Queen Anne Books

For sixty years, our newspapers have followed the struggles of the Israelis and Palestinians. Anita Diamant, author of The Red Tent, reaches back a few more years to describe life in a British-run detention camp set up in Palestine after WWII when lost Jews were trying to find a home.
There are twenty women in Barrack C, but not one of them is 21 years old and all of them are orphans. Using the voices of four young women to tell the story, this novel reminds us that it wasn’t just six million lives lost, but also six million histories and unique experiences. Tedi survived the war by hiding out on a Dutch farm. Shayndel followed her brother into the Polish Zionist movement, then Resistance and is considered a warrior hero. Leonie is a beautiful Parisian who survived because of her youth and beauty. And Zorah struggled to survive a concentration camp. We follow their stories for weeks as the women wait for their turns to join the pioneer life of the Kibutzniks.
Each chapter is a snapshot of life for the women, but one of the most memorable scenes is the chapter titled “Yom Kippur, September 17.” Such anger, such grief … each person in the camp faces the observance in their own way but all join together for the final service of the day to say Kaddish for all of those who were lost. Extraordinary. ~Patti