The World That We Knew

by Alice Hoffman

First published 2019

In 1941 Berlin, a mother makes a dangerous pact to save her daughter. She commissions a golem - a mystical Jewish protector - to spirit the girl to safety in France. But the golem has a will of its own, and its actions ripple through the lives of a German cellist, a young resistance fighter, and a blind French girl struggling to survive. As the war rages on, each character is forced to confront the moral quandaries of their choices, fighting to hold onto their humanity in the darkest of times.

Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, world-war-ii, jewish

Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: found-family, moral-ambiguity

Setting: Berlin, France

Period: 1941

400 pages · Paperback · Simon & Schuster

Content warnings: war

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