Surviving The Forest by Adiva GeffenMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
A wonderfully written and richly descriptive novel…
Author and playwright Adiva Geffen weaves an exceptional WW2 Historical Novel based on a true story of a Jewish holocaust survivor. With fascinating twists and turns, and emotional highs and lows this book will captivate the reader from the first page to the last. The author paints an all-encompassing human dramatization of love, loss and survival in a very vivid and convincing way. In addition, the characters are drawn with great credibility and conviction. It’s a fast-paced novel that will keep you engaged from the first page to the last.
The book description gives a powerful preview: ‘She was a beautiful and happy young woman who lived a fairytale life. Shurka, her beloved husband and their two small children lived in a pretty house in a village in Poland, surrounded by a little garden with lilies. This was their life and nothing could harm it, or so they thought…
WWII broke out and though the happy family thought the Germans would never reach their idyllic village, they quickly understood they were wrong and their happiness came to a brutal end. The family had to flee their house and find shelter in a neighboring Ghetto where they realized that the Gestapo was taking Jews away on trucks every night, and they were never seen again.
The family decided to escape into the deep dark forest. There, surrounded by animals, they knew that this was their only chance to get away from the real beasts. They had no idea what would await them, but they knew that doing nothing was not an option if they wanted to survive…’
Surviving The Forest had every element a good story should have. A solid plot, attention to detail, but best of all fleshed out, well-written and well-rounded character development. There’s an abundance of well-illustrated scenes that make you feel like you are right there in the story, and that’s something I really look for in a good book.
Captivating and commendable this work had me immersed from the beginning. Inspired by real events, it’s a well-crafted fiction interwoven with true-life historical drama. The story flowed from scene to scene with ease, and the author shows exceptional ability when it comes to storytelling. There are plenty of attention-grabbing moments in this page turner that will take the reader on a truly compelling and mesmerizing journey!
It’s one of those books that comes along once in a while that makes you want to read it non-stop until you get to the end. I’m giving nothing further away here. And this, I hope, will only add to the mystery and enjoyment for the reader! The result is a wonderfully written and richly descriptive novel, its brilliantly drawn characters driven by love and the will to survive.
I’ll be looking forward to reading more from this author in the future. I would highly recommend this book. A well-deserved five stars from me.
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