You are the second person I have seen praise this author, her books sound extraordinarily good and I must track them down. Have you read Frances Faviell's two memoirs, A Chelsea Concerto and The Dancing Bear, published by the Furrowed Middlebrow imprint of Dean Street Press? The Dancing Bear is about her experiences in postwar Germany, Margot Benary-Isbert's books sound very similar in style but fictional and for a younger audience.
Beautiful, Melody! You and Elizabeth have both really made me want to get to Benary-Isbert's books! This was so resonant. It's people like Corrie Ten Boom or St. Edith Stein in the way they experienced such terrible events and embodied so much hope and courage that make me less afraid in my own life.
Jumping for joy that you're covering these novels! Beautifully written! I love the background on Margot herself. I knew a little bit about her post-war experience, but your context of her whole life and how much change and tragedy she saw in her region is very poignant. I hadn't thought too much about the parallels to the biblical story in The Ark either and how the very fact of its being a railway car is redemptive since they all had traumatic experiences in them in the course of the war. You're so right that her stories are infused with hope! I absolutely love the reciprocity that develops between Mrs. Almut and the Lechows. By her act of hospitality, there is an abundance of goodness far beyond herself. I agree with Brad, your final paragraph is exquisite. It brought me to tears.
Yay! Thank you! Trying to imagine how she wrote about her world when it was still such a mess, and grasping that she never saw her beloved home in Erfurt again, gave me a deeper appreciation for these books. They are so grounded, and yet so hopeful. "An abundance of goodness far beyond herself." So very true, and felt nearly 80 years later! ❤️
Your last sentence took my breath away: " I cannot number the stars, only gaze up at them, trusting that their number is enclosed in a hand through which nothing slips, even though it is pierced." There is an entire unwritten poem there. Thank you for that.
You are the second person I have seen praise this author, her books sound extraordinarily good and I must track them down. Have you read Frances Faviell's two memoirs, A Chelsea Concerto and The Dancing Bear, published by the Furrowed Middlebrow imprint of Dean Street Press? The Dancing Bear is about her experiences in postwar Germany, Margot Benary-Isbert's books sound very similar in style but fictional and for a younger audience.
Added to my list! Thank you! That sounds really compelling, and I love reading horizontally.
Beautiful, Melody! You and Elizabeth have both really made me want to get to Benary-Isbert's books! This was so resonant. It's people like Corrie Ten Boom or St. Edith Stein in the way they experienced such terrible events and embodied so much hope and courage that make me less afraid in my own life.
Thank you, Dominika! I agree--I need those stories of courage to bolster my own. Hope can be catching if I'm open to it!
Jumping for joy that you're covering these novels! Beautifully written! I love the background on Margot herself. I knew a little bit about her post-war experience, but your context of her whole life and how much change and tragedy she saw in her region is very poignant. I hadn't thought too much about the parallels to the biblical story in The Ark either and how the very fact of its being a railway car is redemptive since they all had traumatic experiences in them in the course of the war. You're so right that her stories are infused with hope! I absolutely love the reciprocity that develops between Mrs. Almut and the Lechows. By her act of hospitality, there is an abundance of goodness far beyond herself. I agree with Brad, your final paragraph is exquisite. It brought me to tears.
Yay! Thank you! Trying to imagine how she wrote about her world when it was still such a mess, and grasping that she never saw her beloved home in Erfurt again, gave me a deeper appreciation for these books. They are so grounded, and yet so hopeful. "An abundance of goodness far beyond herself." So very true, and felt nearly 80 years later! ❤️
Yes! ❤️
Your last sentence took my breath away: " I cannot number the stars, only gaze up at them, trusting that their number is enclosed in a hand through which nothing slips, even though it is pierced." There is an entire unwritten poem there. Thank you for that.
Thank you, Brad! I appreciate it. Glad it meant something to you!