Peter Ibbetz, a Holocaust survivor, now lives in a small apartment in New Jersey where he keeps to a regular and safe routine, doing the same things very day, trying to keep the past at bay. But of course the past can never be kept at bay, especially when Peter starts to dream about his lost love, Mira, from whom he was so cruelly torn away in Theresienstadt. But in his dreams she lives again and the red thread that has bound them all these years starts to reel him and he sets off on a quest to find her. It’s a touching little tale but overall I found the book really quite banal and overly romanticised. The conclusion was sentimental and unconvincing and I just couldn’t relate to all the dream sequences in which Peter’s life follows a different path. Just too saccharine for me, but not badly written and it certainly seems to have appealed to many readers.

Decent story, easy enough to follow. I would read more books by this author. Overall, I liked the characters, the plot, the dialogue, and the wrap up.

3/5 Stars

The Red Thread is a fantastic historical fiction book about a man named Peter. It runs a dual timeline between WWII and present-day New Jersey. We follow Peter through his childhood into the camps in Germany and again when he is in his 90s in NJ. I loved Peter and Mira as characters., they were both so well written. The dream sequences with Peter were mysterious enough at the start for me to question what was really going on and if they were indeed real. I do not want to say much more, so I don't ruin to for you. It is a beautiful book about love, hope, loss, and surviving an unimaginable horror.

Thank you NetGalley and Independent Publishers Group for this advance readers copy ahead of The Red Thread’s publication on 1st January.

Of late, historical fiction has been my ‘go to’ genre and this beautifully crafted dual timeline WWII novel certainly did not disappoint.

Stemming from an East Asian belief of Chinese mythology; the ‘red thread of fate’ (also known as ‘the red thread of marriage’) is thought of as the connection of soul mates, “linking them forever so that they can always find one another” and that “love does not end. It goes on for all time.”

This is very applicable to our protagonist Peter, a a holocaust survivor in his 90’s who since the war has settled in New Jersey and pines for childhood sweetheart Mira who were so sadly separated as a result of Nazi rule and the horrifying discrimination suffered by the Jewish community.

Returning to Mira in his dreams, this is a story of young love and injustice, full of what ifs and what could’ve been.

I sometimes felt that the factual elements of the story were a little staccato and would have loved for them to have been weaved in a little more smoothly however, this is a still a very well written story full of emotion and receives a great 4 stars from me!

Rebekah Pace and Tracy Lawson have partnered their creative energy to coauthor a powerful story, ‘The Red Thread,' that entertains, uplifts and inspires. They explore the possibility of what it might be like if those who had experienced the Holocaust had the chance to relive their life from the moment theirs was so abruptly taken from them.

Peter Ibbetz is a 91-year-old holocaust survivor who has lived in the same New Jersey apartment for 64 years since arriving from Leipzig, Germany. It’s as if he’s living in a time capsule complete with a rabbit ears television in black and white and threadbare vintage clothing. Never having obtained a license or driven a car, he only ventures out of his home to a shop on the corner of the street. He is able to connect with his childhood sweetheart, Miriam (Mira) Schloss, in a strange world of shared dreams. Mira was his next-door neighbour and his sweetheart. The neighbours were sent to Theresienstadt together and the last time he saw her she had given him her precious locket, a heart with a red silk thread, to guard. Now, decades later, when he feels his soulmate is in danger, he ventures out of the safety of his lonely life and embarks on a mission across continents to rescue her. Will the red thread continue to connect them? Is it too late?

What a welcome treat to help get us through the end of 2020! If only we could wake up as Peter did and ‘poof’ - 2020 was just a collective bad dream! I’ll admit, there were several times that I was unsure if what was happening was in Peter’s dream or if it was reality. I was amazed at the seamless writing and the juxtaposition of the elements that make this novel unique. On the one hand, there’s a beautiful dream where everything is as it should have been (without people or interference) and on the other hand, there’s the ugliness of life behind barbed wire in the Theresienstadt Ghetto. I was in tears several times at the raw nature of the story. With such a sensitive and horrifying subject as the Holocaust, this irresistible genre worked; the authors were able to mingle the probable with the real and present it in a unique manner. I also had mixed feelings about Melody Richter, the Elderly Services representative, who called in to check on Peter. One minute I was wishing she’d leave him alone and the next I was wishing that she’d been more assertive and probative. Peter proved me wrong. He did have his marbles after all!

Inspired by the Chinese legend, ‘The Red Thread of Fate,’ where it is believed that lovers, destined for each other remain connected through space and time by a red thread, this five-star read is to be published January 1, 2021. This is a story of love, loss, magic and mystery, regret and forgiveness and worth every moment I was completely absorbed in it. If you haven’t had the chance to experience magical realism books, you must read this one as it is expertly crafted.