Vera and Edith are such a complementary WWII partnership, and I loved spending time with these strong young friends.
I’m dying to know how closely Abriel’s book traces the inspiring events from her mother’s incredible experiences before, during, and after WWII.
Abriel offers a vivid account of the fear and dread—intermixed with sparks of hope—that sustained Vera and Edith in Hungary and Germany during the war; their wonderfully brave, practical, creative routes to survival as single young women in Naples along with jarring adjustments to post-war floods of food, fashion, and joy; a more settled life in Venezuela; the evolutions of their careers; and their attempts to find a second chapter of love, as well as incredible realizations about loved ones who survived the death camps. Then Abriel introduces another enormous shift that shakes things up enormously yet again for both young women before the book’s end. I was completely engrossed.
Vera and Edith are such a complementary partnership, and I loved spending time with these strong young women.
I received an advance copy of this book through Atria Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
What did you think?
Abriel says that this story is so fully inspired by her grandmother's story that she didn't even change the characters' names. Her grandmother Vera lived with her family when Abriel was growing up, and she grew up hearing tales of Caracas, and Edith, and heartbreak, and hope.