The Lives Before Us

The Lives Before Us is the story of Kitty and Esther, Jewish women fleeing Vienna and Berlin as World War 2 threatens and they face been sent to live in ghettos or worse. Shanghai is one of the few places which still accepts refugees at this point and the women meet when they share a cabin on board the boat there. Esther is a widow, seeking sanctuary for herself and her young daughter Anni. Kitty is travelling to join her wealthy, Russian fiancee Vitali who has promised a life of luxury. However, life in Shanghai turns out to be very different from what either of them expected.

I was fascinated by the historical background to this book. I have read a lot of fiction set in the Second World War but was wholly unaware of this episode of history and had no idea that many Jewish refugees from Europe travelled to Shanghai. I also had never heard of the ghettos in Shanghai. So this is a book I learned a lot from which is always a bonus to me when I read.

Juliet Conlin writes so vividly about her characters’ surroundings and experiences. Her descriptions of the women’s time on the boat to Shanghai seemed so real that I almost felt seasick myself. Her portrayal of the heat, the dust, the noise, the bustle and the smells of Shanghai leaps off the page, such was the clear image created by her words.

There is a journey for both women throughout this book both literal and metaphorical. Wherever they went, the Jewish refugees were an underclass. Ghetto life was clearly such a struggle. Everything seemed to conspire against Esther. Just when things seemed to go right for her and Anni, something always happened to dash her hopes. Kitty, was not initially such a likeable character seeming somewhat frivolous. She thought she was going to a better life but cruelly deceived by lover and like many people, found herself at a real low point, doing what she had to to survive. A third character is this book is Kitty’s servant and loyal friend, young Wing. I don’t want to say too much about him but he was a brilliant character and a lifesaver in so many ways.

The Lives Before Us shows the human capacity for resilience, strength and courage at life’s lowest points. It is a compelling and deeply moving read. Though there is despair and desperation, there is also hope and compassion. Juliet Conlin has blended dark history beautifully into the novel and created a remarkable and unforgettable story.

The Lives Before Us is an accomplished, poignant and gracefully compelling story. A story steeped in history but personalised through the characterisation and life of 3 main characters, Esther, Kitty and Yì. Juliet Conlin has written a story conveying a sense of constant upheaval and a struggle to survive, during one of the World’s darkest periods, when hopes and expectations would remain dreams and a harrowing life was all that awaited the victims of a World at war.

In April 1939, 5 months before the outbreak of the Second World War, Esther Niermann, a young widow, along with her daughter Anneliese (Anni), leave Berlin for Genoa to board a ship to Shanghai. Shanghai is a free port and one of the few places that Esther, as a Jew, can immigrate to. From the mid-1930s Jews who were aware of the anti-Semitic policy of Nazi Germany and had the finances to respond, started to leave their homes for apparent safe havens. Shanghai was a major destination for many German Jews.

Joining Esther on the ship from Genoa, is another lady, Kitty Blume. Kitty is a non-practising Jew and as such didn’t register as a Jew back in Germany. She is going to Shanghai to meet her fiancé, Vitali and get married. Esther, Anni and Kitty share a cabin, such are the huge passenger numbers, and while they initially avoid each other they eventually establish an intimacy in the last few days of the journey. In the confusion and rush to disembark they lose touch with each other and don’t get a chance to say goodbye. Many years later destiny will bring them together again – but under what circumstances?

Kitty meets up with her fiancé, to find that he is already married but he puts her up in a flat with a young Chinese servant Yì. Kitty treats the boy with a level of kindness that he isn’t used to, which contrasts to how badly Vitali treats him. Yì has other family concerns and we get a wonderful insight into the poverty faced by the Chinese population living under Japanese control. This lifestyle will be blown apart and the fallout will be disastrous.

The story is told in the third person and alternates between the 3 main characters, giving an amazing array of issues, environments and personalities as they each face totally different challenges yet are tied together by fate. Juliet vividly brings Shanghai to life with her wonderful prose, especially the Shanghai Ghetto, or more formally known as the Restricted Sector for Stateless Refugees. We see the different character perspectives and Juliet facilitates the reader with a lens on history that does the remarkable job of enabling us to live amongst it in our imagination. The pace and structure of the novel are perfect and Juliet often uses that powerful last line of a chapter to hook you immediately into the next.

The Lives Before Us is first and foremost a story about 2 women and a boy who experienced a city during very tumultuous times, where starvation, poverty, brutality, hardships, relationships, love, kindness and community interact every day. The story demonstrates despair, inspires hope and will break your heart before it ends – a wonderful achievement in weaving history, humanity and storytelling into a dramatic novel.

I would highly recommend this book and I would like to thank NetGalley, Black & White Publishing and Juliet Conlin for providing me with an ARC version in return for an honest review.

*Many thanks to Juliet Conlin, Black & White Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with ARC in exchange for my honest review.*
This is an interesting novel describing the fate of the Jewish immigrants who were lucky to leave Germany and Austria before WW2 began. The immigration, as it turned out, saved their lives. The destination place was Shanghai, one of the few places then that accepted Jews and where the immigrants lived or rather survived in most dramatic circumstances. Two female characters, Kitty and Esther, have different background and stories that they take when they embark the ship. I liked the way the author unveils gradually both women's past as it makes the novel intriguing. In Shanghai they face difficulties, poverty, fear, loneliness but somehow find stamina to survive. They are complete opposites, moreover, Esther has a little daughter to take care of. Kitty's and Esther's paths cross that of a poor Chinese boy's called Yi. Introducing Yi allows the Author to describe daily lives of average Chinese under Japanese occupation of which I had only a vague idea. There is so much to learn from this novel about the immigrants whose fate took them so far away from homeland, forcing them to leave the nearest and dearest for the price of survival. Many books have this theme but the setting for this novel was a total novelty for me. I especially enjoyed vivid descriptions of Shanghai and I actually could hear the noise and smells of it. The Lives Before Us is a solid historical fiction that I recommend to the fans of this particular genre.

I loved this World War 2 era book, set in the exotic city of Shanghai, which follows the lives and adventures of three very different people. In Nazi occupied Europe in 1939 escape routes for Jews are few and far between. Esther and her young daughter are fleeing and one of the only cities that is still a free port open to all nationalities is Shanghai, so they board an ocean liner in search of a safer future. Once on board they meet Kitty, also Jewish, who is travelling to Shanghai on the promise of a life of wealth and luxury with her Russian suitor. However once she arrives, she learns that she will be hidden away as a mistress, her only companion the young houseboy Yi. Despite this unpromising start she seems to be settling in , but as the Russian's angry and violent side comes to the surface she soon finds herself scraping a living working as a dance hall girl. As the war drags on, and the Japanese enter the fray, the dangers the women fled from seem to be following them.
Strong characters, vividly described , are at the heart of this wonderful book. It is difficult not to feel sympathy for each of the three narrators in their different but difficult circumstances. The city of Shanghai almost feels like another character. Books set during this period are always fascinating, but this is the first I have read set in Shanghai and I really enjoyed the different perspectives and experiences described. despite their sometimes brutal and harrowing nature. The author does not shy away from the barbaric side of war, and the violence and depravity imposed on civilians living in a war zone which makes for difficult reading at times, but she also shines a light on the value of friendship and the importance of looking out for those we love.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I knew that I would fall in love with this book as soon as I had read the first few pages and I sat about for a long while once it was over, wondering how on earth my review could do this book justice. This is historical fiction at its very best; a moving journey with two strong and brave yet strikingly different women at its heart, entwined with the life of a young boy from Shanghai. Whilst reading, my senses were assaulted by a cacophony of sights, sounds and smells; I really felt as if I was positioned right in the centre of the Shanghai Ghetto; inhaling its squalor and destitution as an onlooker standing at a window over Kitty, Esther and Wing.

I found my heart breaking for both Esther and Kitty in very different ways; it seemed that they were both bombarded with setback after setback and every time they managed to overcome the challenges hurled at them, they would be dealt yet another crushing blow. The enduring tenacity and the strength of these two women, who were entirely alone, combined with the kindness of those who let them into their lives, often with less than little to give, left me feeling both a sadness and a happiness at the sense of camaraderie which emerged from their collective struggle in the toughest of times.

For me, this novel was an education in an area of the Second World War of which I have very little knowledge, and on which I have read very little. The rawness of the effect of poverty in the Shanghai Ghetto evoked by Conlin, was for me a shocking revelation. The instability and precariousness of Wing’s entire existence was at best unsettling and at worst truly tragic. I found myself heavily invested in his survival as well as that of Kitty and Esther.

Conlin’s depth of knowledge and expertise on the plights of those affected by the Second World War is obvious throughout the book. I am reliably informed (straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak!) that she embarked upon a veritable quest to perfect this novel, including learning basic mandarin and travelling 5000 miles for research, not to mention personally interviewing Shanghai Ghetto survivors and reading countless history books on the subject.

This is a compelling story of heartbreak, instability and compassion; a beautifully written and captivating tale of survival. Conlin presents a masterclass in historical fiction in what is a sensorially astounding and truly accomplished novel. I shall be talking about this 5* story for a long time.

I have read many books set in this time period but was not familiar with the Shanghai ghetto’s, this story vividly bought to life the sights, sounds, and smells of the city and the hardships the refugees faced. It is a deeply moving read but also one of triumph and hope. 1939 Esther a young widow from Berlin boards a ship traveling to Shanghai with her daughter. Whilst onboard they meet Kitty, a young woman from Vienna and they share a cabin together for the duration of the trip. Upon disembarking they lose sight of one another and from this point on their stories take different paths as we follow their journey to survive in this unfamiliar country. Within the first two chapters I was invested in the characters, especially the plight of Wing (Yi) which gave an altogether different perspective.