Lest We Forget...

There are books I like because the text itself is innately fascinating, perhaps because of the writing style, the fast-moving denouement, the historical accuracy or its unnerving realism.

Then there are books I enjoy because they force me to address uncomfortable issues and ask myself questions I would prefer to avoid, but which are key to my own humanity.

A Little Piece of Mother falls into the latter category.

Despite the twee name, there is a challenging premise behind the cutesy-pie exterior: imagine you were liberated from Auschwitz and emigrated to London. You settle with a fellow survivor and have a family. A few years later, a German family move in next door...

The Kalinskis are Polish Jews who emigrated to London in the aftermath World War Two. Psychologically unable to deal with the horrors she experienced in Auschwitz, Martina's mother will not allow any discussion on the topic.

Barbara Towell

But teenager Martina, her only child, longs to know more and to understand her own history.

When the Wilners, a German family, move in next door, Martina's wish is granted in the worst possible way as her mother's mental health - always fragile - drastically deteriorates and she accuses Mr Wilner of being an Obersturmfuehrer, poisons his dog and sets fire to his shed.

Cleverly juxtaposing the agony of unimaginable horror revisited with the banal minutiae of Martina and her friends' teenage angst ("Why hasn't he called yet? wails Krysia"), I was by turn totally out of my comfort zone and then thrust back into the wilderness of my own teenage years.

I ultimately felt that this novel did not satisfactorily deal with holocaust survival, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anti-Semitism and the other key issues touched on in the book, which was a bit of a disappointment.

But, in all fairness, who has managed to resolve these issues? No one I know.

Throughout the book, I was constantly asking myself: what would I do? To which there is, of course, no answer. Thankfully, I have not been in that situation. And hopefully, I never will be.  But in the spirit of the Ode of Remembrance, I commend Towell for attempting such a difficult subject "lest we forget".

Published by Author House (@authorhouse), A Little Piece of Mother is now available on Amazon for the first time.