A Certain Magic

by Doris Orgel

Warning! it said on the next page, in suddenly bold and enormous lettering. This copybook is deeply secret. Whosoever disobeys this warning and reads on, shall be my better ennemie and I bloody well curse you forever. It was signed Gertrude Ehrenteil, Jenny's aunt Trudl. When Trudl was Jenny's age, she was sent alone out of Vienna just before World War II began, as a refugee to live with strangers in England. She kept a diary and Jenny had come upon it quite by accident. Below the signiture was a drawing of an emerald ring and then another Beware its Eevil Powers! written in spidery and menacing letters. Jenny simply could not bear to stop reading now. Yet, after such a warning, how could she dare to read on?

Genres: Childrens, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Doris Orgel is a children's writer. She was born in Vienna, Austria. As a child, she and her family fled to Yugoslavia and finally the U.S. during the rise of the Nazi party in Europe. She attended Radcliffe College from 1946 too 1948, and graduated cum laude from Barnard College in 1950.

In her career, Ms. Orgel has written and translated several fairy and folk tales, as well as served as a translator for other authors. Prior to her work as a children's writer, Orgel was in magazine and book publishing. Her first original book, Sarah’s Room (1963) was published under the pseudonym Doris Adelberg. It was also republished in England and in Switzerland in German. In 1960, Ms. Orgel received the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for her translation of Willhelm Hauff's Dwarf Long-Nose (1960). Her book The Devil in Vienna (1978) received a Phoenix Award Honor in 1998. Ms. Orgel has also worked as a children’s book reviewer for "The New York Times".

She is married to Dr. Shelley Orgel; has three children: Paul, Laura, and Jeremy; two daughters-in-law: Sharon Lamb and Ling Chen Orgel; three grandchildren: Willy, Jennifer, and Julian; and three granddogs: Woof, Buster, and Otto. She lives in New York City.


For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/doris-orgel

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jenny's favorite aunt was a German-Jewish refuge, hosted in Surrey, during WWII. Orgel was, too, so she was able to help us see Trudl as an authentic young girl, full of mixed feelings about her host family & country, and very strong negative feelings, of course, about Hitler, and a powerful wish for magic to be real.

Jenny learns about her through the copybook, used as a journal, and feels such a connection that she begins to believe in the power of a magic talisman. Eventually, with the help of loving parents and new friends, everything & everyone gets sorted out, with lessons learned, mysteries solved, and kinships strengthened.

Jenny isn't, imo, quite as strong a character, but some readers will love her. Details about her exploration of London with her family, and her conversations with the night clerk & the canary, and about Trudl's houseful of pets, etc., are intriguing, involving, memorable.

Not the kind of book I would have liked when I was 10-12. Not the kind I'd choose now, because I'm burnt out on HF about the Hitler era. However, I'm glad I've learned that Doris Orgel is an author worth reading, whatever the subject. This is not just another WWII HF, nor is it a eccentric little time-travel fantasy. It's no more or less than a beautifully-told story.

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book by Doris Orgel that I’ve read. The first was “The Devil In Vienna”, which I discovered after watching its movie adaptation in the 80’s. Both books are historical fiction, with the author using some of her experiences as a WW2 refugee as storylines. Orgel has a very distinct, and for me, enjoyable writing style. I think even modern readers would be intrigued with her books.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was about nine years old and we were vacationing at the oregon coast when I read this. I sat at the picnic table and didn't even notice when my big brother brought some bottles with messages inside them he'd found on the beach. He even read the messages out loud but I was lost in Vienna with Orgel's amazing characters. I was bummed out later, since after he read them he threw everything out. Boys.

[Susann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in the mid-1970s, about a girl who discovers her aunt's WWII past as a Jewish Austrian refugee in England. The aunt's story is very compelling and Orgel's treatment of guilt issues is spot-on.

[Megan Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been trying to remember this book for a long time and all I could remember was something about a doll's head and a gem. Ten year old me would give this five stars but 50 year old me thinks that Jenny is a bit of a brat.

[Lana Kamennof-sine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Family history is always interesting. This book revolves around Jenny's discovery of her aunt Trudl's childhood diary from the time she was a refugee just pre-WWII. (Jenny was looking after her Aunt's pets when she stumbled upon it.) The real life account of the experience is heart wrenching & there's a magical emerald at the centre of it.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 1970s Jenny comes across the journal her aunt had written when she was a Jewish refugee in England, just before WW II really got going. Her aunt is lonely and unhappy, and unable to become friends with the English brother and sister with whom she is living. When she begins to believe that, with help of the English girl's doll and her own emerald ring, she can work vengeful magic on the other children, she becomes wracked with guilt. Then on a trip to England, Jenny (wracked with guilt herself for secretly reading her aunt's journal) finds the English girl, now a grown woman, who closes the circle of the past with a special gift. It was fine--nothing remarkable, but an nice interweaving of historical fiction with a girl in the present (or at least, the present at the time it was written....). I gave it four stars because I did enjoy the part set in the 1930s quite a bit.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book when I was a child and for the longest time couldn't remember the name or author. I finally found it again (with help from a group here on goodreads) and was able to read it again.

It's a good book dealing with guilt and family, and it nice to read something from childhood again.