I wasn't sure how I felt about the author exploiting a piece of tragic history and turning it into something mythical but somehow it worked and was executed in a way that didn't taint it.

Usually by the time I’m halfway through a book, it’s been intriguing enough to make me want to read it. Sadly, that’s not the case with this one. Beautifully written for sure, it for some reason I just can’t maintain an interest. So I’m not finishing it, because life’s too short to force yourself to read books that you don’t love. I won’t, however, add a review to another online source because this may very well be someone else’s cup of tea. And my noninterest shouldn’t dissuade someone else from giving it a chance.

Hoffman is among my favorites as she blends humanity and magic so beautifully. To take a Holocaust novel and combine it with a golem is genius, and her writing is always top notch and unforgettable. She deserves another smash hit, and I’m happy to spread the word as always. So happy to have read it.

I was privileged to read the ARC of "The World That We Knew" through NetGalley. Alice Hoffman spins magic into her novels, this one a golem, which I had never heard of before. A golem is a Jewish being created by extremely strong male rabbis that becomes a servant/slave/protector to whomever the creator designates. This story is set during WWII when a Jewish mother can not leave her elderly infirmed mother in Berlin, and begs a Rabbi's daughter to create a golem to protect her young daughter escape from Germany. I love Alice Hoffman's novels and this new tale confirms those feelings. I am thrilled when I see a new novel, totally absorbed while reading the story, yet saddened when done knowing I must wait for another new tale from a master storyteller!

LONG....( ha.....again?/! ......I couldn’t help myself), but NO SPOILERS...
This book has crawled under my skin. It’s a book of womanly strength, love, and wisdom....set in WWII.

Usually I write a review immediately upon finishing it.
I’m glad I waited. It took me longer to read this novel more than others of the same length. I paused longer - lingered longer - over sentences. I also spent time studying history I was unfamiliar with.

With feelings of being small - in my own ability to write a review of this very ambitious historical novel - I needed time to let my feelings neutralized - contend with my thoughts - and local my ‘Courage Hat’. I’m not going to get this right - but I promise to do the best I can.

My ‘very first’ inner voice response ( after reading “The World That We Knew”), was....”close, but still not ‘The Dovekeepers’”.
I quickly marked ‘read’ with 4 stars highlighted on Goodreads...., but I think I knew in my gut this was equally valuable to me as ‘The Dovekeepers’. I was just a little ashamed at how much more I had to work - ( I’m Jewish and read many Holocaust stories - shouldn’t I know these basic facts by now?).....
THE HISTORY IN HERE THAT I DIDN’T KNOW....which I’m grateful to having learned -many thanks to Alice Hoffman- is NOT SOOOOO BASIC!!!
I did some serious thinking for a few days about this book - along with some re-reading of passages and dialogue. I also re- studied historical facts - filling holes in my education. It’s amazing to me how many gaps - ‘still’ - of WWII history have been left behind. At least for me.

So....first acknowledgements: I’m deeply grateful to our award winning author. I appreciate Alice Hoffman’s dedication to writing about a remarkable period of history. I appreciate the immediate connection with the characters - her lush luminous prose - the extraordinary storytelling - and for being a real inspiration for me personally in opening my heart in seeing the importance to keep learning.
I was not only submerged in the intricate relationships - but page after page I fell deeper into the richly imagined world....pausing to google historical communes and children’s orphanages....( none of which I knew about).

Thank you ( and I’ve said this 1 million times before… But I’m sincerely thankful), to Netgalley- and the publishers who have trusted me enough to offer an advance copy to review - and with this book - special thanks to Simon & Schuster’s Publishing team.

It was tumultuous times. I asked myself - what was the most important personal goal in a world where evil was rampant everywhere you turned?
TO LIVE....the goal was TO STAY ALIVE... to LIVE!!! I thought about every possible successful turn in my life and those in the lives of others. What stands out is ‘somebody’ was FOR ME... somebody was FOR MY FRIENDS.

For Lea...her mother, Hanni, was Lea’s biggest allied. The world was black with horror. Millions of Jews tortured, separated by those they loved - many were made to dig their own graves - castrated - humiliated - millions murdered - at the rate of a thousand a day in Auschwitz. WE KNOW THESE THINGS.....
YET...ALWAYS HORRIFYING.....felt ‘newly’ on any given day.
One of the strongest themes for me is the POWER of a MAGICAL-REMARKABLE - DEEPLY LOVING relationship between a mother and daughter. Throughout all the storytelling adventures from beginning to end....I was constantly moved by a mother’s love for her daughter.
This excerpt is soooo beautiful.....speaks volumes:
“Night after night, in the trees or in the grass, Lea dreamed of her mother. She heard Hanni’s voice in the wind, in birdsong, in falling leaves”.
“I was with you when the roses bloomed with silver petals, when you saw Paris for the first time, when that boy looked at you, when you learned prayers in the convent, when you ran through the woods”.

Soon after meeting twelve year old Lea, shy, but highly intelligent, ( and having survived a frightening failed rape intent)... Hanni Kohn, her mother, will do anything in her power to have her daughter protected - which means sending Lea far away from Berlin.....save her from the Nazi regime.
Hanni’s husband - a medical doctor - was murdered outside the Jewish Hospital. He had saved 720 souls. After Simon died - it was believed- and hoped for - in the Jewish religion - that “perhaps on the day that he left OLAM HaZEH, the world that we walk through each living day, those who had been saved we’re waiting for him in
OLAM HaBa, the World to Come”.

Hanni refused to believe that her husband’s life meant nothing.
“In Berlin, evil came to them slowly and then all at once”.
Hanni was determined that Lea would live and save more souls.....
“It would go on and on, until there was more good in the world than evil”.

SUPPORT IS CALLED FOR.....
Grandmother, Bobeshi, had told Lea stories and told her “to be a wolf”. Lea learned early to rise out of darkness- she became “the flower on a stem of thorns”.
Lea learned - from experience- about The Angel of Death. The “angel” took away the evil man who tried to pick a flower ( Lea), and all he got was a handful of thorns....then he got what he deserved: death!
Grandmother Bobeshi was sick, bedridden. Hanni needed to honor the 5th commandment- she couldn’t leave her mother.
But each day groups of Jews were taken to Grosse Hamburger Strasse - then soon be sent to their deaths on trains to resettle Jews in the East.
NOT LEA......

Tante Ruth was over hundred years old. Her father was a rabbi in Russia.....called a magician. Her own husband was named The Magician’s assistant. The men studied the Zohar, The Book of Splendour, - holy mysteries. Women were denied the opportunity to study- denied Torah study. However, Tante Ruth learned a lot listening to the men debate. After her husband died ( who knew 72 kinds of wisdom that he learned from his father), Ruth believed in their miracles. It was believed that all creation came from thought, language, and mathematics.

Hanni turned to Tante Ruth - a magical brilliant pillar in their small community of Jews. Neighbors didn’t listen to Ruth when the Nazi policies first began to separate Jews from the rest of the population.
To fight the WICKED......MAGIC and FAITH were needed.
This is how we learn of “The Golem”. The Golem was created by the use of 22 Hebrew letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
The Golem can see the future - among other things - including seeing the exact day and time of a person’s death. It can speak to angels. Ruth sent Hanni to speak to their local Rabbi - knowing the rabbi would refuse to speak to her. He would not allow another woman in the room other than his own wife.....however- Hanni was to talk to the rabbi’s wife. The real miracle help came from the rabbi’s daughter- Ettie.
Ettie brings forth the creature with mud and water.
*Ava Perrin*, ( six feet tall), is the name of Ettie’s creation. Ava, was created to protect Lea, who would follow her to the end of the earth and never abandon her.
Ava - made from clay - wasn’t suppose to ‘feel’....as she was created without a soul. Lea wasn’t so sure. Ava and a heron had a special relationship.

Ettie was bright as a whip - clever - independent - ambitious - defiant when necessary. Ettie’s mother wasn’t helpful to Hanni- but Ettie was.
Ettie wished she were born a boy. Only the most learned person ( such as Ettie was), could use the 72 names of God to bring forth a Golem.
SUCCESS....( and Tante Ruth had said only men could bring a Golem to life)... ha!
Ettie was exceptional - she was born to fight. She re named herself Nicole Duval.

WE FOLLOW Ettie, ( her younger sister Marta died), Lea, and Ava on a long journey.
So many men - had been entering The World To Come...OLAM HaBa. - THESE STRONG WOMEN NEEDED TO SURVIVE.

I learned a lot!!!!! I didn’t (until this book), know anything about the Huguenot residents of Le Chambon - Sur - Lignon - who made a haven for the Jewish people fleeing from the Nazis.

I also didn’t know about Izieu: A Jewish orphanage.
In 1943, a school for children opened at Izieu.... a commune in eastern France.
A year later everyone was gone. The children were sent to Auschwitz. The French government said it was kindness to send the children to be with your parents. Different police were in collaboration with the Germans and all 42 children were taken to Montluc Prison. Not a single child survived.

You’ll meet Julien - a Heron - Dr. Girard- learn of other communes - bombing in Vienna- visit Haute-Loire- ponder over sights, sounds, smells, language, and tidbits of details. Did you know that the German government forced every Jewish women to use the name Sarah after her own name on every official document? I didn’t.
And.....most you feel as if you know the main characters - and minor characters well....
If you are like me.... you’ll be moved by a mother/ daughter strength that you just might either be a little jealous - that you’re on relationship with your own mother was lacking OR....bask in the special love you did or do have with your mother.

A perfect gift to our mother’s who read!!!

Reading an Alice Hoffman book is always magical, and meant to be read slowly as each sentence feels a treat. Her books are such you can reread them and find something new each time, and her writing is nuanced, lyrical and magical all at once.
Her research for this book must have been extensive, because even with all the WW2 books I’ve read, I still learned something new such as the history of the Huguenots.
In 1941- Berlin Hanni Kohn desperate to save her daughter and get her far away, goes to the Rabbi’s house and receives help, instead, from his daughter, Ettie.Ettie is very smart and creates a Golem from clay and water in the shape of a woman, whose one job is to watch over Lea, and keep her safe until the end of the war. As a price, Ettie now has passage to Paris, along with her sister, Miriam. As Hanni takes Ava, the golem home she implores her to love Lea as her own daughter.
This is an incredible book to read, and I loved the writing and the characters. I can’t recommend this book enough.

WOW. WOW. WOW. This book combines the best of what Alice Hoffman does. Fascinating female characters, history, and magical realism. I was not ready for it to end, and likely will read it again.

What a poignant, beautiful story written by the queen of magical realism, Alice Hoffman. Set in Europe during the devastating time of the Holocaust, the Jewish folklore of the magical golem is brought to life in female form with the task of keeping a young girl safe from persecution. Told with a haunting, moral burden you will not be able to turn away from this book. It will resonate in your soul and mind long after the last page is read.

I highly recommend this book. It is due to be published in September. 2019.