The Living and the Lost by Ellen Feldman was not easy to read. I want to be honest in this review. There is so much information concerning the Holocaust. From the beginning all the way through to the horrific events in the internment camps. Most of the information ends with the glorious rescue of the Jewish prisoners. But there is not a lot of information about what happened afterwards. How did the families that were affected manage to move on? What happened to the ones left behind? The Living and the Lost takes the reader to Berlin after World War 2 has ended. Programs have been established to weed out Nazi sympathizers and move the city to a peaceful future. Millie and her brother David escaped Germany but left behind their parents and little sister. While living a "normal" life in America, they await reuniting with the rest of the family. After the war is over, Millie and David return to Berlin to work in the rebuilding of the city. But each one has their own motives. As the story progresses, I found it harder and harder to read but I couldn't stop. With all Holocaust survival stories I so wanted it to end happily. I kept reading to try and get that happy ending. Without giving away too much of the story I will just tell you to be prepared. Historically, I learned so much that is not in history books. I really think people need to educate themselves completely so that we can avoid what could happen again. Prejudice and hatred are such powerful emotions and are still so dominant in today's society. If we could only learn from the past.
I voluntarily received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

Historical Fiction is one of my most beloved genres and it is great to see post WWII represented. Though the war had officially ended, in Berlin and elsewhere the heartache and sorrow did not. So many people were displaced and homeless, most families lost family members (especially men) and starvation was commonplace. Imagine being German living in Germany during de-nazification and Stalin's soldiers' terrifying rampage. Horrors pummelled every side, especially the Jewish community. No one was obeying laws...one did not get far by doing that. Everyone was suspicious of everyone else.

On the brink of the war, Millie and David fled to safety in America but their parents and young sister were left. Years later they return to Berlin to seek their family and help in the de-nazification effort. Their work takes them to emotionally-charged and nauseating places within their selves. Life all around them is barren and stark; they despise what Germany has become and especially those responsible.

One of the many stories that stand out most in my mind is the teacher passing out razor blades in a classroom. But there are more, equally horrifying and I do not believe in spoilers.

This Historical Fiction is original and told from a different perspective so should appeal to any readers who wish to read and learn about the aftermath of WWII. It is not an enjoyable read due to the subject matter but compelling and thought provoking.

My sincere thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the privilege of reading the e-ARC of this gut wrenching and important book.

The WWII subset of historical fiction is popular and possibly a bit saturated. This one stands out in that it explores forgiveness, but specifically self-forgiveness. Meike returns to Berlin seeking answers and a bit of atonement after the war. She and her brother managed to escape to America before that became impossible. But what happened to the rest of their family? And she blames herself for things that no teenage should have had to deal with in the first place. The book looks at racism across a wide spectrum, not just anti-Semitism. The author brings it to your attention in a way that makes it seem ridiculous, which it is, and I liked her approach. I definitely recommend this one.

A deeply moving multiple timeline novel that explores Post-war Germany. What does it mean to truly survive war? It may seem like a simple question, but Ellen Feldman deftly explores this topic. Please see my rave review more fully here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3874084186

Highly recommended!

I received a complimentary copy of The Living and the Lost from NetGalley.  Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

This book is deep. There were so many tragic dimensions that it almost seems wrong to say that I ‘enjoyed’ it. I certainly appreciated this novel, the research that went into it and the positive messages that it portrays. The misfortunes of Jewish American Millie, her brother David, and the other military men (many of whom were also Jewish-Americans) surrounding them became tangible throughout the course of this novel.

I received this book "The Living and the Lost" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. I just could not get into this book at all. I didn't like the characters and really didn't care about them. I made it through about half way and gave up. Sorry this book just wasn't for me.

What an incredibly difficult story to read. This is one of the most informative historical fiction novels I have ever read regarding the aftermath of WWII and occupation of Berlin by America and their allies. Ellen Feldman has written a book that the emotions are actually palpable. There are no words to describe how important this book is and how much it needs to be read by all.

If you are a fan of World War II fiction, you will not be disappointed with “The Living and the Lost” by Ellen Feldman.

I was thrilled to read this novel as a fan of Feldman’s earlier book, “Paris Never Leaves You.”

The novel opens after the war. Millie (previously known as Mieke) has reunited with her brother, David who were separated during the war. They had been part of the fortunate few who had been able to escape to the United States, but now Millie is back and realizing she cannot escape her past as she wrestles with survivor’s guilt as she tries to find out what happened to the rest of her family.

The novel does an expert job of weaving in the present time with flashbacks so the reader can understand what happened to Millie and her brother during the war years. I can never tire of WWII fiction because each story is so unique to its characters and that is especially true for “The Living and the Lost.” The novel touches upon a variety of themes, but while the subject matter may be tough at times and the scenes can be laden with sadness and despair, I do promise that there is also hope.

Thanks to Ellen Feldman, St, Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for my advanced copy.

In 2020, I read “Paris Never Leaves You” by Ellen Feldman, a book that remains at the top of my “best-loved book” list. The book still resonates with me and so I was eager to read Ms. Feldman’s latest book, “The Living and the Lost”, a World War 2 Historical Fiction and Jewish Literature book. Would this book have the same impact?

Yes. It’s truly another haunting and thought-provoking book.” The Living and the Lost” is not as haunting and beguiling as “Paris”, it is much rougher, sharper, cutting. But it leaves an even bigger impact and will have you pondering love and hate, cruelty and compassion, bravery and betrayal, and country and individuals.

The story begins in post-war Berlin, a devastated wreck in the midst of the rubble of Europe. The world is learning of the atrocities of the Nazis, but for main character Mieke “Mille” Mosbach, the insane Nazi extermination of Jewish citizens was part of her life. She and her brother have come to Berlin, to work with the American reconstruction of Berlin. David served in the Army during the war, and Millie is there as an adjunct to the Army.

Millie and David’s story emerges in flashback through the book. Their story, and the stories of other characters in the book, American and German, show us the horror and the search for hope in devastation. Should you hate Germany the country? Should you despise individual Germans? Should you condemn yourself for your actions? What is it like to be lost and still living?

This book is stark and piercing; so detailed and well-researched and well-written it reads like a nonfiction book or a memoir. I have read many historical novels about World War II and how the unfathomable could happen. “The Living and Lost” needs to be read by all. Highly recommend.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance review copy. This is my honest review

I read this book in one sitting and was so good. In 1939 Millie and her brother David immigrate from Berlin to America. They live with the Bennett's who are family friends in Philadelphia and MIllie attends Bryn Mawr and her brother enlists in the Army. His reason is that he hates Germany and wants to take out Hitler at any cost. He is assigned to Camp Ritchie in Maryland which is a training ground for German Jewish army soldiers to become interrogators, interpreters and translators. I found this whole aspect of the book fascinating because I am from Maryland and it is a piece of history I did not know. He was sent to Berlin after his training to continue his intelligence work. His sister Millie is also sent to Berlin to help with denazification and has an agenda of her own. She has pure hatred in her heart for anyone she deems a Nazi whether they were or not. She also has quilt because she and her brother got out but not her parents and younger sister. Being sent to Berlin by the military was not a good idea as she is so closed minded and unforgiving.

She actually has a visitor to her office who turns out to be her older cousin who spent time in the concentration camps. Her cousin asks her to help find someone very special to her. Millie with the help of her boss Henry Sutton, are able to help Anna. After her brother tells Henry what really happened to their family, does Henry ask Millie about it. Millie remembers the details much differently than David because she has much quilt about a decision she made that changed the course of her family. It was a decision that her father drilled into her head as the whole family was fleeing on a train bound for the Netherlands. She finally comes to terms with her decision and a whole weight is lifted from she shoulders. I recommend this book to anyone interested in World War II,

The Living and the Lost by Ellen Feldman was captivating from page one. This post war story with hints of wartime memories depicted the raw emotions and pain war causes to their every day life after war.

Millie and David return to Germany for two different purposes, but both were there to serve their family who was taken by the Concentration Camps of World War 2.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for allowing me to have a pre-released e-book and fall in love with these characters.

Description copied from the publisher:

Millie (Meike) Mosbach and her brother David, manage to escape to the States just before Kristallnacht, leaving their parents and little sister in Berlin. Millie attends Bryn Mawr on a special scholarship for non-Aryan German girls and graduates to a magazine job in Philadelphia. David enlists in the army and is eventually posted to the top-secret Camp Ritchie in Maryland, which trains German-speaking men for intelligence work.

Now they are both back in their former hometown, haunted by ghosts and hoping against hope to find their family. Millie, works in the office responsible for rooting out the most dedicated Nazis from publishing; she is consumed with rage at her former country and its citizens, though she is finding it more difficult to hate in proximity. David works trying to help displaced persons build new lives, while hiding his more radical nighttime activities from his sister. Like most of their German-born American colleagues, they suffer from conflicts of rage and guilt at their own good fortune, except for Millie’s boss, Major Harry Sutton, who seems much too eager to be fair to the Germans.

Living and working in bombed-out Berlin, a latter day Wild West where drunken soldiers brawl; the desperate prey on the unsuspecting; spies ply their trade; werewolves, as unrepentant Nazis were called, scheme to rise again; black markets thrive, and forbidden fraternization is rampant, Millie must come to terms with a decision she made as a girl in a moment of crisis, and with the enigmatic sometimes infuriating Major Sutton who is mysteriously understanding of her demons.

Sometimes a book title captures perfectly the intent of a book. This title really hit the mark for me. It captured the story of two individuals still living, and reminded us of those that they had lost and the impact that such a loss made on their lives. I've read one other book by Ellen Feldman which I enjoyed, but this one gripped me from the very beginning and left me reading whenever I could find a spare moment until the story was done.

Set in post war Berlin, the main character of the book is Millie who along with her brother David grew up in Berlin, as part of a Jewish family. At the beginning of the story, Millie and David find themselves together again in Berlin , sharing a flat after being apart through most of the war. They had been lucky enough to escape Germany and move to America shortly before Kristallnacht. It is clear from early on that their story is not a simple one. The author gives the reader more and more details of what their experiences were as time goes by using flashbacks to give a clear picture of all the difficulties they faced both in Germany and in the United States. It was not easy being Jewish in either location.

Millie is back in Germany to try and help determine who would be suitable candidates to work in the publication business be it news or literature in post war Germany. One of her first jobs is to requisition a flat to live in and Millie does it even though it means she is sending a child and family out onto the street with almost no notice. She is torn between hating anything that has anything to do with Germany and the softer side of herself that recognizes things aren't as black and white as they first appear. Many of her co-workers have a similar background to hers. They have good reason to hate those they have to screen. In some characters that hatred bursts out explosively while in others it seems to have moved so far into the back of their lives that it seems almost non-existent.

I found both the postwar and flashback episodes equally mesmerizing. In the past Millie is called Meike, the name she grew up with, which helps to make the transition from present to past. Her story is a fictional one and yet I am sure that it represents the kind of situations that many Jewish people faced in their efforts to survive. Both Millie and her brother carried burdens but each was different even though they grew from the same beginnings. It was heartbreaking to read how damaging their experiences had been to their ability to develop a healthy sense of self esteem especially when they had so many questions about what had happened to those who were left behind. Little details gave me a visceral feeling of how awful things were. Millie offers a bar of soap to a woman who has been in the concentration camps where soap was an unheard of luxury but the woman leaves the soap behind. Why? They heard in the camps that the Germans used body fat from those they killed to make soap. This was a German bar of soap. I felt ill. Another moment that really moved me was when David took Millie to a Bar Mitzvah ceremony. All the synagogues were gone, so where was the ceremony held? In a cemetery because "Where else can you find family and community these days?" Those there to witness the event "saw themselves as celebrants. Standing in that desecrated graveyard, with hunger in their bellies and mourning in their hearts and scars that would never heal on their souls, they were celebrating this one child who had survived, one among millions who had not, but still one, and a cause for joy". This part of the story was a powerful homage to the resilience of those who had survived.

David and Millie were survivors, but their minds and bodies had paid a price for their survival. How does anyone move on from intense trauma? It certainly wasn't easy for either of them and at times I worried that Millie might not survive in the long run. It really emphasized for me how important mental health resources are for those who have lived through such horrendously difficult life experiences. The author summed it up in one scene between Millie and her boss as being like a festering wound eating at them from within. "Loss can be consoled. Pain can be solaced. But there is no comfort for shame. Because shame is not the result of a wrong suffered, but of a wrong committed. Nothing can breach the isolation of that. Not sympathy. Not sex. Not even love." By stories end, Millie was beginning to question that and look to the future and what it might be like.

Feldman began the book with two quotations one from General Dwight Eishenhower in a letter to his wife - "God I hate the Germans"; the other quotation comes from Gerda Weissmann Klein, survivor of a Nazi Slave Labor Camp and 350 mile forced march - "I can hate Germany and all things German with a passion, but I can't hate individuals." Having read the book and looking back on these quotes I can see how Millie moved from one stance to the other. Her road was full of roadblocks and bumps but she was a survivor. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I wish that all students in high school history classes could read it and learn from it.

Many thanks to @NetGalley, St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books and the author for asking me to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

This was a WWII story that was haunting and hopeful at the same time. The Living and the Lost focused on the Occupation of Berlin following the war in a duel time line story of Millie who was able to escape Berlin and go the the United States and then return to find what she left behind. A very emotional story that shed a light on a part of the was that isn't often written about. A very good read.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. This is my honest review.

First, thank you to NetGalley and Ellen Feldman for allowing me to read this amazing story prior to its publication date. I found myself reading it every chance I got, whether it be in a parking lot or in the mine at the grocery store. This book, while fictional, gives the reader WWII from another perspective....

Millie and David made it out of Berlin just before the night of broken glass....leaving behind their parents and little sister. Life in America provided Millie with a college education and the possibility of a future in writing. David had a bit of a rougher time in boarding school where his lineage proved to be just as unwanted as it was in Germany. To prove to everyone and himself that he was not like other Germans, he enlisted in the military. After the war, the siblings returned to a very different Berlin. Millie wanted answers regarding their family, David wanted to help the displaced persons begin a new life. Will Millie be able to forgive herself for what she considered a betrayal? Will David make a difference? You’ll just have to read it to find out.

This story touches on so many aspects of WWII, from post traumatic stress disorder, to survivors guilt, to vengeance and more. It’s gripping from page one. It will make you think. It will make you mourn. It will make you hope. I highly recommend this book! It’s terrific

I enjoyed The Living and the Lost, by Ellen Feldman. The setting of post WWII was unique to many of the books of the time period. I felt some parts were confusing switching between times in the main characters life. Overall, it was an interesting book with rich characters living complicated lives.

I could never really connect with this book. It has a strong female heroine- Millie. But she felt flat to me- no real personality. It’s a fairly good book but maybe just not for me. It’s about a brother (David) and sister (Millie), German Jews, who return to occupied Berlin to hopefully find their parents and little sister. They find so much more. I not only don’t know these people but I really don’t want to or maybe don’t care to. That’s why I say this book was not for me. I’ve read others about the War and the horrible aftermath and was totally immersed in them and the characters ~ just not this one. I did finish the book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy for my honest review.

I received a free ebook of The Living and the Lost from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Feldman sets her well-done historical novel in post World War II Germany, a setting that is, in my opinion, underrepresented in this genre. Berlin is a dingy shadow of its former self. The defeated Germans are starving amid the rubble of their glorious Reich while the victors - American, British, French, and Russian - attempt to restructure some semblance of a world.

Millie and her brother David are German Jews who escaped to America amidst the rise of the Nazi party. Their parents and younger sister, Sarah, were unable to escape although readers won't find out the full story until the novel is three quarters done. Luckily, Millie and David were sponsored by a lovely, wealthy couple who provided them opportunities in education and parental-type concern. They spend the war years in America - Millie at Bryn Mawr and David eventually joining Army intelligence. When the war ends, Millie makes her way back to Berlin to work in the denazification office; in other words, she judges the validity of individual German claims of innocence. David is stationed in Berlin performing tasks that are secret and dangerous.

As in many historical novels set during WWII, there are the ghosts of the missing. Many of those working in the denazification office are German Jews. Each carries the loss, the guilt, the despair of the unknown. Can there be joy and love amidst the rubble and shadows of hate? Can there be, should there be forgiveness? Forgiveness of the German politic? Forgiveness of self?

Feldman's characters go through their lives with hesitancy and success, stumbles and leaps. The Living and the Lost is a worthy addition to the World War II fiction collection.
#NetGalley #TheLivingandtheLost

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Millie and her brother David grew up in Berlin, in a loving Jewish family. As teenagers, they were able to escape Germany, just before Kristallnacht leaving their parents and younger sister behind. They were sponsored by an American family who provided them with an American life, boarding school for David, college for Millie. Once, war breaks out, David enlists in the army, as soon as he can and is shipped back to Europe to fight with the Allies. Millie returns to Berlin after the end of the war to be part of the denazification program. Many German born Jews living in the United States were selected for this program to interview and weed out former Nazis.
For Millie, this a very emotional journey. While doing her job, she is naturally wondering, what happened to her family. She is dealing with more than the usual survivor’s guilt, she feels responsible for what might have happened to her parents and sister. In every German, she sees the enemy. Although the war is over, antisemitism is not. David and Millie deal differently with what happened in the past and what’s happening now. Most of the story takes place after the war with flashbacks of what happened before. I finished this book in three days, literally couldn’t put it down. I liked some of the sub stories also, as well as the romance element. I have read many WWII and Holocaust novels, yet this had a different approach. I was not familiar with the term denazification, I now learned both from this novel and additional research. I am giving this book 4.5 stars rounding to 5. I took off half a star, because I felt some of the flashbacks were disjointed, sometimes it took me a while to realize, the story went back to the past.
This is a great book for a book club discussion, it raises so many issues.
Thanks NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the advanced copy.

I enjoyed this book that explores the difficulties faced by the survivors of WWII . I thought the characters were well written and heartbreakingly beautiful.

Millie and brother David manage to escape Berlin just as the Nazis begin their brutal assault on Jews. They both go on to have successful lives in the United States, with Millie winning a scholarship to Bryn Mawr and then landing a job at a magazine in Philadelphia. David enlists in the army is is eventually transferred to a classified intelligence unit. Despite their success, Millie and David feel sorrow, regret and even shame at leaving their parents and little sister behind in Berlin. After the war they both return to Berlin, Millie working at tracking down Nazis and their sympathizers, David trying to help the residents of the war torn city new places to live. Driven by terrible grief and righteous anger, brother and sister must come to terms with their past in order to move on. What a story, it is so vividly told, I felt like I was there with the protagonists in post war Berlin, I could feel their anger and pain as if it were my oen. This is a powerful, incredible story