Ester's Child
- Book Review,
by Jean P. Sasson, Jean Sasson
From Publishers Weekly
This sweeping, overwrought and overwritten saga of the modern-day Jewish exodus is the fiction debut of the bestselling author of Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia. Opening in Paris during the summer of 1938 and closing in Jerusalem in June 1983, the historical melodrama traces two Jewish families, the Gales and the Steins, from their near extinction in 1939 during Hitler's invasion of Warsaw and the ensuing atrocities of the Holocaust. Young Joseph Gale and his wife, Ester Stein, are practically the only survivors, and in 1948, they travel to Palestine. A counterplot chronicles the displacement of an Arab family, the Antouns, from their home in Haifa by Jewish forces in the same year, resulting in their 34-year-long exile in the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, ending with their deaths in the Israeli-orchestrated Shatila massacre during the Lebanese civil war in 1982. There is a shadowy subplot involving Friedrich Kleist, a former young Nazi SS officer who took part in the Nazi invasion of Poland. A second generation two Gale children, an Antoun son and a Kleist daughter find their fortunes tortuously interwoven as the novel proceeds to an unlikely, over-the-top conclusion, involving questions of mistaken parentage, coincidence and the revelation of wartime horrors. Overlooking artless writing, loyal Sasson fans will likely send this pulpy tapestry of war-torn families and bloodthirsty ethnic and religious ideologies straight to the bestseller list. 100,000 first printing; $200,000 ad/promo; 20-city author tour. (Sept.) Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-A sprawling novel of historical intrigue that spans the years from 1938 to 1983 in Europe and the Middle East. The families of Moses Stein, a devout Jew from Poland; of Benjamin Gale, a secular, assimilated Jew from France; Freidrich Kleist, a German SS officer; and George Antoun, a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon become entwined through an amazing set of circumstances. Readers are introduced to the families in 1948. In Jerusalem a second son is born to Ester, daughter of Moses Stein, and Joseph Gale. The child is kidnapped. In Haifa, George and Mary Antoun, Palestinian refugees, learn that their family has been killed in an Israeli attack, and in East Berlin, Freidrich Kleist is haunted by a dream of his involvement in the death of Jews in Warsaw. The prologue gives readers tantalizing clues to the identity of Ester's child and clarifies the history of the four families and the ways in which World War II and the establishment of the state of Israel have affected them. How the fate of the families binds them in lasting relationships is described in an exciting narrative of suspense, intrigue, and romance. Each chapter is preceded by a clarifying historical account of the events, a helpful listing of the many individuals included in the story, and attractive black-and-white illustrations. Teens will find the plot involving and feel compassion for the characters, most of whom are unwilling and tragic victims of political extremes and human misunderstanding. The story ends on a note of hope and renewal.Jackie Gropman, Kings Park Library, Burke, VACopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Sasson (Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil) weaves a remarkable tale of three families the Jewish Gales, the Palestinian Muslim Antouns, and the German gentile Kleists whose lives intertwine in mysterious ways for more than half a century. Interned in the Warsaw Ghetto, Joseph Gale briefly meets Friedrich Kleist, an SS officer who decries the horrors he witnesses. After the war, Joseph and his wife, Ester, among the few members of their extensive families to have survived the Holocaust, settle in Israel. Jump forward in time, and Demetrius Antoun is a Palestinian doctor who hates the Israelis for murdering his friends and family. Michel Gale, son of Joseph and Ester, is an Israeli officer who hates the Arabs for trying to deny him a Jewish homeland. His sister, Jordan, and Christine Kleist, a German nurse seeking to make amends for her father's Nazi past by working in a Lebanese refugee camp, are caught in the middle. In light of the recent attack on the World Trade Center, Sasson's story is keenly relevant, as it exposes the downward spiral of irrational hatred and the bitter seeds sown in its path. While parts of the plot seem rushed, the emotional impact outweighs any drawback. A timely addition to all collections, especially where Brock and Bodie Thoene's "Zion Legacy" series is popular. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* The destinies of three disparate families are bound together through time and across continents by the tragic disappearance of two children. After a sadistic Gestapo officer seizes the beloved baby daughter of Joseph and Ester Gale, the devastated young couple vows to survive the Warsaw ghetto and the ensuing horrors of the Holocaust to discover the fate of little Miryam. Settling in Israel after the war, the Gales face further heartbreak when their infant son is kidnapped. Seething with resentment against the Jewish interlopers who forced his family from its native Palestine in 1948, the generally scholarly and gentle George Antoun commits a horrific crime in order to offer some solace to his barren and bereft wife. Attempting to make amends for her father's past as an SS officer, a young German nurse volunteers to work in a refugee camp in Lebanon. When the paths of Christine Kleist and Demetrius Antoun intersect with those of Michel and Jordan Gale, the four surviving members of the next generation painfully unravel the mysteries of the past. Penned with compassion and set amid the war-torn backdrop of Europe and the unfolding military and political drama of the postwar Middle East, this absolutely riveting cross-cultural saga will have readers eagerly turning the pages in order to reach a suitably stunning conclusion. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Booklist, August, 2001
"This absolutely riveting cross-cultural saga will have readers eagerly turning the pages in order to reach a suitably stunning conclusion."
Publisher's Weekly, August, 2001
"...Straight to the bestseller list."
Historical Novels Review
"...for anyone who ever wanted to know how Israel came into existence and why the Palestinians wish it hadn't."
Book Description
In this spellbinding novel, the international bestselling author of Princess brings together a striking cast of characters, revealing deep layers and varieties of love and hate seldom seen in popular fiction. Jewish Holocaust survivors Joseph & Ester Gale have lost most of their family members to the infamous gas chambers of Auschwitz and Treblinka, yet they continue to defy death for the dream of a Jewish State. Palestinian refugees George and Mary Antoun are forced to flee their home in Haifa to raise their only child in the squalor of Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon. Former S.S. officer Friedrich Kleist and his wife Eva survive Germany’s bitter loss in World War II only to have the long shadow of their Nazi past return to haunt them and their beautiful daughter, Christine. By tethering the lives of these three families, all tossed into the maelstrom of war’s terrors, JEAN SASSON proclaims the tenderness of great love and exposes the consuming passions of war. But in the end, the force of love overturns the claims of war and blood. JEAN SASSON’s talent for delving into the deepest corners of the human condition has produced a stunning novel, and reviewers agree!
From the Publisher
Read ESTER'S CHILD by New York Times best-selling author Jean Sasson to learn why Arabs and Jews are united in bitterness.
From the Author
Q: Tell us something about Ester’s Child. JS: Once while visiting the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, I heard an aged Palestinian woman spreading rumors about another refugee. Her vicious gossip led to research. I discovered an amazing fact, and I took that one fact and created a story around it. Q: What do you hope for Ester’s Child? JS: We are bombarded with nightly news about the current situation in Israel, and the horrific suffering occurring to so many people. Yet, few of us have little real detail of how or why the current conflict happened, or the truth of those Jewish and Arab lives. As Marion C. Garrety once said, “A novel is the chance to try on a different life for size.” My profound wish is that readers of Ester’s Child will “try on the life” of a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, and then “try on the life” of a Palestinian refugee. Ester’s Child provides the detail necessary for readers to “try on a different life for size.”
About the Author
Born in the small southern town of Louisville, Alabama, Jean Sasson began a lifetime of travel in 1978 that took her to over 55 countries in 22 years. Her first bestseller, The Rape of Kuwait was published in 1991 and quickly climbed to #2 on the New York Times bestseller list. Following this success, her three books on Princess Sultana became raging successes, selling over 7 million copies worldwide. A devoted reader of world history, Jean’s debut novel, ESTER’S CHILD combines historical accuracy with xhilarating adventure.
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