Tuesday, January 27, 2015

A Fifty-Year Silence: Love, War, and a Ruined House in France by Miranda Richmond Mouillot

"A Fifty-Year Silence: Love, War, and a Ruined House in France" by Miranda Richmond Mouillot is a touching story of a granddaughter desperately trying to understand the relationship of her grandparents who had not spoken in 50 years.

Miranda tells the story of her Holocaust-surviving grandparents, each of who were successful in their own right (she a doctor, he an interpreter during the Nuremberg Trials), and their indifference/hatred of the other.  The author wants to know the reason for their silence, yet both grandparents speak "around it"... until the end of the book.

During this hellish time of our world history, I found myself wishing that this couple could have somehow had a different outcome to their relationship when they had lost so very much already.  This was not their story, though, and this book brought to light that those that had lived through that awful time did not go on to live fairytale lives. 

My favorite quote toward the end of the book happens when Miranda asks her grandmother if she is upset that Miranda married a Catholic, not a Jew.  Her grandmother's response?  "...You have to live your life forward..."

Good advice.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I was provided a free copy of this book by Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest opinion.

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