THE ORPHAN’S TALE
PAM JENOFF
MY RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▫️
PUBLISHER MIRA Books
PUBLISHED February 21, 2017
A mesmerizing novel of friendship between two brave women aerialist performing in a traveling circus during World War II.
SUMMARY
Two women are both independently thrown out of their homes by loved ones because of circumstances of the war. The two somehow end up in Darmstadt Germany working as aerialist on the flying trapeze for a traveling circus.
Noa has been cast out of her parent’s home in disgrace after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier. She was been forced to give up her baby. She lived in a small rail station which she cleaned in order to have a place to stay. One bitterly cold night Noa hears a keening sound coming from one of the boxcars. She soon discovers a boxcar containing dozens of nearly frozen infants she is starkly reminded of the child she had to give up. In a life-changing moment she snatches one of the babies and flees into the snowy night.
Fourteen months earlier, Astrid was happily and passionately married and living in Berlin with her impossibly handsome husband. One day he comes home and stoically hands her divorce papers. He has been ordered by the Reich to divorce her since he is a Nazi officer and she is Jewish. She is forced from their home, and with nowhere else to go she returns to the town of her youth, and seeks refuge at the home of an old neighbor, who operates a traveling circus. She has experience on the flying trapeze.
It is at the circus that Astrid and Noa meet and must both try blend in and go undetected. Astrid and Noa form a powerful bond, share each other secrets and perform together under the big top. But as the world falls apart around them, will they be able to continue to support one another.
REVIEW
I found the circus theme during World War II quite intriguing. Would the Nazi’s ever allow a spectacle such as a circus to survive. The placement of the winter quarter in Darmstadt Germany particularly touched me because of family ties to the town. I loved learning about behind the scenes of the circus and particularly the flying trapeze.
THE ORPHAN’S TALE is a touching tale of survival, loss, bravery, secrets, and friendship. The story is about the harrowing sacrifices these two women have to make to survive. The story is masterfully told from both Noa and Astrid’s point of view with alternating chapters, one masterfully picking up where the other left off. The story moves quickly and the writing flows easily.
PAM JENOFF notes that it was in the archives of Yad Vashem that she discovered both the heartbreaking story of the boxcar of babies and the story of a circus, the Circus Althoff, that had sheltered the Jewish Danner family during the war. It was from her discovery of these two stories that she created this unique work of fiction.
PAM JENOFF is the author of several novels of historical fiction, including The Kommandant’s Girl. She hold a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from George Washington University, a masters degree in history from Cambridge and a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania. Her novels are inspired by her experience working at the Pentagon and also as a diplomat for the State department handling Holocaust issues in Poland.
