"In times of need, the voices of our ancestors remind us who we are, and we must find worthwhile activities to bring us light in the darkness."
-Rabbi Spitzer, from the novel
The novel reminded me of two others I've read recently---The Nightingale and Beneath a Scarlet
Sky---similar settings during WWII and involving rescue of those endangered by the Nazi regime, particularly Jews. I thought it was an excellent historical fiction; it rates a 5 from me.
This multigenerational story begins with Johann Blumenthal, a master silversmith and jeweler who joins the military to fight for the fatherland in WWI. He tries to convince his beloved wife, Clara, that he is doing it for her future and that of their son, Paul. In his parting, Johann gives young Paul a lovingly created silver music box with a personal inscription. One could predict that the silver music box would drive the plot and it surely did.
The Silver Music Box is a holocaust story but not quite as intense as some I've read. To be sure, the author describes despicable events leading up to the imprisonment and extermination of Jews but doesn't go quite that far. She details the mistreatment of the Jewish townspeople depriving many of their professions and businesses and the threats, beatings and countless humiliations---enough to boggle the mind of the reader as to how these events came about and to touch the heart in a profound way.
I did not realize that during this time period many Jews relocated to Cape Town, RSA. Ironic that in escaping the evils of Nazism, they observed apartheid, a whole other example of man's inhumanity to man.
Well-written with a gripping plot and poignant theme, the novel is definitely a page-turner!
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