dual-time-frames, grief, grieving, historical-novel, historical-places-events, historical-research, history-and-culture, Israel, Jews, relationships, Youth-Aliyah, orphaned, IDF, 1940s, 1960s

This ambitious novel tackles some of the answers to the questions of "what happened next". What happened to the supposedly orphaned children housed with (hardly) Christians, How did Jews escape the illegal embargo placed upon emigrés by the English and French. And how did a people survive the intense grief of survivor's guilt and the uncertainty of the fate of their loved ones. It is a novel written about two time periods: The 1940s and the 1960s. It's an amazing read, but best read in segments in order to have a better understanding of the meaning of history.
I requested and received an EARC from William Morrow/William Morrow Paperbacks via NetGalley.

I have always loved historical fiction, and this did not disappoint! It was interesting to see the aftermath of WWII, which is not always something that is explored. Oftentimes we hear of the tragedies that occurred during the war and the Holocaust, but not always what happened immediately after and how those ripples impacted future generations. I really enjoyed reading the unique take, and it was a very well-developed and emotional read. I will definitely be looking for more of Talia's books in the future!

This book is quite a fascinating historical fiction that explores the plight of Jewish children during and after World War II, as well as the time period in the late 1960's when 5 Israeli boats escaped from Cherbourg, France to Israel. It follows Claudette, who relinquished her infant son, hoping to keep him safe, Uzi, who became part of the Youth Allayah after the war, who searched for those children who had been separated from their families, hoping to reunite them. In the late 1960's, Sharon, an Israeli officer working with the boat mission, headed by Danny, begins to unravel a mystery that is decades old. It is a well-researched book, and I learned so much about the history of these times that I had never known. Talia Carner has brought these little-known time periods to light with wonderful fictional characters that are as resilient and full of heart as those they represent. It is a book full of hope, courage, and a bit of romance. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy. The opinions of my review are my own.

“75% of institutionalized French children had at least one living parent.”

Author Talia Carner “did not want to tell another Holocaust story but to explore what happened afterward. How were these children found?” She did just that in multiple timelines and from multiple POVs as we follow Danny, the boy with the star tattoo, who was the fictionalized child representing so many orphaned Jewish children after the war.

With a little bit of romance and a whole lot of heartache, Carner paints a picture with her prose of what it must have been like for these young children to be ripped away from their natural families during the war and then again from their adoptive families years later to either reunite with the family they lost or to be moved to a family of Jewish culture and heritage.

Here is another example of why I love historical fiction. I learn so much about topics I knew nothing about!

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Read if you like:
Historical fiction
Learning about the IDF
Lost and found family stories

Historical Fiction is my favorite genre and this book did not disappoint. It was so emotional and wonderfully written!

This well researched novel links together three time periods - 1942, 1946 and 1969. The author does a fantastic job of linking together the people in each time period and the result is a story that won't be forgotten.

1942 - Claudette is a seamstress who is disabled and unable to walk to school. She was basically illiterate until a Jewish peddler taught her to read and became her friend. After her grandmother dies, she goes to a French chateau in the Loire Valley as a seamstress. She begins to get very worried as she hears about the German Army invading France because she knows that they often killed invalids. When her friend, the Jewish peddler and his son show up at the chateau, she hides them for a few days and also has an affair with the son. After he leaves, she finds out that she's pregnant but refuses to tell anyone that the baby's father is Jewish. When she escapes to Spain with the Duchess and family, she makes a devastating decision to leave her baby behind with a nursemaid so that he'll remain safe. Will she ever see her son again?

1946 - Youth Aliya, a group of Israeli agents is combing the French countryside in search of Jewish orphans to send to Israel. During the war, Jewish children were often left with Christian families for safety and the parents never returned from the camps to claim their children. Youth Aliya was working to teach these children about their Jewish history and to help them regain their pasts. During this time period, the British were not allowing boats into Israel so the groups had to make secret and often dangerous trips to Israel to take their children to their new homes. Claudette is not aware that her beloved son has been rescued by this group and adopted by an Israeli couple.


1969 - twenty-year-old Israeli intelligence officer Sharon Bloomenthal, still grieving the loss of her boyfriend in a drowned military submarine, is recruited by naval officer Daniel Yarden to assist with the Cherbourg project - an Israeli military action involving the escape of the five missile boats from the French port of Cherbourg. The boats had been paid for by the Israeli government but had not been delivered due to the French arms embargo in 1969. When Sharon learns that Danny came to Israel with the help of Youth Aliya, she tries to find out if he knew her deceased mother who arrived in Israel at the same time. In trying to find out information about her mother, she discovers a secret about Danny and works to solve the mystery of his past.

As with many of the untold World War II stories, many of the people in the story were based on real people and real situations. I learned so much in this book -- I had never heard of Youth Aliya and wasn't aware of their work to find abandoned Jewish children and send them to Israel and I wasn't aware of the escape of the five boats in 1969. The characters were all well written and believable. Be prepared to shed a few tears -- some sad tears for the children that were left behind in France but also happy tears for the new lives they were able to begin. If you read WWII fiction, this is a definite MUST READ!

The Boy with the Star Tattoo by Talia Carner was an excellent piece of historical fiction.
Carner has such a unique ability to combine historical events with character development that makes the characters come alive and all the human ways. She has the ability to evoke the complete range of emotions in her readers.
This story was a page turner and the character development of these characters were exceptional
Our MCs are written with such heart you feel for their every step in life.
The dual timelines really set scene here.
A gripping story of courage, of love and loss this is one not to be missed!

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and William Morrow for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I received a copy of "The Boy with the Star Tattoo from Negalley. This book focuses on two different time eras. The 1940s between 1942-1946. And skips two decades to 1968 and 1969. In the forties in Europe Claudette a teenager with a crippled leg. a kind man taught her to read. She falls in love with a young Jewish man and becomes pregnant. since the baby is born out of wedlock and he is half Jewish the baby is in danger. Claudette fearing for her baby and her own safety she has a tiny tattoo of the star of David put on the baby Benjamin's foot. she is separated from the baby when he is six weeks old never knowing if she will ever see him again.
Flash forward to 1968 a young woman named Sharon is working for causes in Isreal and France. lOst her own mother when she was an infant after the Holocaust. She meets Daniel a soldier. Sharon learns of the baby Benjamin with the Star Tattoo and sets out to find him and hopefully reunite him with his mother if she is still alive. there is lot of going back and forth between the decades slowly intertwining other characters and the what became of mysteries. I liked this book for the most part but found it a bit annoying to go back and forth between the decades. comes together well though. I would give this book a 3.5.

A fan of WWII historical fiction, I was looking forward to reading this book, which focuses much on postwar happenings. It weaves together the story of several people. Claudette, a crippled woman who is afraid of being discovered by Nazis in France during WWII and sent away or even killed for her disability. Claudette falls in love with a Jewish man and discovers that she is pregnant after he has left for safety. Just after the war is the story of Uzi, a young man with Youth Aliyah, tasked with bringing Jewish children from war torn France to rebuild their culture in Ersatz Israel. Twenty plus years later and we have the story of Sharon, a young woman awaiting news on her fiancée whose submarine is missing. She is recruited by Danny, a naval captain from Israel, with a secret mission. Sharon discovers a secret having to do with Danny and does a little sleuthing without his knowledge to find out his background story.
I had known a little about the Youth Aliyah but this book certainly gave me new information on the difficult job and how they often had children adopted by loving families who were not Jewish. I’m sure they often struggled with the decision of whether to take these children away from their new families. I appreciate the author bringing a different story to light.
I did however, feel a lack of connection with the characters. I wanted to feel more of what they were dealing with, whether it be the loss of a loved one, or the feeling of fear. There were also many words that I had to try to figure out via context, either French words, or Hebrew words. When that happens often, I lose the flow of the book. I also struggled when I had to put down the book for a while to remember what was happening and who was who, because there were quite a few people in the story as it was weaving between three different things. I decided to just finish the last 40% today so that didn’t happen again! The ending seemed a little abrupt and I would have liked it to tell more about what happened afterwards.
As I mentioned, I did enjoy learning more about the Youth Aliyah which was, quite possibly, my favorite part of the story.


Thank you to William Morrow for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

A sweet and heartbreaking story of one woman’s quest to find her lost child and another woman’s quest to defend her country.