I received a review copy of this book. Affiliate links included. All opinions are my own.
I am honored to be leading two book club discussions on The Winter Guest by Pam Jenoff this week. I first “met” Pam last year when I read The Ambassador’s Daughter, which I included in my Top Books of 2013. My review of that book and several of Pam’s other books is here.
I then connected with Pam via social media, now count her as a friend, and am thrilled that she is coming to Dallas to be the keynote speaker at the Tycher Library with The Winter Guest as the Community Read on October 22nd.
The Winter Guest by Pam Jenoff
Pam brings a unique background to writing historical fiction. She’s basically brilliant with degrees from George Washington University and a Masters in History from Cambridge. Then, she was the Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army, working with the families of Pam Am Flight 103 to get a memorial at Arlington National Cemetery and instrumental in the recovery efforts of the Oklahoma City bombing.
After that, she moved into the State Department to the U.S. Consulate in Krakow, Poland. There, she became an expert in Polish Jewish relations and the Holocaust. She worked on the preservation of Auschwitz and the restitution of Jewish property in Poland.
Then, because she clearly was not educated enough, she got a law degree at the University of Pennsylvania. She now teaches law school at Rutgers University. Oh and she has three kids, including a set of twins. (Having twins myself, I can say that all the education in the world won’t help!) Pam includes twins in The Winter Guest.
So now, Pam teaches law school, writes at least one book a year (or more) and travels the country discussing her books and her experiences.
What I respect most is that Pam uses her knowledge and experience to remind us to never forget. She brings World War II and the Holocaust to life in her books, reminding us to learn from the past.
The Winter Guest
The Winter Guest takes us to Nazi occupied Poland during World War II. The Nowak twins are already suffering while raising their younger siblings. The realities of the war change their lives forever.
“Life is a constant struggle for the eighteen-year-old Nowak twins as they raise their three younger siblings in rural Poland under the shadow of the Nazi occupation. The constant threat of arrest has made everyone in their village a spy, and turned neighbor against neighbor. Though rugged, independent Helena and pretty, gentle Ruth couldn’t be more different, they are staunch allies in protecting their family from the threats the war brings closer to their doorstep with each passing day.
Then Helena discovers an American paratrooper stranded outside their small mountain village…”
I will not include spoilers here but I will say that this book is about human relationships- between family members, between twins, between parents and children and between women and men.
I highly recommend The Winter Guest. Buy the book here.
What are you reading and where are you going?