Legacy of Silence

by Belva Plain

In Legacy of Silence, New York Times bestselling author Belva Plain creates an unforgettable story of a remarkable family—and a deception that reaches across continents, oceans, and generations.  Caroline Hartzinger flees wartime Europe with a shattered life and a devastating secret. Pregnant and unwed, she arrives in America in 1939. Joel Hirsch offers marriage and respectability, hoping one day to earn her love, if not the passion she feels for a man whose memory still haunts them both. With Joel, Caroline builds a new life, determined to bury the past—until her daughter Eve brings Caroline’s carefully crafted world crashing down again, driven by a rage to learn the truth.   Now it is Eve’s secret, a legacy that taints her life and puts generations at risk. But with it comes a gift—a new sister, young enough to be her own daughter, who offers hope, then a truth that will finally break the hold of the past.From the Paperback edition.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, World War II, Historical, Novels, Chick Lit

432 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Belva Plain was a best-selling American author of mainstream women's fiction. Her first novel, Evergreen (1978) topped the New York Times bestseller list for 41 weeks and was made into a TV miniseries. At her death, there were over 30 million copies of her twenty-plus novels in print in 22 languages.

Reviews

[Sahar Khoshghadam · Rating 3 out of 5]

کتاب مشهور و شناخته شده ای نیست ولی خوندنش برای من مثل دیدن یه سریال طولانی قدیمی دلچسب بود. البته به جز پایان ماجرا خلاقیت چندانی در قلم نویسنده دیده نمیشد ولی همون پایان پیشبینی نشده برای من که تقریبا آخر تمام کتابها و فیلمها رو حدس میزنم خیلی جذاب بود.اگر کتاب رو دارید خوندنش خیلی هم خالی از لطف نیست. ضمنا اسم کتاب هم در ترجمه ی فارسی (پاداش سکوت)در نظر گرفته شده.

[Danny Lamar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I should be giving this five stars because Belva Plain is very talented writer, but the book was just so depressing. It was very very well written, and honestly, she is in a class by herself as far as character development and getting you into the people's heads and feeling their emotions. However, there just wasn't much to smile about in the whole book. I was hoping for at least a few feel-good moments and they just weren't there. But then again, her writing is realism, not beach reads or feel-good fiction so having said that, I understand it for what it was. The only thing that truly irritated me was Caroline dying of malignant melanoma. The odds of getting diagnosed with melanoma in the fall and having it spread to your lungs by February is just north of impossible. I feel like she maybe should have researched melanoma a little bit better before choosing that as the disease to kill Caroline. But all in all it was a great read and even though it wasn't necessarily a feel-good book, it did hook you in and keep you reading to the very end! I do enjoy this author a lot!

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read most of Belva Plain's work and have never been disappointed. She writes historical fiction with great clarity and accuracy. This reminded me that we really need to find out for ourselves about our ancestors, because, even our parents can be misled by their experience and may not have the whole story, and to have bitterness towards an ancestor will only hurt us. Search and find the real story for yourself and then forgive and forget what you don't understand.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little story that takes place at the beginning of WWII and goes all the way to 1993. About a young (really young lol) women, Caroline, who gets pregnant but the guy turns out to b a Nazi lol Go figure. She makes it safely to America and has her daughter Eve. Sadly her parents didn't make it out 😭

It's so funny that I'd never heard of zinnias and jonquils until i saw this one episode of American Dad and then they're both mentioned in this book lol.

2 certain deaths made me super sad. Ooooooohhh the part with the will pissed 👏me👏off👏

The ending was so so great!! 💞💞💞💞 I love how everything came full circle ❤️ And that twist!! 😱😱💖💖 2 twists!!!!!

Best line: "I have my legacy. Now at last I know who I am. I know my father. He was a good man, and honorable, and very brave. He was a prince."

[L.M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's been many years since I've read a Belva Plain novel. I don't remember them being so dark and depressing! Every character in the book either dies, turns out to be evil, or suffers terribly because of one or both of the first two things. There wasn't a single moment of unblemished happiness in all 419 pages. I rarely finish a book and feel like it's ruined my day, but here we are.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just arrived from USA through BM.

This is the story of Caroline Hartzinger and her family during her escape from the beginning of World War II in Europe until she reaches her new life in America.

Since I've read better books on this subject, I gave it only 3 stars.

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was excellent writing as always. I never ever would have expected the villain to be who it was. Never saw that coming. I thought the cancer diagnosis for Caroline could have been a little better researched though. The odds of melanoma being diagnosed in February and spreading to internal organs and killing the person by august is just north of impossible scientifically speaking. But I have a medical background so maybe that's something no one else would notice. The story was a little on the depressing side, but then again, Belva Plain does not write fairy tales and that's why I've always like her, so all-in-all, a great book.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first book by this Author. She did a great job of making me feel as if I were there. The story was a bittersweet one. I did not see it ending as it did and was a little disappointed by the disloyalty of one of the characters, though I understand why she did what she did, to an extent. Bottom line, sometimes people deal with things that others are not privy to, and it is easy to judge them unfairly. I will probably read more by this author.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was more interesting than it should have been, I think. There's no real plot or development, its' just characters living their lives, but I was pretty interested the whole time. I think Lore kind of got smeared a bit at the end. Yes, lying about Walter definitely was bad, but her being jealous and ungrateful and bitter sometimes are, like, normal emotions? And you're reading her diary, so if she couldn't be honest there, where could she be? It's not a crime to think badly about your sister sometimes. Idk, I just felt like they were making things SUCH a big deal when they just, weren't.

[Adriana Parrinello · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was actually good, kept me turning the pages, but I will admit that I wish there was more character building. It moved from one characters point of view to another's, not giving an opportunity to delve deeper into each character. The twist at the end was shocking, but disappointing, because the character was a fraud the whole time.

[Rachel J Potter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Touching Story.

This novel brought to mind the plight of a neighbor that suffered through WWII. It made me think about the many refugees that are suffering today. We need to do more to reach out to the many in need as was done by a number of characters in this novel. A great read.

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The contrived double-twist ending pretty much ruined a good story. One twist was moving and the other was the awful ruining of a character. By the way, I said that this review contained spoilers because sometimes knowing there's a twist is a spoiler. Hear that, M. Night Shyamalan?

[Mae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Belva Plain never disappoints - decent story - interesting characters - all tied up with a bow by the end. Secrets spilling over from a war time love haunt Caroline and play out through the lives of her daughters. Great diversion read - now on to the next book club selection!

[Elaine Cougler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Legacy of Silence by Belva Plain for a short novel covers a lot of territory. From prewar Germany to the 1990's it is a family story. A son of a Nazi falls beautifully in love with a daughter of a Jewish mother and the story progresses from there. Well worth the read.

[Renate Engelbrecht koning · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful family saga ! I could not put the book down eager to read what would happen! One of my favourite authors of all times !!! Belva Plain has the ability to bring characters in your heart as real as your family !

[Carol]

Really liked the book beginning in 1938 prewar Berlin and going thru several generations in America ending in the 90s.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wealthy Berlin physician and his Jewish wife adopt a 12 y.o. orphaned girl, Lore, who becomes the beloved older sister to their baby daughter, Caroline. The parents send the two girls in 1939 to Switzerland to await their arrival in a short time, after which they will all leave for the United States to escape Nazi Germany. Lore is a nurse and Caroline has just finished high school. The girls are forced to leave Switzerland without their parents when their visas expire. Caroline is pregnant and through some manipulative moves by Lore is forced into a marriage of convenience with another Jewish immigrant. The group of 3 leaves New York City for a town along Lake Erie south of Buffalo. I found myself trying to figure out which town the fictional Ivy was modeled after, having grown up in that part of the state. The book follows the story of the two sisters through the years of WWII and the post war years. Through it all Lore comes across as the loving older sister/sister-in-law/aunt but as Caroline's daughters learn years after their parents' deaths and then the death of Lore she wasn't the loving family member they all thought she was. She was a jealous and conniving woman. I thought the characters were all well developed but Caroline's husband Joel was almost too kind and good to be true.

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

This enthralling family saga scratched me where I itched. Belva Plain is one of the absolute best writers in the business. She not only recognizes the elements of human nature, but she writes vividly about each character and weaves a tapestry about normal life experiences that are complicated by circumstances outside of their control.

Legacy of Silence spans across Europe right before the outbreak of WWII, to America, and follows three generations. Family secrets, intended to remain secrets, are not always preserved. When secrets are kept in order to protect someone, those are well-meaning intentions, but betrayal can be attributed to the wrong person for the wrong reason. That vague theme is what made the book difficult to put down. I absolutely loved it. It had all the feelings, emotions, joys, sorrows and empathy to allow the reader to relate, or at least understand each character.

[Carolann Krause · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful story of a family that had hardships, Love and secrets. Girl gets pregnant and was told the father was a nazi and will go with her to America to be married . She goes to America with her step sister Lore. Germany is rounding up all the Jews and her father was a Jew, it was hard for them to leave could not get the proper paperwork. She has her little girl Eve and marries a great man. Caroline and her husband start a business bakery and expand to 6 shops. They have a little girl now Jane. She gets ill and dies he remarries all she wants is the fortune. He gets ill and dies and children are surprised what the will continues. Jane frowns up and is engaged to an attorney and take a trip to Germany. Jane finds the truth about her mothers first husband.

[Patricia Bourque · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found myself choking up while reading parts of this book (and I'm not really a 'choker-upper'). Even if this is fiction, there have been so many real-life people who have struggled with these same unfortunate circumstances. I wonder that some people gave it two stars - I'm not sure what they expect from a book because this had it all. A surprise ending, a couple of interesting twists and sympathetic characters. My only grrrr was that the villains didn't live to learn they had been caught out and Caroline never knew the truth. A wonderful book!

[J. A. Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read several of Belva Plain's books, but hadn't in a very long time. This one is ok. A young girl flees Nazi Germany for the U.S. with an adopted family member. She is pregnant and unwed after a jiited romance. She meets a man in the U.S. and through encouragement from the family member marries him so her child will have a name. There are a number of plot surprises towards the end. I just didn't really feel any real attachment to the characters. Many other Belva Plain books that are better than this one.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this review; I didn’t expect this to be an engrossing read and it wasn’t. Don’t know why I finished it but this was the last book in the bag of books a friend shared with me and it was an ok summer read. A totally predictable story, including the evil stepmother. One thing I couldn’t help but observe was Plain’s description of almost every woman except Caroline (and Eve) as being homely, ugly, unattractive to men, etc. What was up with that? Not likely I will be adding any more of Plain's many books and now I get to go to the library!

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caroline and her adopted sister, Lore, were sent to Switzerland from Germany, in the late 1930s. The plan was for their parents to join them, but that did not occur. They escape to the US, with Caroline pregnant from her German boyfriend. In the US, they struggle to find their footing, but Caroline accepts the offer of marriage from Joel who is a good man and is willing to accept the baby. As Eve and their second daughter Jane grow up, the family secrets eventually come to the surface and then other revelations come to light which twist the perspective on this family.

[D. Jane Akins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t read Belva Plain in a while. This book makes me wonder why!

I thought I was going to read another World War II historical novel but this book is so much more, telling the story, not that of survivors of the holocaust, but that of survivors of two girls who escaped it. What ups and downs in their lives in America. The book was long but I wish the ending had been fleshed out a little more but it’s still absolutely a great book.

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual, Belva Plain presents a family saga/drama as the main plot in her novel. It took a bit to connect with all the characters but, eventually, I was drawn into the story which, although a novel, did include historical references which I enjoy in a plot line. Overall, it was a good read and, toward the end, there were several surprise twists which resolved a few of the questions about 2 of the characters.

[Sunny Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Generational Tale

Couldn't put it down. The horrors of war, the constant anxiety arising from prolonged financial insecurity, family secrets carried to the grave, rumors woven to serve the self, disregarding integrity and the sharing of truths among beloved family members. Its all here, the good, the bad, and the loved. Humans are fragile, as are our families and children. But in the end we survive, and leave our legacy for those who remain behind.

[Diane]

first Belva Plain, loved it. one of my mother's favorite authors. Interesting reading. very easy to read and follow, but twists and turns at every page. Surprise endings, which I love. Am going to add her to my list of reading to do.
It starts of over seas, and a family running from Hitler and the war. Ends in America, with a kind of happy ending, but ties up all the pieces nicely. Loved it.

[Pam A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Covers several generations through the Nazi occupation of Germany, immigration to America, next generation in various parts of America, intergenerational trauma passed on, and a surprise ending. All told from a womans point of view - why we keep secrets and the pros and cons of doing so. Without getting political, I found parallels to our current times.

[Stacie Dore · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about a family escaping pre - war Germany and the generations that follow into the 90's. This story had a nice little puzzle built into it but I felt that the awkward writing and shallow characters really reduced any real connection to the story.

[Woltmann95 · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a struggle for me to stay with this. Her writing leaves a lot to be desired. Choppy sentences, poor character development. I have only read Evergreen years ago and liked it. Too many good authors to waste my time on her.