Lara's Shadow

by Alan Fleishman

Eli Schneider hates Germans as hard as anyone can hate. And for good reason. Then he falls in love with one of them.

LARA'S SHADOW is told against the backdrop of post-World War II Germany and the tensest moments of the Cold War. Eli is a young lieutenant in the U.S. Army, a Jew expected to defend the perpetrators of the Holocaust. While he struggles to protect his aging alcoholic company commander from a mutinous junior officer, he meets fraulein Lara Kohler. He initially pursues her just for sex, but it's her quirky personality and fascinating mind that ensnare him. In a country filled with former Nazis, there are bound to be secrets. He uncovers one layer of Lara's secrets after another until he must ask how much he can be expected to forgive. And how much responsibility she must carry for others' sins?
Lara's Shadow is a love story full of perplexities that strain the limits of forgiveness. It probes the mixture of good with evil, and the visitation of parents' guilt on their children.

Genres: Historical Fiction

271 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 14, 2015

About the author

Today my wife Ann and I live high on a hill overlooking San Francisco Bay. Prior to beginning my writing career, I was a marketing consultant, senior corporate executive, university adjunct faculty, corporate board member, community volunteer, and an officer in the U.S. Army. Then at a time when most people are retiring, I began this new vocation as a novelist. Here's how it happened.

My father Ben was born in the Ukraine amidst the worst of the Russian Tsar's bloody 1905 anti-Jewish riots - pogroms. Shortly after, my grandfather Max escaped with his family to America. A hundred years later, I returned to the Ukraine. I paid my respects at a tombstone honoring the victims of the 1905 pogroms and stood in the square where the Nazis in 1941 rounded up thousands of Jews and marched them off to be executed. Had my grandparents not left Russia when they did, I might well have died in a square just like that one.

My yearning to connect with these grandparents I never knew arose in those moments. Writing novels seemed to be the only means for me to satisfy that passion. This led to my first book, Goliath's Head, then to A Fine September Morning, Lara's Shadow and finally to Odyssey of Chaos. The later one was inspired by my Greek cousins on my mother’s side. They survived the Nazi occupation of Athens hiding in a shepherd’s cellar and fighting in the Greek resistance. Some other cousins didn’t make it, lost in the Holocaust.

I was more than a little surprised by the excellent reception to each of my novels. The wide audience of readers were a mix of both Jews and non-Jews keenly interested in the chronicles of Twentieth Century Jews, from persecution to tragedy to triumph. Most were from the United States, but a significant number came from many other parts of the world too.

Lately I have turned to writing short stories for publication in literary journals. These stories are non-sectarian, dealing with human nature and how we respond to critical moments that shape who we are. One of my longer short stories, a personal favorite, is Frannie Potter which first appeared in the Pennsylvania Literary Journal and is now broadly available. It’s about a young American woman who, in 1937, goes off to fight in the Spanish Civil War to save the Republic and keep her friend Marty alive.
Writing brings me enormous satisfaction. Big rewards come when I give a presentation and see how people react, or I receive a piece of fan mail or get a good review on Amazon. Every reader brings a little bit of their own unique person to the reading and interpretation of a story. They see the books I write through their own eyes and experiences, not mine. Their appreciation keeps me plugging away, trying to get better at it.

Thank you.

Reviews

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

a Jew and a German find closure after the horrors of World War II

Both Eli Schneider and Lara Kohler are traumatized by the holocaust, anti-semitism, and war. Eli, a young orphan boy whose arrival in America ends Fleishman's last book A Fine September Morning, is filled with hatred for the people who killed his family. In Lara's Shadow, as an officer in an American tank unit during the Cold War, he must now defend the people who have tried to exterminate his. Against his will, he falls in love with Lara, the daughter of a Nazi who has suffered from the totalitarian views of her father. Despite their disparate backgrounds and the trauma each has endured, they search for peace, understanding, empathy, and unconditional love. In a world where anti-semitism is becoming more and more prevalent, and terrorist attacks occur daily, Fleishman's novel offers hope.
He realistically.depicts the rawness of young men engaged in a Cold War with incompetent officers, the disastrous effect post traumatic stress syndrome has on a beloved friend who fought in Vietnam, and the agony relatives in America feel for their sons fighting abroad. Fleishman's novel portrays the anguish and despair of both the victors and victims of the war, but he ends on a note of optimism and love.

[Liz Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Romance, History and more!

[Rachel Unklesbay · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's hard to describe my reaction to this book.

At first, I thought, "Well, romance isn't my usual genre, but I'll give it a shot." And that lasted for a while - for about a hundred pages, I was still just giving it a shot. The main character was basically a mediocre, horny Jewish-American soldier with an obsession for one particular German woman and a general hatred of all Germans.

But then, he started to fall in love with the girl, and it got really good. Not because it was suddenly a great romance, but because it raised questions about guilt and hatred and racism and forgiveness and healing. And Fleishman handled all of those issues beautifully, with both devastating grief and fantastic optimism. He showed how a mediocre man who finds his strength from bitterness and spite can change into a wonderful man full of love, acceptance, forgiveness, and loyalty. I went from a "maybe I'll give this 2 stars" to "good heavens, this is a fantastic book!"

And then the last section of the book crushed it. The couple broke up, stayed apart for 25 years, and the main character immediately regressed into a bitter, horny, mediocre guy again - this time, he just didn't hate all Germans anymore. So he was a little less bitter. Then, after poisoning a marriage for 25 years, he finally pursued the German girl again, who had not-quite-but-kind-of picked up a lesbian partner, and some cussing and violent sex somehow just solved all their problems.

I don't know what to do with this. Fleishman writes his history immaculately, and his humanity beautifully. And he writes true love and forgiveness extremely well. And when he's writing about true love and forgiveness, the sex becomes a part of that love and forgiveness. But every other time he brings sex into it, he cheapens his characters and loses my enchantment with the story. I would give the first part 2 stars, the middle part 5 stars, and the last part 1 star. Overall, I feel like I can recommend Fleishman - but not Lara's Shadow.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again Alan Fleishman has written another gripping, page turning story.
Lara's Shadow is a riveting story about two young lovers trying to find forgiveness, acceptance, love and respect in their own lives as theirs come together.
Eli Schneider serves in Germany and he hates Germans due to what has happened to his own family.
Lara Kohler a German girl has her own inward battle as well as finding out the truth about her father.
This story has so many details and history as well as taking on many topics.
A wonderfully written story not to be missed!
I highly recommend this book.