My Rating: 5 stars
Jillian Cantor's The Lost Letter is an exquisite book! From the very first page, I was drawn into the story and could not put the book down – I ended up finishing the book in 1 day, which is a first for me given my busy schedule nowadays. The story is told via a dual narrative in alternating chapters – one narrative takes place in Los Angeles in 1989 and the other in Austria right before and during the Nazi occupation in 1938/1939. In the present day, Katie Nelson is a thirty-something journalist who finds herself dealing with a sudden divorce just as she is trying to come to terms with having to put her beloved father Ted into a nursing home when he is no longer able to take care of himself due to Alzheimer's. Ted was an avid stamp collector his entire life and as a child, Katie always accompanied her father to thrift shops and yard sales to search for what he called the "Hope Diamond" of stamps. When her father leaves his collection in her care prior to entering the memory care facility, Katie decides to take the collection to a stamp dealer to get it appraised in the hopes of helping her father find any "hidden gems" that might be amongst the stamps, but also because she wanted to preserve the happy childhood she had with both her parents (her mother passed away when she was in college). Together with the stamp dealer Benjamin – a young man with a tragic past of his own – Katie finds an old letter with an unusual stamp dating back to WWII era and thinking that might be the "Hope Diamond" that Ted has been looking for, the two of them set out on a search to trace the origins of the stamp and the letter.
In the second narrative, we are taken back in time to 1938, Austria, which is on the verge of Nazi invasion. Frederick Faber is a renowned Jewish stamp engraver who takes in a non-Jewish orphan, Kristoff Mueller, as his apprentice. Kristoff grows attached to the Faber family, who accepts him as one of their own, and he eventually falls in love with the eldest of the Faber sisters, Elena. When Frederick suddenly disappears after the Nazis occupy Austria, Kristoff takes up his promise to his beloved teacher to watch over the family and continue on with the engraving business as long as he could. Kristoff is eventually forced to engrave stamps for the German government that has taken over, however at the same time, he also works secretly with Elena and other members of the Austrian resistance to forge papers in the hopes of getting as many people out of the country as possible. When the work becomes too dangerous, they must eventually figure out a way to save themselves. Kristoff and Elena's story is one of love and survival in the midst of a brutal war, made especially poignant given the Faber family's Jewish background.
I love the way the author wove the two narratives together, done brilliantly in such a way that both stories converge seamlessly in the latter half of the book, with a surprise that I totally did not see coming. As a history fanatic, I also love the rich historical context that the author was able to incorporate into both narratives – whether it was the historical background on the war or details about the stamp-making process, it was all presented in a way that was accessible to someone like me who doesn't have the slightest clue about stamp collecting, let alone the actual creation of stamps. Like Katie at the beginning of the story, I've always looked at stamps as merely a small piece of printed paper with designs on it that is needed to transport mail from one place to another, but don't have much significance outside of that. Now after reading this book, I can't help but look at stamps differently – maybe not deep thought or analysis but at least wonder about the story behind them.
This was also one of those rare instances where I liked nearly all of the characters in the book. Whether it was Katie and Benjamin in the first narrative or Kristoff and Elena in the second one, I found myself rooting for all the characters (the main ones as well as side characters) and wishing, hoping, that they would all have good endings, even though I knew that might not be possible due to the story being about WWII and the Holocaust. Much of the story that took place in Austria was heartbreaking and even though the parts that took place in present day were less so, both stories still moved me emotionally – the ending itself was heart-wrenching, but at the same time, satisfying.
It's not often that I give a 5 star rating, but this book absolutely deserves it! Structurally, this book combined beautiful storytelling with a well thought-out plot and compelling, likable, well-developed characters – no easy task, especially when the historical elements are added in there (and again woven in seamlessly). There aren't a whole lot of books out there that are able to move me emotionally these days, but this book definitely did. In fact, I am still thinking about the story even now and am compelled to go back and re-read certain sections to pick up on some "clues" knowing what I know now – this rarely ever happens with books I read so for that alone, it deserves high marks! Highly recommended read, especially for those who love well-written historical fiction.
Received advance reader's copy from Riverhead Books via Penguin First-to-Read program.
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