The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

“She has thought she would never know why humans fought so hard to stay alive, but now she understood. It was love everlasting. It was the thing that could never be erased.”

“This is what it was to be human, to be at the will of fate. This is what it felt like to lose a child you loved who had loved you in return. She was awake and brought to life.”

These are words from the novel The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman, a novel l wholeheartedly recommend.

I am not sure how many readers will know what a Golem is. I was first introduced to golems in the stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer, and if you read this new book by Alice Hoffman you will learn about golems and their creation. They are, of course, as unreal as ghosts, but there are those who have absolute belief in such creatures, and they are very much part of Jewish lore.

The novel begins in Berlin in the spring of 1941 as anti-Semitism is taking its toll on the Jewish population of the city. Doctor Simon Kohn has been murdered and his widow, Hanni, must find a way to care for both her elderly mother, and her twelve-year-old daughter, Lea. They are hungry, and more and more worried about their well being as some neighbours are arrested and others simply disappear 

Hanni decides that, at all costs, she will save her daughter. She approaches the Rabbi’s wife who has reputation for being able to do magical things, but it is the Rabbi’s daughter, Ettie, who is able to help. Lea leaves Berlin under the care of Ava, a woman whose only purpose is to keep Lea safe. As improbable as the existence of a Golem is, in this novel it is absolutely right and the story that ensues is both captivating and one that is beautifully written and perfectly plotted.

Lea and Ava are only two of many who fear for their lives and are attempting to escape Nazi Germany.  We meet brothers, Julien and Victor, and Marianne and her father, as well as nuns and doctors and farmers, all of whom are working not only to survive themselves, but to help others.

You will find yourself quickly becoming attached to these characters, and their plight. There are couplings that might have been improbable in ordinary times. When a widowed doctor enters into a relationship with a young woman “it was something they hadn’t expected, it was almost as if they had fallen in love in a world where anything could happen and nothing was impossible”. The doctor knowing this young woman might not live to see her next birthday.

There is death and sadness, but there are also happily ever afters. The World That We Knew is an important and very wonderful novel.