, having researched the
story for over ten years. She is excited beyond belief to finally
share it with the world.
Appearing with Martha Hall Kelly will be Victoria Kelly,
author of Mrs. Houdini, and Jennifer Brown, author of
Modern Girls.
time reading than I’d planned in my
eagerness to follow Bess in her journey
of discovery. I liked the glimpses into
the Houdini’s life, so different from
that of the twenty-first century. Victoria
explains in her author’s note that she
had done extensive research, including
interviews with her own father for depictions
of Atlantic City. In her search
for insight into Bess, Victoria purchased
a battered secondhand copy of Harold
Kellock’s biography, Houdini: His Life
Story (first published in 1928) “for ten
dollars, only to find, opening the book
Victoria Kelly is a graduate of Harvard University, Trinity
College in Dublin, and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is the
author of the poetry collection When the Men Go Off to War,
the first original poetry publication in the history of the Naval
Institute Press.
Appearing with Victoria Kelly will be Martha Hall Kelly,
author of Lilac Girls, and Jennifer Brown, author of
Modern Girls.
family members are concerned about the
movements in Europe, especially since
Rose’s brother is unable to find a way
to emigrate to the United States during
Hitler’s rise to power.
As a young woman, Rose was active
in the Socialist movement. During
a demonstration, she was run down by
a Russian policeman on a horse, leaving
her with a permanent limp. Her family
sent her to the United States to keep her
safe. On New York’s lower east side, all
Jennifer Brown has published fiction and creative nonfiction
in Fiction Southeast, The Best Women’s Travel Writing, The
Southeast Review and Bellevue Literary Review, among others.
Her essay “The Codeine of Jordan” was selected as a notable
essay in The Best American Travel Writing in 2012. She holds
an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington.
Appearing with Jennifer Brown will be Martha Hall Kelly,
author of Lilac Girls, and Victoria Kelly, author of
Mrs. Houdini.
JEWISH BOOK FESTIVAL
Kasia still remains focused on finding
out what has happened to her two best
friends.
The third protagonist is Herta Oberheuser,
a German dermatologist who
desperately wants to be a surgeon. She
answers an ad to work with the German
government and ends up working in the
Camp performing experiments on the
prisoners. The fact that the author does
not present this character as the “devil
incarnate” is admirable. While a reader
might not end up liking her, it is instructive
to understand Herta’s motivations
and perverse sense of right.
Though bringing these three protagonists
together might seem farfetched,
the author ingeniously intertwines them.
That the characters and events are based
on fact makes it easier to accept the
improbable. All the characters, both
major and not so major, are wonderfully
presented so that you feel like you’ve
met them face to face. Kelly’s skill at
following these characters from New
York City to Poland to Germany and to
France provides an accurate reflection
of the times and places.
This is a must read for all who appreciate
well-written and illuminating
historical fiction. I am looking forward
to Martha Hall Kelly’s next book!
days later, Bess Houdini’s signature
inside the cover.” Maybe this book was
meant to be!
Material previously published by
Victoria Kelly is primarily poetry. She
received her M.F.A. from the Iowa
Writers’ Workshop, a B.A. summa cum
laude from Harvard University, and
an M. Phil. in creative writing from
Trinity College Dublin, where she
was a U.S. Mitchell Scholar. Her poetry
has appeared in anthologies and
several respected reviews. Her gift in
writing poetry has given her a fluid
style that makes her novel captivating
reading.
There seems to me to be another
link between this book and her poetry, a
similar theme. Her anthology When the
Men Go Off to War tells of desire, love
and loss as the wife of a soldier. This
story resonates with that same feeling
– the determination of a wife to not be
separated from her husband even by the
most solid of all separations. I am eager
to have the chance to hear her speak
about her writing, her research, and her
desire to meet Bess Houdini within the
pages of this book.
J
R
Jo
her friends are pressuring her to become s
active again in supporting the Jewish i
cause in the U.S.
In Modern Girls, mother and daugh-ter
both discover that they are pregnant. I
Dottie submits to a boy who arouses her l
sexuality. Her mother discovers that shes
is not past the time for getting preg-nant
at age 42. Dottie shares her newsw
with Rose, while Rose withholds herp
news from her daughter. Herein lie the
challenges of individually held beliefsl
between two generations, mother and
daughter, in 1935.
The result is a thought-provoking
story of a mother and a daughter and the
sacrifices they make for one another. The
story has an unpredictable ending which
mirrors the unpredictability of life.
This book gets under your skin
and keeps you wanting to follow the
characters’ lives. You may find yourself
missing them. For readers with
immigrant grandparents, it is a nostalgic
journey as you recall the details of
their past experiences. This is a heartwarming
tale of the resilience of the
human spirit.