The Living and the Lost

In this exquisite piece of historical fiction, Feldman (Paris Never Leaves You) explores post-WWII Germany as viewed by a Jewish woman who escaped as a child. Meike “Millie” Mosbach fled Germany at 16 in 1938 with her younger brother, David. During the war, the two began new lives in the U.S. She studied at Bryn Mawr and began a career in magazine publishing, while he enlisted in the Army and underwent intelligence training. In late 1945, both return to Berlin, where Millie helps the Army root out former Nazis from the publishing industry and David helps rescue displaced persons. Meanwhile, Millie searches for their parents and younger sister, Sarah, who were unable to secure passage out of the country. Millie returned with a black-and-white view of the world—Germans bad, Americans good—and Feldman does a good job tracking her education of the gray area (“You lost family to the Nazis. I lost family to both sides,” a German woman tells her). This will stay with readers long after the final page is turned. (Sept.)