At The Hour Between Dog and Wolf, A Book Review

 

At The Hour Between Dog and Wolf, A Novel, by Tara Ison is a most amazing book. It's of the Holocaust genre and also Coming of Age, but at least in my reading experience, it's like no other. 

Ison writes about a wealthy preteen Jewish girl from Paris who is brought to live with a poor rural Catholic family. Danielle must do her best to hide her true identity and live as Marie-Jeanne, orphaned niece of Berthe on a small farm and even milk the cow every morning. Danielle's red hair definitely helps mask her Jewish identity. With them are Berthe's husband Claude and their son Luc, who makes Danielle feel rather uncomfortable.

We follow two parallel transitions, one the growth of Nazi dominance in a quiet farming town near Limoges in Vichy France and second, Danielle's growing comfort and identification in her new identity as Catholic Marie-Jeanne. She's into her teens by the time the story ends.

The various characters are amazingly well-drawn/developed, and it's nothing is very predictable. The more I think about it, the harder it is to decided on the hero of the story. It's very complex and has some surprising twists.

I highly recommend At The Hour Between Dog and Wolf. The characters find themselves in situations in which it's hard to distinguish between a dog and a wolf, as the title states. It's an excellent book for discussion in a Book Club or even in a classroom of older adolescents. 

Product details 

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ig Publishing (February 21, 2023) 

Language ‏ : ‎ English 

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 286 pages 

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1632461455 

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1632461452 

Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces 

Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.75 x 8 inches

To Remember and Not to Forget

יום השואה

לזכור ולא לשכוח

Yesterday my "senior citizens class" and I joined the other students in Ulpanat Ofra, the Ofra Girls High School in commemorating/remembering the Holocaust.

There were two parts to the memorial. First they divided the student body into a few smaller groups in large seminar rooms to hear personal Holocaust stories. As the Holocaust gets further away in time, there are fewer and fewer survivors left alive who can tell their stories. The woman who spoke to us is one of the youngest survivors. She was born in Holland during World War Two, and her parents took quite a bit of convincing to pass their newborn baby to a total stranger, someone in the underground who had volunteered to care for her.

The miracles continued in that not only did she survive and thrive, but both parents also survived, and the woman who had cared for her willingly returned her to them. Post-war Dutch Laws made it very difficult for Jewish families to reclaim their children who had been cared for by non-Jews. The woman and those who helped her parents survive have remained in contact to this day.

After that moving and amazing story, we all crowded into the auditorium for a much longer and varied program. It included standing for the siren, prayers, readings, dance and more. I must say that the students were quiet and attentive throughout the event. Here in Israel, it doesn't matter what your family history, it's clear that the message is relevant to all.