REVIEW: The Lost Baker of Vienna by Sharon Kurtzman
An historical novel inspired by the experiences of the author’s own family after the Holocaust, a sweeping saga about survival, loss, love, and the reverberating effects of war
In 2018, Zoe Rosenzweig is reeling after the loss of her beloved grandfather, a Holocaust survivor. She becomes obsessed with finding out what really happened to her family during the war.
Vienna, 1946: Chana Rosenzweig has endured the horrors of war to find herself, her mother, and her younger brother finally free in Vienna. But freedom doesn’t look like they’d imagined it would, as they struggle to make a living and stay safe.
Despite the danger, Chana sneaks out most nights to return to the hotel kitchen where she works as a dishwasher, using the quiet nighttime hours to bake her late father’s recipes. Soon, Chana finds herself caught in a dangerous love triangle, torn between the black-market dealer who has offered marriage and protection, and the apprentice baker who shares her passions. How will Chana balance her love of baking against her family’s need for security?
The Lost Baker of Vienna affirms the unbreakable bonds of family, shining a light on the courageous spirit of WWII refugees as they battle to survive the overwhelming hardships of a world torn apart.
CW/TW – past rape (off page and not described), violence among black marketeers (on page), violence of concentration camps, deaths of family members
Dear Ms. Kurtzman,
What interested me most about reading this book is that it takes place in the time immediately after the end of World War II and the most time is spent in Vienna with Holocaust survivors trying to negotiate their new reality and find their future. Just because the war was over and they’d survived didn’t mean their problems were over.
In 2018, Zoe mourns the sudden death of her grandfather, the last relative she had. Looking through his closet, she discovers an envelope that might change her life. But will someone be willing to tell her what happened to her family in 1946 Vienna?
Channa, her mother, and her younger brother know that they have more than many of their fellow Jews. They are together and alive having made it through two ghettos and being separated in different concentration camps. Escaping from the displaced persons camp through a group that works to get people into new lives, they arrive in Vienna and are placed into jobs and housing by someone Channa soon realizes is a black marketeer.
Like Germany, Austria and Vienna are divided and under the control of the Allied nations. Theft and resale are the way things get done and with people making a lot of money at it, territories are violently defended. Women are also at risk from attack and rape.
Channa’s mother desperately wants to get what is left of her family to safety in the US but so do many other refugees and visas are limited and hard to get. Channa’s dream is to open a bakery like her deceased father had, something her mother warns her might not be possible as women often have to put their dreams aside. Two men enter Channa’s life – the black marketeer, whom Channa’s mother prefers as Meyer can protect them – and Elias, a fellow baker in the hotel where Channa and her mother work. Will the family secure sponsorship to the US, can Channa cling to her dream, and which, if either, of the men will she choose?
I certainly learned a lot about post WWII life in Austria. Goods were scarce; jobs were hard and coveted; and painful, ethical decisions had to be made in the face of a “dog eat dog” world. Everyone had lost someone or something and life would never be the same as what people might have once dreamed for. Most of the historical characters avoid delving too much into what they survived and what is mentioned is alluded to or mentioned only briefly.
The story sets up the dilemmas and choices that both Zoe and Channa face. With Channa it’s a relationship triangle while for Zoe it’s about either finding out what happened to her Great-Aunt Channa or keeping her job. I think the set up for both is realistic but wow, both women could frustrate the hell out of me with their waffling and “it will hopefully be alright to do/or not do this important thing.” Yet, faced with life altering decisions, I could understand hesitating and yearning for what they wanted. Channa especially had gone through such a wringer and lost so much that when her mother kept hounding her to save the family via a marriage and by giving up her dreams, I felt for her. But Channa’s got chutzpah so I never counted her out.
I guessed the main twist because
Spoiler: Show
~Jayne
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