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We Share the Same Sky: A Memoir of Memory & Migration
Winner of the 2022 Maine Literary Award for Memoir ''Cerrotti brings her podcast of the same name to the page with the gripping and deeply moving debut account of her late Jewish grandmother’s experience growing up in Nazi-occupied territory during WWII.'' -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) A granddaughter's decade-long journey to retrace her grandmother's wartime escape and weave together the thin threads of family history. In 2009, Rachael Cerrotti, a college student pursuing a career in photojournalism, asked her grandmother, Hana, if she could record her story. Rachael knew that her grandmother was a Holocaust survivor and the only one in her family alive at the end of the war. Rachael also knew that she survived because of the kindness of strangers. It wasn't a secret. Hana spoke about her history publicly and regularly. But, Rachael wanted to document it as only a granddaughter could. So, that's what they Hana talked and Rachael wrote. Upon Hana's passing in 2010, Rachael discovered an incredible archive of her life. There were preserved albums and hundreds of photographs dating back to the 1920s. There were letters waiting to be translated, journals, diaries, deportation and immigration papers as well as creative writings from various stages of Hana's life. Rachael digitized and organized it all, plucking it from the past and placing it into her present. Then, she began retracing her grandmother's story, following her through Central Europe, Scandinavia, and across the United States. She tracked down the descendants of those who helped save her grandmother's life during the war. Rachael went in pursuit of her grandmother's memory to explore how the retelling of family stories becomes the history itself. We Share the Same Sky weaves together the stories of these two young women -- Hana as a refugee who remains one step ahead of the Nazis at every turn, and Rachael, whose insatiable curiosity to touch the past guides her into the lives of countless strangers, bringing her love and tragic loss. Throughout the course of her twenties, Hana's history becomes a guidebook for Rachael in how to live a life empowered by grief.
230 pages, Hardcover
Published August 17, 2021
106 people are currently reading
2815 people want to read
About the author
Rachael Cerrotti
1 book31 followersRachael Cerrotti is an award-winning author, storyteller, educator, and curator. Through an interdisciplinary practice, she explores stories rooted in the humanity of grief and inherited memory.
In 2019, Rachael released her first podcast — We Share The Same Sky. It was the first-ever narrative podcast based on a Holocaust survivor’s testimony and tells the story of her decade-long journey to retrace her grandmother’s war story. We Share The Same Sky was listed as one of the best podcasts of the year by HuffPost, a Reader’s Pick by Vulture Magazine and as a “Show We Love” by Apple Podcasts; it is now being taught in high school classrooms around the world. Her critically-acclaimed debut memoir, also titled We Share The Same Sky, was released in August 2021. It won the Maine Literary Award, was shortlisted for the 2022 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly and was listed as one of the best books of the month by Apple Books. She recently curated this project for a traveling museum exhibition that opened in the fall of 2023 at the Florida Holocaust Museum.
Rachael was born in Boston, Massachusetts, spent her young adult life wandering from one country to another and is now rooted in Portland, Maine with her beloved dog.
Learn more at: www.rachaelcerrotti.com & www.sharethesamesky.com
Order We Share The Same Sky: https://www.indiebound.org/book/97810...
In 2019, Rachael released her first podcast — We Share The Same Sky. It was the first-ever narrative podcast based on a Holocaust survivor’s testimony and tells the story of her decade-long journey to retrace her grandmother’s war story. We Share The Same Sky was listed as one of the best podcasts of the year by HuffPost, a Reader’s Pick by Vulture Magazine and as a “Show We Love” by Apple Podcasts; it is now being taught in high school classrooms around the world. Her critically-acclaimed debut memoir, also titled We Share The Same Sky, was released in August 2021. It won the Maine Literary Award, was shortlisted for the 2022 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly and was listed as one of the best books of the month by Apple Books. She recently curated this project for a traveling museum exhibition that opened in the fall of 2023 at the Florida Holocaust Museum.
Rachael was born in Boston, Massachusetts, spent her young adult life wandering from one country to another and is now rooted in Portland, Maine with her beloved dog.
Learn more at: www.rachaelcerrotti.com & www.sharethesamesky.com
Order We Share The Same Sky: https://www.indiebound.org/book/97810...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
September 30, 2021
Rachael Cerrotti’s grandmother, Hana, was a Holocaust survivor, and the only person in her family to survive the war. Rachael is finishing her photojournalism training when she asks her grandmother if she can document her story. Hana agrees, and she talks while Rachael writes.
When Hana passes away, Rachael finds an immense archive of Hana’s life rich with photos, diaries, and writings from Hana herself. Rachael takes this information and what Hana shared with her, and this book is born.
I don’t think I could say anything worthy of this remarkable story. You simply have to read and experience the loving way Rachael shares her grandmother’s rich life, full of strength at every turn. Rachael physically follows her grandmother’s journey as best she can. I loved every word of this inspiring story about the kindness of strangers. I was completely absorbed and mesmerized.
Rachael also has a podcast on Audible I plan to check out. Read this one! You won’t regret it!
I received a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
When Hana passes away, Rachael finds an immense archive of Hana’s life rich with photos, diaries, and writings from Hana herself. Rachael takes this information and what Hana shared with her, and this book is born.
I don’t think I could say anything worthy of this remarkable story. You simply have to read and experience the loving way Rachael shares her grandmother’s rich life, full of strength at every turn. Rachael physically follows her grandmother’s journey as best she can. I loved every word of this inspiring story about the kindness of strangers. I was completely absorbed and mesmerized.
Rachael also has a podcast on Audible I plan to check out. Read this one! You won’t regret it!
I received a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
August 18, 2021
Audible- podcast- read by the author Rachel Cerrotti.
….7 episodes….freebie for Audible members
….a total of 4 hours long
“I blushed in the face of death because I felt loved”
Incredibly SPECIAL!!!!
Not to Miss!!!
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
….7 episodes….freebie for Audible members
….a total of 4 hours long
“I blushed in the face of death because I felt loved”
Incredibly SPECIAL!!!!
Not to Miss!!!
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
December 31, 2022
This book reflects two hot trends in nonfiction these days—journalism told through a personal lens and young people writing about grief. The cover is a blended image with the subject of the story on the left, merged with an image of the author on the right. Truth in advertising.
The author, Rachael Cerrotti, is an American would-be journalist/documentarian/artist/blogger; the subject of the story is her grandmother Hana, a Holocaust survivor. Late in her grandmother’s life, Cerrotti started interviewing Hana about her experiences in World War II and beyond, and after Hana’s death she found a trove of journals, photo albums, and other materials documenting Hana’s life. Armed with this information, Rachael set out to retrace her grandmother’s footsteps and tell the story of her displacement and survival.
I would have enjoyed that story and found it illuminating, not least because Hana seems to have been a highly articulate and self-aware raconteur. Her tale was atypical: raised in Czechoslovakia, she was sent away alone by her parents at age fourteen before the Nazis came for the family. So while the rest of her family were seized and murdered in a concentration camp, Hana fetched up in Denmark, where she was taken in by a series of families and institutions in exchange for labor. She moved frequently and tried to extract every morsel of advantage she could from each situation (cleaning toilets in exchange for schooling, etc.) till the Nazis came for the Danish Jews, at which point she was spirited away to Sweden. Several displacements later she came to America and was able to construct a lasting life.
Had the author kept herself mainly to the background, doling out connections between Hana’s life and hers with a sparing hand, this book might have had a greater emotional impact. Unfortunately, as it went along it became increasingly about Rachael’s experience of her grandmother’s experiences, then about Rachael’s own life almost exclusively. And if Rachael had a somewhat limited understanding of her grandmother’s psyche, she had even less understanding of her own. Personalizing her grandmother’s story robbed it of much of its depth for me.
Hana’s loss of nuclear family and multiple displacements had a profound impact on her personality. She became a little hard, untouchable; doing what she needed to do in order to survive became her go-to response in every situation, even ones that didn’t involve life-or-death choices. Many of her subsequent relationships were performative. In a telling moment, she told Rachael that “the big difference between your travels and mine is that I had to burn all of my bridges as I moved forward.” Prolonged exposure to evil and a long solo struggle to survive can have that effect: the victim either dies or teaches herself to shed anything that doesn’t keep her strong. Hana also says, “Inner demons run toward us when we stand still for too long.” She was chased all her life by those demons and had to suppress them because they would be too shattering to confront. For all her strength as a survivor, she was irreparably stunted.
Rachael’s upbringing by contrast was clearly a soft one, privileged, safe, surrounded by love and above all stability. I admire her for wanting to understand her grandmother’s very different experience, but she simply lacked the emotional vocabulary to do so. Even when a traumatic tragedy strikes her own life, she is sheltered from its consequences to a far greater degree. She retreats, both symbolically and physically, to her parents’ basement.
Rachael goes to extraordinary lengths to build a what-might-have-been version of her grandmother’s life. She tracks down people who helped Hana seventy years earlier and befriends their families, building what she calls a “web of community” with them in what appears to be an attempt to defeat evil with positivity. But for me that only highlighted the gulf between her and her grandmother—because when faced with community, her grandmother invariably chose solitude, independence, leaving behind. Many people, when scarred early, forever feel like outsiders in “normal” life, unable to feel joy in connection. They triumph over their feelings by performing connectedness but know it is a sham.
Hana married twice, once for children (they tried to exterminate us and we will defeat them) and once for comfort in old age. Rachael married for love, and I felt she never really understood the difference. So throughout Rachael’s narrative I sensed the vivid, complex, interesting character of Hana fighting and failing to break out past Rachael’s unexamined assumptions. Rachael might have done better had she stuck to journalistic conventions and kept herself out of it.
The author, Rachael Cerrotti, is an American would-be journalist/documentarian/artist/blogger; the subject of the story is her grandmother Hana, a Holocaust survivor. Late in her grandmother’s life, Cerrotti started interviewing Hana about her experiences in World War II and beyond, and after Hana’s death she found a trove of journals, photo albums, and other materials documenting Hana’s life. Armed with this information, Rachael set out to retrace her grandmother’s footsteps and tell the story of her displacement and survival.
I would have enjoyed that story and found it illuminating, not least because Hana seems to have been a highly articulate and self-aware raconteur. Her tale was atypical: raised in Czechoslovakia, she was sent away alone by her parents at age fourteen before the Nazis came for the family. So while the rest of her family were seized and murdered in a concentration camp, Hana fetched up in Denmark, where she was taken in by a series of families and institutions in exchange for labor. She moved frequently and tried to extract every morsel of advantage she could from each situation (cleaning toilets in exchange for schooling, etc.) till the Nazis came for the Danish Jews, at which point she was spirited away to Sweden. Several displacements later she came to America and was able to construct a lasting life.
Had the author kept herself mainly to the background, doling out connections between Hana’s life and hers with a sparing hand, this book might have had a greater emotional impact. Unfortunately, as it went along it became increasingly about Rachael’s experience of her grandmother’s experiences, then about Rachael’s own life almost exclusively. And if Rachael had a somewhat limited understanding of her grandmother’s psyche, she had even less understanding of her own. Personalizing her grandmother’s story robbed it of much of its depth for me.
Hana’s loss of nuclear family and multiple displacements had a profound impact on her personality. She became a little hard, untouchable; doing what she needed to do in order to survive became her go-to response in every situation, even ones that didn’t involve life-or-death choices. Many of her subsequent relationships were performative. In a telling moment, she told Rachael that “the big difference between your travels and mine is that I had to burn all of my bridges as I moved forward.” Prolonged exposure to evil and a long solo struggle to survive can have that effect: the victim either dies or teaches herself to shed anything that doesn’t keep her strong. Hana also says, “Inner demons run toward us when we stand still for too long.” She was chased all her life by those demons and had to suppress them because they would be too shattering to confront. For all her strength as a survivor, she was irreparably stunted.
Rachael’s upbringing by contrast was clearly a soft one, privileged, safe, surrounded by love and above all stability. I admire her for wanting to understand her grandmother’s very different experience, but she simply lacked the emotional vocabulary to do so. Even when a traumatic tragedy strikes her own life, she is sheltered from its consequences to a far greater degree. She retreats, both symbolically and physically, to her parents’ basement.
Rachael goes to extraordinary lengths to build a what-might-have-been version of her grandmother’s life. She tracks down people who helped Hana seventy years earlier and befriends their families, building what she calls a “web of community” with them in what appears to be an attempt to defeat evil with positivity. But for me that only highlighted the gulf between her and her grandmother—because when faced with community, her grandmother invariably chose solitude, independence, leaving behind. Many people, when scarred early, forever feel like outsiders in “normal” life, unable to feel joy in connection. They triumph over their feelings by performing connectedness but know it is a sham.
Hana married twice, once for children (they tried to exterminate us and we will defeat them) and once for comfort in old age. Rachael married for love, and I felt she never really understood the difference. So throughout Rachael’s narrative I sensed the vivid, complex, interesting character of Hana fighting and failing to break out past Rachael’s unexamined assumptions. Rachael might have done better had she stuck to journalistic conventions and kept herself out of it.
March 28, 2021
This is a well written story about the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor who decides to write her grandmother’s story. But she also goes one better and retraces her footsteps by going to Europe and visiting all of the same places her grandmother went during and after the war. It;s such a touching thing to do in her grandmother’s memory, and really makes the whole thing come together. I couldn’t get enough of this book, it shared so much of Hana’s original journey. The author even looked up the families of the people who had helped Hana during the war, to keep her safe and well. I think it’s a wonderful book, very readable. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Rachael Cerrotti, and the publisher.
September 18, 2021
Rachael, a granddaughter who has accepted the baton passed from her grandmother Hana, has written both her grandmother's story and her own as she's lived it up to the writing of this book. She travels widely, wanting to fit her feet in the footsteps of Hana, and to try and understand what it was to be in the very places, spaces, that her grandmother had been. She pours through mountains of materials left by Hana. Rachael successfully endeavors to evoke a sense of Hana's journeys, hopes and griefs.
Hana's path was winding and full of furtive starts and stops in order to avoid the Nazi shadow that tried to prevent all from independent movement. Heroes appear in the telling of her story, from individuals to nations, who wholeheartedly make place and space for the desperate people escaping from invaded territories by any means possible.
Rachael's path is woven from later cloth around the earlier pattern of her grandmother's path, and is interesting and holds a reader's attention as her relationships complete the bridge-making her grandmother started.
A great read, illustrating some of what has come of those terrific sacrifices made by those who escaped and survived Hitler and his dreadful nightmare: Generations whose hearts truly are turned to their fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters.
A sincere thanks to Rachael Cerrotti, Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review. #WeSharetheSameSky #NetGalley
Hana's path was winding and full of furtive starts and stops in order to avoid the Nazi shadow that tried to prevent all from independent movement. Heroes appear in the telling of her story, from individuals to nations, who wholeheartedly make place and space for the desperate people escaping from invaded territories by any means possible.
Rachael's path is woven from later cloth around the earlier pattern of her grandmother's path, and is interesting and holds a reader's attention as her relationships complete the bridge-making her grandmother started.
A great read, illustrating some of what has come of those terrific sacrifices made by those who escaped and survived Hitler and his dreadful nightmare: Generations whose hearts truly are turned to their fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters.
A sincere thanks to Rachael Cerrotti, Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review. #WeSharetheSameSky #NetGalley
October 24, 2021
A 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 and 𝐚𝐰𝐞-𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 story of author and her grandmother Hana, a holocaust survivor and the only person from her family to survive world War-2.
When she passes away in 2010, author puts her shoes on her story of holocaust, places where Hana have been during her days as refugee and people she's been in contact with, or their relatives.
From Hana's diaries, pictures and excerpts, Rachel visits all the possible places like museums, or where refugees lived. She gathers information about refugees migration, descendants who saved Hana's life during the war and countless stories of hope and grief.
"We share the Same Sky" is an incredible journey of Hana and Rachel, two young women who shares common thread of loss and resilience.
There're so much more than a book about holocaust. It's an inspiring journey through time that interweaves threads of remembrance, sorrow, creating a beautiful anecdote of love and light.
When she passes away in 2010, author puts her shoes on her story of holocaust, places where Hana have been during her days as refugee and people she's been in contact with, or their relatives.
From Hana's diaries, pictures and excerpts, Rachel visits all the possible places like museums, or where refugees lived. She gathers information about refugees migration, descendants who saved Hana's life during the war and countless stories of hope and grief.
"We share the Same Sky" is an incredible journey of Hana and Rachel, two young women who shares common thread of loss and resilience.
There're so much more than a book about holocaust. It's an inspiring journey through time that interweaves threads of remembrance, sorrow, creating a beautiful anecdote of love and light.
October 21, 2021
Grandma Hana's Story
Rachel is a student of photojournalism, she studies hard and wishes to make it her career. One day as her grandmother Hana is aging she sits down with her and asks her to tell her story of a Jewish girl living through the Holocaust.
Rachel is enthralled by her grandmother's story and decides to go to Europe and follow in her grandmother's travels as she leaves her home country to evade the Nazi's only to have the Nazi's occupy the country where she has migrated. Her grandmother's wish was always to migrate to Israel, she was part of the Zion movement.
As Rachel travels she has a better understanding of her grandmother's story and how it affected all that lived through those times. Rachel narrates the story herself and does a very good job of it.
It was an interesting historical and travel story of the war years and one Jewish family. I would recommend this story.
Thanks to Rachel Cerrotti, Blackstone Publishing, and NetGalley for allowing me access to a complimentary audio book copy for my honest review.
Rachel is a student of photojournalism, she studies hard and wishes to make it her career. One day as her grandmother Hana is aging she sits down with her and asks her to tell her story of a Jewish girl living through the Holocaust.
Rachel is enthralled by her grandmother's story and decides to go to Europe and follow in her grandmother's travels as she leaves her home country to evade the Nazi's only to have the Nazi's occupy the country where she has migrated. Her grandmother's wish was always to migrate to Israel, she was part of the Zion movement.
As Rachel travels she has a better understanding of her grandmother's story and how it affected all that lived through those times. Rachel narrates the story herself and does a very good job of it.
It was an interesting historical and travel story of the war years and one Jewish family. I would recommend this story.
Thanks to Rachel Cerrotti, Blackstone Publishing, and NetGalley for allowing me access to a complimentary audio book copy for my honest review.
August 23, 2021
This memoir was AMAZING! The storyline and the woven story between present and past were done exquisitely. I loved how Rachael wrote so empathetically and showed immense vulnerability throughout her journey relating to her grandmother's story. I found the journey of her grandmother unimaginable, heroic, and a story of true strength. All the things she experienced at such a young age and lived to tell through it all. I really enjoyed learning more in-depth about how the Scandinavian countries acted during the war. We brushed over that in school, but this was more in detail and more real. I love that Rachael retraced the steps of her grandmother and creates these generational relationships, that clearly run so deep in the family. I don't even feel this review does it justice. If you love WWII-era books, this is a must-read!
October 29, 2021
Rachel is a podcaster who is telling her grandmothers story of life before, during and after the Holocaust. Not only does she listen as her grandmother tells her life story, but as an adult as decides to follow her grandma’s steps and retrace her life herself and see the things she saw as well as how things have changed. It was interesting to see all that the people had to go through during that time period and the way Rachel also went back and talked to the people who were still alive (or their families for those that weren’t ) of those that helped her grandmother stay alive during those awful times added an extra dimension to the story.
Rachel telling her own story added emotion to it as well, and hearing of her own life as compared to her grandmother’s was interesting as well.
Overall, while it wasn’t an easy read because of the topic, it was well done in that it was in simple terms and language that made it easy to listen to.
Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and Netgalley for this Arc in exchange for my review.
Rachel telling her own story added emotion to it as well, and hearing of her own life as compared to her grandmother’s was interesting as well.
Overall, while it wasn’t an easy read because of the topic, it was well done in that it was in simple terms and language that made it easy to listen to.
Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and Netgalley for this Arc in exchange for my review.
January 15, 2022
This story of a young girl's escape from the Holocaust is refreshingly different, in that she didn't suffer the horrors or physical abuse that is so hard to read about from many other WW2 accounts. However, the psychological scars run deep even through generations and this brave young girl forged ahead to migrate through several countries to ultimately live a full life and save this family's bloodline.
This is really two stories in one as Rachael, the author retells her Grandmother's story while relaying her own travels to follow her Grandmother's migration from Poland through Scandinavia and eventually through the US. This is an interesting part of WW2 history that I was not aware of. Rachael's own personal tragic loss and reflections are thought provoking and moving, while it was also so heartwarming to read of the wonderful families that feature in this journey.
This is really two stories in one as Rachael, the author retells her Grandmother's story while relaying her own travels to follow her Grandmother's migration from Poland through Scandinavia and eventually through the US. This is an interesting part of WW2 history that I was not aware of. Rachael's own personal tragic loss and reflections are thought provoking and moving, while it was also so heartwarming to read of the wonderful families that feature in this journey.
August 27, 2022
I loved that this book was emotionally evocative and an easy read but I feel like some coherency and engagement was lost a bit. I think I was expecting the book to be primarily about Hana, the author's grandmother, her experiences during/after WWII and how that shaped who she was, and that was certainly a component of the book, but Hana's story more co-starred with Rachael's whose, to me, wasn't as interesting. Hana's is a WWII survivor who became an inspiring, unapologetic, strong-willed woman despite her past and the times which I think is a much more riveting story than the experiences of someone in their late twenties.
I do appreciate the project Rachael committed herself to, though. I love my grandma and also have all her journals (albeit they are fewer than Hana's) so Rachael trying to understand Hana is something that resonated with me.
I do appreciate the project Rachael committed herself to, though. I love my grandma and also have all her journals (albeit they are fewer than Hana's) so Rachael trying to understand Hana is something that resonated with me.
August 28, 2022
Rachael writes a tender story following the journey her grandmother Hana traveled as she flees the horrors of the Holocaust. With Hana’s journals we are blessed to follow along with this remarkable woman’s courageous travels as she now navigates life without her family.
Rachael takes us into her life as well, and we sadly mourn with her in the sudden loss of her husband. I have been there as a young wife of 22 years old losing my husband and infant daughter suddenly in car accident. I truly identified with Rachael and the varying emotions.
Again, a tender journey, courageous women, a good read.
Rachael takes us into her life as well, and we sadly mourn with her in the sudden loss of her husband. I have been there as a young wife of 22 years old losing my husband and infant daughter suddenly in car accident. I truly identified with Rachael and the varying emotions.
Again, a tender journey, courageous women, a good read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 15, 2022
This is a fantastic memoir about a granddaughter following the journey her grandmother took to escape the Nazis in Europe in early 1940's. We also follow Rachael on her journey to find love and her deepest feelings. She meets many of the people who aided Hana during her journey and makes some life-long friends. Beautifully written, this book will stay with me for a very long time.
Haunting line - "She explained the Holocaust like this, "You are slowly losing first your privacy, your schooling, your income, your possessions, You are being conditioned to worse and worse situations..."
you are being conditioned for death.
Haunting line - "She explained the Holocaust like this, "You are slowly losing first your privacy, your schooling, your income, your possessions, You are being conditioned to worse and worse situations..."
you are being conditioned for death.
July 14, 2023
Could have been great, a fascinating story of a holocaust survivor told with love, but by the last quarter ended up more of a needlessly repetitive travelogue about the author’s own story which, while interesting, detracts from the original brilliant premise.
April 26, 2024
A beautiful and poignant memoir written by the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor. My husband's grandmother had such a similar story in fleeing Denmark on a boat in 1943. I loved how the author weaved her own story with her grandmother's diary. It was masterfully done.
May 26, 2021
We Share the Same Sky by Rachael Cerrotti is that rare book that leaves one mentally and emotionally both exhausted and overflowing. This is in some ways both a memoir and a biography, and my initial interest was in the biography aspect, I wasn't sure what the memoir part would add. In the end, it was the synthesis of the memoir and the biography into a coherent and impactful whole that made this such an exceptional book.
I am hesitant to get into too much detail because the book blurb explains it very well and there is no way a reviewer can even come close to conveying any details as well as Cerrotti does. So let me just comment on some generalities.
The writing draws the reader first into Cerrotti's world, as a child and young adult. When we start learning more details of Hana's life and, more importantly, her perspective on the events of her life, we feel much the same curiosity as Rachael feels. Fortunately for the reader, we accompany her as she both retraces Hana's steps and makes her own steps. Ultimately, we are privileged to have been allowed to better understand Hana's plight and her outlook on life as well as accompany Rachael on this part of her life's journey. This is one story with two timelines about two phenomenal women.
While not everyone can choose the same manner of understanding and honoring our ancestors that Cerrotti does, we can and should take away the importance of not simply remembering but keeping memories alive. As generations pass many details will be lost, but the more effort we put into preserving what we can the better the larger lessons will be for future generations. In this case, this family's lessons have been shared with all of us so that we may learn and grow as well.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
I am hesitant to get into too much detail because the book blurb explains it very well and there is no way a reviewer can even come close to conveying any details as well as Cerrotti does. So let me just comment on some generalities.
The writing draws the reader first into Cerrotti's world, as a child and young adult. When we start learning more details of Hana's life and, more importantly, her perspective on the events of her life, we feel much the same curiosity as Rachael feels. Fortunately for the reader, we accompany her as she both retraces Hana's steps and makes her own steps. Ultimately, we are privileged to have been allowed to better understand Hana's plight and her outlook on life as well as accompany Rachael on this part of her life's journey. This is one story with two timelines about two phenomenal women.
While not everyone can choose the same manner of understanding and honoring our ancestors that Cerrotti does, we can and should take away the importance of not simply remembering but keeping memories alive. As generations pass many details will be lost, but the more effort we put into preserving what we can the better the larger lessons will be for future generations. In this case, this family's lessons have been shared with all of us so that we may learn and grow as well.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
November 6, 2021
3.5 stars rounded up
Hana Dubova proudly wore a pin that declared her an “outrageous older woman.” “Rachael tells her grandmother’s story through her own words – diaries, letters, conversation, testimony – but also through the lives of those who knew her and those who saved her.” It was interesting to read a book about a Jewish woman who was saved because her parents sent her to work in Denmark at age 14. Later, she was smuggled aboard a Swedish fishing boat.
Cerrotti’s writing is strongest when she writes in an essay style. Speaking of her grandmother Hana, she writes, “She was a strong-willed teen, a refugee, and an orphan. She was a survivor and a victim, a wanderer and someone who dreamed of home…an urban dweller and a farmer… She was a Czech child, a stateless teen, and an American wife. She was a traveler, an explorer, a teacher, and a student. She spoke six languages.”
As with many books about WWII, the old story is more than strong enough to stand on its own. Cerrotti records her personal thoughts and feelings, as she literally traces her grandmother’s journeys across Europe and America. At the end of Hana’s story, Rachael went into much more detail with her own story. While tragic, I did not find it as compelling. In my opinion, it didn’t seem to fit the narrative of a “memoir of memory and migration.”
I listened to the audiobook, read by the author, as well as read the ARC. I found that Ms. Cerrotti’s voice didn’t have as many inflections and nuances as a professional narrator. It was occasionally difficult to distinguish when she was reading quotes from Hana’s letters or diaries. An advantage of the book is that there are a few photographs of Hana and those who helped her at the end.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Hana Dubova proudly wore a pin that declared her an “outrageous older woman.” “Rachael tells her grandmother’s story through her own words – diaries, letters, conversation, testimony – but also through the lives of those who knew her and those who saved her.” It was interesting to read a book about a Jewish woman who was saved because her parents sent her to work in Denmark at age 14. Later, she was smuggled aboard a Swedish fishing boat.
Cerrotti’s writing is strongest when she writes in an essay style. Speaking of her grandmother Hana, she writes, “She was a strong-willed teen, a refugee, and an orphan. She was a survivor and a victim, a wanderer and someone who dreamed of home…an urban dweller and a farmer… She was a Czech child, a stateless teen, and an American wife. She was a traveler, an explorer, a teacher, and a student. She spoke six languages.”
As with many books about WWII, the old story is more than strong enough to stand on its own. Cerrotti records her personal thoughts and feelings, as she literally traces her grandmother’s journeys across Europe and America. At the end of Hana’s story, Rachael went into much more detail with her own story. While tragic, I did not find it as compelling. In my opinion, it didn’t seem to fit the narrative of a “memoir of memory and migration.”
I listened to the audiobook, read by the author, as well as read the ARC. I found that Ms. Cerrotti’s voice didn’t have as many inflections and nuances as a professional narrator. It was occasionally difficult to distinguish when she was reading quotes from Hana’s letters or diaries. An advantage of the book is that there are a few photographs of Hana and those who helped her at the end.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
January 3, 2022
This is a memoir about Cerrotti's grandmother, Hana Dubova, a Holocaust survivor. What I really love about We Share the Same Sky is the degree to which Cerrotti had access to her grandmother's journals and even to some of the people/relatives of the people who helped Hana or journeyed with her. This is also a memoir about the ten years Cerotti spent organizing family records, having them translated and following Hana's footsteps from Czechoslovakia to Denmark to Sweden and ultimately the United States. It is a love story between Cerrotti and her future husband Sergio, a Polish man she knew from England and caught up with in her travels. We Share the Same Sky is a unique take for me on a Holocaust survival story, because the Nazis allowed Hana's group of fourteen to sixteen year old Czech Zionists to leave their occupied country and travel to Denmark where they were sponsored by various families, pending a planned move to Palestine. Hana was happily settled on a Danish farm and never did go to Israel. She eventually had to leave in an overloaded boat bound for Sweden when Denmark was no longer safe for Jews under its own Nazi occupation. This is ultimately a book about relationships--- Hana's and her lost family's relationship; Hana's and Rachel's relationship; each of their relationships with the Danish farm family that fostered Hana; the Swedish fisherman that rescued the boatload of exiles from Denmark; the famous rabbi who traveled on that boat and his descendants; Hana's not so great first marriage; and Rachel's and Sergio's relationship that led to marriage and sorrow. It is a rich and loving accounting, meticulously researched and beautifully written.
March 12, 2021
We Share the Same Sky by Rachael Cerrotti is a stunning account written by the author describing the fascinating, haunting, and beautiful life of her grandmother, Hana, whom was amongst many things, a Holocaust survivor.
Through a collection of interviews, letters, archives, photos, extensive research, and discussions, the author has pieces together the life of her grandmother...and in this long process, she was also able to start the journey into finding herself.
Through her book, I was easily able to see Hana as an incredible, brave, fierce, intelligent, determined, beautiful, and lasting soul that survived not only atrocity after atrocity, but also lived a life worth loving and experiencing afterwards. I was in awe of Hana, and her story is paramount to remembering all of our people that were loved, lost, triumphed, and were affected during this horrific time.
I am so blessed that Rachael has been gracious enough to share her family’s story with me. I will forever remember and cherish this journey.
5/5 stars
Thank you NG and Blackstone Publishing for this arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.
I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication.
Through a collection of interviews, letters, archives, photos, extensive research, and discussions, the author has pieces together the life of her grandmother...and in this long process, she was also able to start the journey into finding herself.
Through her book, I was easily able to see Hana as an incredible, brave, fierce, intelligent, determined, beautiful, and lasting soul that survived not only atrocity after atrocity, but also lived a life worth loving and experiencing afterwards. I was in awe of Hana, and her story is paramount to remembering all of our people that were loved, lost, triumphed, and were affected during this horrific time.
I am so blessed that Rachael has been gracious enough to share her family’s story with me. I will forever remember and cherish this journey.
5/5 stars
Thank you NG and Blackstone Publishing for this arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.
I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication.
October 27, 2021
College student Rachael Cerrotti asked her grandmother Hana to record her story. That's how Rachael began a 10+ year investigation into the life of her Mutti, a Holocaust survivor. Along the way, Rachael connected with the places and the people who helped Hana survive, and Rachael found her story, too.
This book tells a tale of survival, love, grief, and friendship. It also introduces several intertwined families across continents who touched each other and gave each other life.
I picked up the book thinking it was about Hana. Instead, about half of it tells Rachael's story and the development of her career, passion for Hana's story and love life. As I don't know the author, I found many parts boring and irrelevant.
Readers who are familiar with the author will appreciate the book. It also offers an interesting look into one woman's escape from death and how compassion, resilience and determination can propel us to freedom.
We Share the Same Sky weaves together the stories of these two young women--Hana as a refugee who remains one step ahead of the Nazis at every turn, and Rachael, whose insatiable curiosity to touch the past guides her into the lives of countless strangers, bringing her love and tragic loss. Throughout the course of her twenties, Hana's history becomes a guidebook for Rachael in how to live a life empowered by grief.
This book tells a tale of survival, love, grief, and friendship. It also introduces several intertwined families across continents who touched each other and gave each other life.
I picked up the book thinking it was about Hana. Instead, about half of it tells Rachael's story and the development of her career, passion for Hana's story and love life. As I don't know the author, I found many parts boring and irrelevant.
Readers who are familiar with the author will appreciate the book. It also offers an interesting look into one woman's escape from death and how compassion, resilience and determination can propel us to freedom.
We Share the Same Sky weaves together the stories of these two young women--Hana as a refugee who remains one step ahead of the Nazis at every turn, and Rachael, whose insatiable curiosity to touch the past guides her into the lives of countless strangers, bringing her love and tragic loss. Throughout the course of her twenties, Hana's history becomes a guidebook for Rachael in how to live a life empowered by grief.
June 23, 2022
Easy read, I thought less time could have been spent on her life and more on her grandmother's escape from Nazi controlled Czechosovakia. She did well finding the people and their descendents who were involved in her grandmother's escape the Nazis. It is a good story on how she reconnected with the folks that helped her grandmother escape and the friendships Rachel made in her journey to learn about her.
May 5, 2024
The first half of the book was so interesting and I loved the straightforward way the author wrote about hard things. I didn’t like the last third. Not very interesting, tho tragic. I would have liked the book better had the author stuck to her grandmother’s story and shortened the relevant parts of hers.
Also still perplexed how her grandmother flees the Nazi and family members flee communism yet she supports far left progressive socialists. Clearly not reading her own story.
Also still perplexed how her grandmother flees the Nazi and family members flee communism yet she supports far left progressive socialists. Clearly not reading her own story.
April 7, 2023
Wish the grandmother's story was a bigger part of this memoir. Too much of the final half of the story was about Rachel's experience freely traveling around the world.
August 24, 2021
I have been devouring many books lately that are based during the second World War, but We Share the Same Sky is set apart in my mind, touching me deeply. The heart and detail that Rachael put in this this story is apparent from the first words written. She has an incredible way of pulling you into the dual narrative, an incredible journey of Rachael walking the walk that her grandmother, Hana, a Holocaust survivor, walked.
I have never read such a harrowing tale! To actually meet the people that her late grandmother met, to see the same landscape, and truly immerse herself in her grandmother's life is just astounding! It made me crave to do the same with my family, and actually has inspired me to document my own parents and grandparents journeys as much as possible.
You can feel the heart and passion that went into this project, and it is so well written that you feel as if you too are on the journey. Though there is tragedy in varying forms throughout this novel, there is also a silver lining, a harrowing story of a Holocaust survivor who lost everything, yet found her way to prosperity in family and love. Beauty from the ashes...
Hana was such an incredible woman and her story was one that needed to be told. I am so thankful that Rachael took on this passion project and highly recommend We Share the Same Sky to anyone who wants to see the past and the present so masterfully intertwined, and to hear one unbelievable journey.
*I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from Blackstone Publishing through NetGalley. All views and opinions expressed are completely honest, and my own.
I have never read such a harrowing tale! To actually meet the people that her late grandmother met, to see the same landscape, and truly immerse herself in her grandmother's life is just astounding! It made me crave to do the same with my family, and actually has inspired me to document my own parents and grandparents journeys as much as possible.
You can feel the heart and passion that went into this project, and it is so well written that you feel as if you too are on the journey. Though there is tragedy in varying forms throughout this novel, there is also a silver lining, a harrowing story of a Holocaust survivor who lost everything, yet found her way to prosperity in family and love. Beauty from the ashes...
Hana was such an incredible woman and her story was one that needed to be told. I am so thankful that Rachael took on this passion project and highly recommend We Share the Same Sky to anyone who wants to see the past and the present so masterfully intertwined, and to hear one unbelievable journey.
*I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from Blackstone Publishing through NetGalley. All views and opinions expressed are completely honest, and my own.
August 12, 2022
Amazing!
From the moment i started to read this book, i became enthralled, enthranced, and enchanted.
Stories weaved together, showing raw and deep feelings, and emotions.
I felt myself travel along fir tge epic journey through this book, i let myself feel deeply, and let myself smile and cry when i needed to.
Rachael (my mom's name, and my 4th name as well, although in Portuguese as Raquel), my maternal family, on both sides, were originally Askhenazi Jews from what is now Holland and Belgium borders.
My Jewish ancestors, escaped the pogroms in their region in the late 1700's.
They travelled south and decided to settle in Portugal, which at the time, had thriving communities of Jews.
Our original name was Silvermann.
Then after a century in Portugal we became Silva.
My mom always told me about how my grandmother (her mom) used to bake Chalah bread every Friday.
My grandparents also had a family heirloom, a Menorah, in solid silver (which my grandparents always said it would be to my mom, because she was the storyteller of the family) (said Menorah disapoeared, was stolen, after my grandfather passed away, before my mom got to it).
My mom told me the stories, and as an only child, she entrusted me to be the family storyteller.
I have been thinking about writing down my family, mine, stories.
You have inspired me so much.
Although the Silvermann's eventually converted to Christianity, many cultural rituals remained in our family.
Thank you for loving so deeply, and for respecting your Mutti so deeply as well, and for writing about her, and yours and your family's, extraordinary stories.
L'chaim 💜
Teresa Da Silva
From the moment i started to read this book, i became enthralled, enthranced, and enchanted.
Stories weaved together, showing raw and deep feelings, and emotions.
I felt myself travel along fir tge epic journey through this book, i let myself feel deeply, and let myself smile and cry when i needed to.
Rachael (my mom's name, and my 4th name as well, although in Portuguese as Raquel), my maternal family, on both sides, were originally Askhenazi Jews from what is now Holland and Belgium borders.
My Jewish ancestors, escaped the pogroms in their region in the late 1700's.
They travelled south and decided to settle in Portugal, which at the time, had thriving communities of Jews.
Our original name was Silvermann.
Then after a century in Portugal we became Silva.
My mom always told me about how my grandmother (her mom) used to bake Chalah bread every Friday.
My grandparents also had a family heirloom, a Menorah, in solid silver (which my grandparents always said it would be to my mom, because she was the storyteller of the family) (said Menorah disapoeared, was stolen, after my grandfather passed away, before my mom got to it).
My mom told me the stories, and as an only child, she entrusted me to be the family storyteller.
I have been thinking about writing down my family, mine, stories.
You have inspired me so much.
Although the Silvermann's eventually converted to Christianity, many cultural rituals remained in our family.
Thank you for loving so deeply, and for respecting your Mutti so deeply as well, and for writing about her, and yours and your family's, extraordinary stories.
L'chaim 💜
Teresa Da Silva
August 28, 2021
I didn't know much about this book going into it but I was surprised to learn it was about a holocaust survivor, one of my favorite stories to read about! I always tell people it sounds really weird to say it's my favorite subject because the stories are heartbreaking, but I feel a need to hear as many stories as I can. I feel strongly that we owe it to the survivors to hear what they experienced, to honor their loved ones who didn't make it out, and to educate our children on the events that happened at the camps.
Rachael shares the story of her grandmother who lived in Czech. Hannah wrote a beautiful diary with all the details of her life growing up and her story of loosing her family at the camps. How special to have these letters to treasure! To honor her grandmother Rachael travels to the home Hannah grew up, met friends and family Hannah grew up with, and even went to the camp to experience what it looked like. In the middle of sharing Hannahs story Rachael suffers a terrible loss of her own, one that will surely rock the reader, I know it did me.
In an entry Hannah writes;
I often wonder does it mean anything to this generation, if it penetrates, or leaves any impact, does it concern them at all because it happened so long ago, they have there own problems to deal with"
I for one care, and I will do my part in honoring your story and sharing it with my kids so that you're not forgot.
Thank you Racheal for sharing your story and honoring your grandmother in such a beautiful book.
Rachael shares the story of her grandmother who lived in Czech. Hannah wrote a beautiful diary with all the details of her life growing up and her story of loosing her family at the camps. How special to have these letters to treasure! To honor her grandmother Rachael travels to the home Hannah grew up, met friends and family Hannah grew up with, and even went to the camp to experience what it looked like. In the middle of sharing Hannahs story Rachael suffers a terrible loss of her own, one that will surely rock the reader, I know it did me.
In an entry Hannah writes;
I often wonder does it mean anything to this generation, if it penetrates, or leaves any impact, does it concern them at all because it happened so long ago, they have there own problems to deal with"
I for one care, and I will do my part in honoring your story and sharing it with my kids so that you're not forgot.
Thank you Racheal for sharing your story and honoring your grandmother in such a beautiful book.
November 4, 2021
Thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for an ARC of this book.
I always feel very emotional whenever I read or hear stories about WWII. Cerrotti’s memoir made me bawl my eyes out. In this memoir we follow Rachael, a third-generation Holocaust survivor, retracing the trajectory of her grandmother, Hana Dubova - a Jewish Czech woman who survived the Holocaust - from Czechoslovakia to the United States.
Her grandmother flew to Denmark at the age of fourteen to escape from Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. She was the only one of her family who survived. All the other ones died in concentration camps. To dig into her grandmother’s history, Cerrotti travels to Europe, and goes to places where her grandmother had been, meets with the descendants of people who helped her grandmother to escape, follows all her steps while also documenting everything.
Based on her grandmother’s journals, photographs and documents, Rachael has a good picture of her grandmother’s footsteps. Telling Hana Dubova’s history, Cerrotti tells her own. The author feels responsible to tell her grandmother’s struggles for future generations, an example of perseverance, determination, survival, and empowerment. Dubova’s history also helps Rachael in many ways.
Beautifully written, the audiobook is incredibly narrated by the author who pours all her emotions on it, making her memoir come to life. I do not easily cry reading books, but I cried listening to this one. I believe this is a very good sign. I highly recommend We Share the Same Sky.
I always feel very emotional whenever I read or hear stories about WWII. Cerrotti’s memoir made me bawl my eyes out. In this memoir we follow Rachael, a third-generation Holocaust survivor, retracing the trajectory of her grandmother, Hana Dubova - a Jewish Czech woman who survived the Holocaust - from Czechoslovakia to the United States.
Her grandmother flew to Denmark at the age of fourteen to escape from Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. She was the only one of her family who survived. All the other ones died in concentration camps. To dig into her grandmother’s history, Cerrotti travels to Europe, and goes to places where her grandmother had been, meets with the descendants of people who helped her grandmother to escape, follows all her steps while also documenting everything.
Based on her grandmother’s journals, photographs and documents, Rachael has a good picture of her grandmother’s footsteps. Telling Hana Dubova’s history, Cerrotti tells her own. The author feels responsible to tell her grandmother’s struggles for future generations, an example of perseverance, determination, survival, and empowerment. Dubova’s history also helps Rachael in many ways.
Beautifully written, the audiobook is incredibly narrated by the author who pours all her emotions on it, making her memoir come to life. I do not easily cry reading books, but I cried listening to this one. I believe this is a very good sign. I highly recommend We Share the Same Sky.
March 5, 2023
First, full disclosure. I read this book because I will appear on a memoir panel, "Putting Yourself Out There, The Joys and Pitfalls of Writing Memoir," with Cerrotti in May, and I'm so happy I did. https://www.mainewriters.org/calendar...
I love journeys and I fell down into this one as Rachel Cerrotti retraced Hana, her grandmother's, journey to survival during World War II. Like Cerrotti, I am Jewish, like Cerotti, I have written about this time period. I lost no one in the Holocaust, but as Cerrotti writes of her father's American family, the War and the Holocaust had voice in all our lives. WE SHARE THE SAME SKY is as story of survival and determination. Hana was the only survivor of her family, and this story lets a reader feel the burdens of both survival and loss.
I was struck by Cerrotti's determination, not only, to retrace her grandmother's steps, but to meet the people who had helped Hana along her way. Cerrotti interviewed her grandmother, and in addition Hana left letters and diaries. Cerrotti weaves many voices in this book including her own. While writing and researching Cerrotti experienced a tragic loss which enabled her to connect to Hana's grief and give the book greater depth.
Cerrotti's voice is strong and honest. Her prose is lovely. This story matters. I hope you'll give it a read.
I love journeys and I fell down into this one as Rachel Cerrotti retraced Hana, her grandmother's, journey to survival during World War II. Like Cerrotti, I am Jewish, like Cerotti, I have written about this time period. I lost no one in the Holocaust, but as Cerrotti writes of her father's American family, the War and the Holocaust had voice in all our lives. WE SHARE THE SAME SKY is as story of survival and determination. Hana was the only survivor of her family, and this story lets a reader feel the burdens of both survival and loss.
I was struck by Cerrotti's determination, not only, to retrace her grandmother's steps, but to meet the people who had helped Hana along her way. Cerrotti interviewed her grandmother, and in addition Hana left letters and diaries. Cerrotti weaves many voices in this book including her own. While writing and researching Cerrotti experienced a tragic loss which enabled her to connect to Hana's grief and give the book greater depth.
Cerrotti's voice is strong and honest. Her prose is lovely. This story matters. I hope you'll give it a read.
November 15, 2021
As a major book lover, there is nothing better than that rare occasion when a book speaks completely to you. Rachael Cerrotti's memoir, travel and historical book, We Share the Same Sky, could have been written specifically for me.
This was the perfect (reading) journey. I love, and have read, many books about travel experiences, ancestry, and survivors of WWII. This wraps all those subjects up in an incredible package.
So much of this book is about connecting. Cerrotti is able to connect the stories and history surrounding her grandmother, Hana's life. Through her travels, she seeks out the truth, putting together the pieces of an elaborate puzzle. Through wonderful people she met along the way, Cerrotti is able to connect with her grandmother, her roots, and with herself. Self-discovery comes from observing, exploring and processing the world and our place in it. Cerrotti's journey is the perfect example of that.
I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was the perfect (reading) journey. I love, and have read, many books about travel experiences, ancestry, and survivors of WWII. This wraps all those subjects up in an incredible package.
So much of this book is about connecting. Cerrotti is able to connect the stories and history surrounding her grandmother, Hana's life. Through her travels, she seeks out the truth, putting together the pieces of an elaborate puzzle. Through wonderful people she met along the way, Cerrotti is able to connect with her grandmother, her roots, and with herself. Self-discovery comes from observing, exploring and processing the world and our place in it. Cerrotti's journey is the perfect example of that.
I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
June 1, 2022
Thank you Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for the gifted book!
I knew this book was a granddaughter writing her grandmother's Holocaust story, but what I was pleasantly surprised by is it's also the granddaughter's memoir of writing that story, tracing the footsteps her grandmother walked, and living out her own life story in light of that. In one word I would describe this book as evocative. You feel the tension Rachael feels as she pieces together the real life places and people who crafted her grandmother's story, and you experience the roller coaster of emotions that brings to her own life and experiences. I love stories, real or imagined, about the connection of people. People befriending one another, strangers becoming family, an acquaintance changing the trajectory of a life. This is one of those stories that celebrates what it means to be human and what it means to be connected by time and events that shape the world.
I knew this book was a granddaughter writing her grandmother's Holocaust story, but what I was pleasantly surprised by is it's also the granddaughter's memoir of writing that story, tracing the footsteps her grandmother walked, and living out her own life story in light of that. In one word I would describe this book as evocative. You feel the tension Rachael feels as she pieces together the real life places and people who crafted her grandmother's story, and you experience the roller coaster of emotions that brings to her own life and experiences. I love stories, real or imagined, about the connection of people. People befriending one another, strangers becoming family, an acquaintance changing the trajectory of a life. This is one of those stories that celebrates what it means to be human and what it means to be connected by time and events that shape the world.
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