Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Holding the faded postcard in her trembling hands, Mia begins to read the one story her grandmother could never tell her, revealing a secret that will change her own life forever…
When her beloved grandmother, Ilse, is taken into hospital, Mia drops everything to travel to Germany and care for the woman who raised her. But when her grandmother briefly wakes up and asks for a man called Szymon, Mia is confused. Who is he? And why does her grandmother need to see him so desperately?
Later that night, Mia returns to her grandmother’s apartment to search for clues. She soon discovers a small parcel hidden inside one of Ilse’s suitcases. When she removes the wrapping, she finds a stack of faded postcards neatly bound together, signed with a name that makes her heart stop in her chest: Szymon.
Desperate to find Szymon before it is too late, Mia unearths a story her grandmother never told her: of childhood friendship and heartbreaking young love on the eve of the Second World War, and of a plan to rescue a young man imprisoned by the Nazis. Mia can’t quite believe her grandmother was so brave, and risked so much to save this man’s life… But did she succeed?
As the final pieces of the past come together, Mia realizes that she is about to find out what really happened to her grandmother during the war. But she doesn’t expect to uncover a secret that will change everything…
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Postcard to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Throughout The Postcard, the new book from Carly Schabowski, there is a stifling and stilted atmosphere of things not said and now after many years secrets and truths cannot be left buried as the main character Ilse is nearing the end of her life. The weight of the burden she carries is felt by the reader with every turn of the page and that’s what makes you keep turning the pages to discover what has she kept hidden close to her chest since the war years. How has this affected how she has lived her life and also raised her granddaughter Mia, since the death of Mia’s parents in a car accident. Now as Ilse rests in a hospital bed knowing her time is near, will she be ready to reveal everything to Mia and will those she seeks acceptance and forgiveness from be willing to grant her this as she prepares to leave this world? Has too much water flown under the bridge for absolution to be granted to Ilse? Can Mia fill in the blanks to piece together the missing jigsaw pieces in her family story and in doing so can she too heal from her recent trauma?
The story is told in a dual timeline format moving back and forth between the present day and the 1940’s. In the present day Mia has arrived in Gorlitz, in Eastern Germany, which is very near to the Polish border. Mia has no job or boyfriend and we are drip fed titbits as to what has recently happened to her rather like we are slow fed snippets of the overall story which at times did prove frustrating as I waited for something monumental to happen which would drive the book on. Mia’s grandmother Ilse had returned to her home town after many years living in England where she had come as a refugee during the war. But Ilse was lonely and longed for her home place. Now Ilse has cancer and not long left and as Mia visits her hospital in a state of confusion and pain she cries out for a man named Szymon, a name which Mia has never heard before.
Mia finds postcards addressed to Szymon written by someone called Tadeusz. Her curiosity is aroused and combined with her grandmother calling out for Szymon Mia knows she needs to investigate further. To be honest, I think everything going on with her grandmother allowed Mia to focus on something else rather than her own problems and although there wasn’t an overwhelming sense of Mia really setting out and uncovering things rather that through friends of her grandmothers and eventually Ilse’s diary she discovers the truth, there was enough in the second half of the book to keep me invested.
Ilse has kept Szymon in the deep recesses of her mind along with many other memories she does not wish to revisit but slowly we learn of her childhood growing up in Gorlitz. She came from a well to do German family and her father ran a factory. Marlena is a long time friend of hers and still is in the present day. I will say I would have loved a solid confirmation on Ilse’s part regarding the Marlena situation. I felt left in a bit of a limbo with the reader having to make up their own mind. One hot summer Ilse and Marlena meet Syzmon and his cousin Tadeusz by the riverbank and Ilse’s world is transformed as boys and romance have entered it. She desperately wants to be in love but her thoughts are misplaced and this is where her selfishness affects others. She only ever thinks of herself and is not aware of the feelings of others and the repercussions of her actions. As she is German but Tadeusz and Szymon are Polish she has no idea nor do I think did she really care initially that as the war approached that they would be on opposite sides. She felt invincible and untouchable and that she was destined for great things.
Ilse’s family leave for Berlin and return after five years. It is 1942 and her homeplace is much changed with the continuing war. She has little or no relationship with her mother and has no concept of the danger that is on her doorstep. I think she returned believing she could pick up where she had left off with Tadeusz and Syzymon but they have signed up and are away fighting. To say much more around what happens to the two young men would give too much away but suffice to say something significant and impactful occurs and this for me is the turning point of the book where the plot wasn’t relying as much on being so character driven and just detailing how Ilse and Marlena spent their time. Now there was a sense of urgency and of wanting to do one’s bit but yet again I really saw Ilse’s sense of self coming to the fore. She believed danger was some form of excitement but yet at the same time she shielded herself from the realities of what was going on at her front door. It was like she was playing a game completely unaware of the ramifications of her actions for everyone involved. In a way she was a childish narcissist caring only for herself and what impact her choices would have on her own life. This will only lead to sins and regrets that she will carry through the rest of her life. She seeks redemption but is it too late or can Mia help bring the story full circle and by reading the postcards, asking questions and making people open up will everyone be happy with the eventual outcome?
By no means is this book action packed, instead I found the first half to be quite slow as it sets the scene for what is to come in the later half. I found it hard going and heavy at times as it was very character driven and I felt there was a lot of reading between the lines to decipher a deeper meaning as to what the characters were feeling and going through. At times, it felt as if nothing was really happening and I couldn’t sense in what direction the story was going to go but then around the midway point as I have found with several historical fiction books recently all of a sudden there was a complete turnaround and things really started to happen. My excitement grew. My interest was piqued, and little twists and turns were starting to appear and the sense of joining the dots together and unearthing secrets really started to become apparent. That’s not to say my opinion of Ilse changed at any point in the story as there were very little redeeming features, I could find about her despite the suffering and trauma she endured.
The Postcard asks the question what would a German woman do if her friends from before the war find themselves in danger and it did so in a very good manner despite in my opinion the shaky start. The bonds of friendship, the power of resilience and forgiveness are explored and I am glad that I stuck with it as all these characteristics come to the fore and I found myself gasping with the revelations and twists and that sprang forth as the book neared its conclusion. It’s not my favourite book by this author but is well worth the read for the story of friendship that evolves.
No comments:
Post a Comment