Once We Were Home
LISTEN
to today's conversation
with Jennifer Rosner
to today's conversation
with Jennifer Rosner
“Rosner’s novel reflects personal interviews and in-depth research...She illuminates the complex and opposing political and religious viewpoints...Rosner’s heart-wrenching revelations in Once We Were Home will persist in readers’ minds for seasons to come.”
–Historical Novel Society
“[A] complex tale about fear, survival, and what it means to be a family.” –Booklist“An engrossing story inspired by the postwar lives of Jewish children who were hidden during the war. Fans of Jewish historical fiction will be moved.” –Publishers Weekly“[A] moving story about identity, family, and the meaning of home…An excellent addition to historical fiction collections.” – Library Journal“A carefully crafted and heartbreaking book.”–Kirkus
Jennifer Rosner is the author of the novels ONCE WE WERE HOME and THE YELLOW BIRD SINGS, both finalists for the National Jewish Book Award. She is also author of the memoir IF A TREE FALLS: A FAMILY'S QUEST TO HEAR AND BE HEARD, and the children's book, THE MITTEN STRING, a Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable. Jennifer's books have been translated into a dozen languages. Her short writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Times of Israel, The Massachusetts Review, The Forward, and elsewhere. In addition to writing, Jennifer has taught philosophy. She earned her B.A. from Columbia University and her Ph.D. from Stanford University. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her family.
Ana will never forget her mother’s face when she and her baby brother, Oskar, were sent out of their Polish ghetto and into the arms of a Christian friend. For Oskar, though, their new family is the only one he remembers. When a woman from a Jewish reclamation organization seizes them, believing she has their best interest at heart, Ana sees an opportunity to reconnect with her roots, while Oskar sees only the loss of the home he loves.
Roger grows up in a monastery in France, inventing stories and trading riddles with his best friend in a life of quiet concealment. When a relative seeks to retrieve him, the Church steals him across the Pyrenees before relinquishing him to family in Jerusalem.
Renata, a post-graduate student in archaeology, has spent her life unearthing secrets from the past--except for her own. After her mother’s death, Renata’s grief is entwined with all the questions her mother left unanswered, including why they fled Germany so quickly when Renata was a little girl.
Two decades later, they are each building lives for themselves, trying to move on from the trauma and loss that haunts them. But as their stories converge in Israel, in unexpected ways, they must each ask where and to whom they truly belong.
Beautifully evocative and tender, filled with both luminosity and anguish, Once We Were Home reveals a little-known history. Based on the true stories of children stolen during wartime, this heart-wrenching novel raises questions of complicity and responsibility, belonging and identity, good intentions and unforeseen consequences, as it confronts what it really means to find home.
Read Additional Reviews:
Chronogram
Bookpage
Review by Leah Grisham
From The Washington Independent Review of Books
“Under Rosner’s talented pen, simple prose turns into poetry and ordinary stories become complex, poignant. I found this forgotten history of displaced WWII children and the return to their roots captivating, thought-provoking, enlightening, and bittersweet.”
— ALKA JOSHI, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE HENNA ARTIST, THE SECRET KEEPER OF JAIPUR AND THE PERFUMIST OF PARIS
“Utterly gorgeous! This lyrical story of lives in the aftermath of war and displacement breaks our hearts, and mends them back into a stronger love.”
— MEG WAITE CLAYTON, INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE POSTMISTRESS OF PARIS AND THE LAST TRAIN TO LONDON
“Rosner’s new novel is about the ways we seek family despite the wounds we carry. The stories of her characters fit beautifully together like nesting boxes, building to become an ode to love in its many forms. A brave and ultimately life-affirming book.”
— JAI CHAKRABARTI, NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD WINNING AUTHOR OF A PLAY FOR THE END OF THE WORLD
Chronogram
Bookpage
Review by Leah Grisham
From The Washington Independent Review of Books
“Under Rosner’s talented pen, simple prose turns into poetry and ordinary stories become complex, poignant. I found this forgotten history of displaced WWII children and the return to their roots captivating, thought-provoking, enlightening, and bittersweet.”
— ALKA JOSHI, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE HENNA ARTIST, THE SECRET KEEPER OF JAIPUR AND THE PERFUMIST OF PARIS
“Utterly gorgeous! This lyrical story of lives in the aftermath of war and displacement breaks our hearts, and mends them back into a stronger love.”
— MEG WAITE CLAYTON, INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE POSTMISTRESS OF PARIS AND THE LAST TRAIN TO LONDON
“Rosner’s new novel is about the ways we seek family despite the wounds we carry. The stories of her characters fit beautifully together like nesting boxes, building to become an ode to love in its many forms. A brave and ultimately life-affirming book.”
— JAI CHAKRABARTI, NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD WINNING AUTHOR OF A PLAY FOR THE END OF THE WORLD
