Bound By The Scars We Share
Background to Novel
While I was growing up, my mother would often talk to me about her formative years as a Belgian Jewish teenager in WW2, trying and fighting to avoid the Nazi invasion of her homeland. With her family, she spent five years running away in order to escape being exterminated at a Concentration camp.
During these years my mother realised her own inner strengths as she risked her own life to help Jewish children to journey through the mountainous woods from occupied France to the safety of Switzerland.
The impact of those war years resulted in her feeling she was always having to ‘look over her shoulder,’ in case she was caught even though she was perfectly safe. She lived in fear of her own past, with the psychological trauma and guilt for having survived, while others has lost their lives. It was for my mother, as if death heralded more importance than having survived.
The novel’s Zoshia represents a life which is encased in the memory of the past and the struggle to embrace the future.
Grace is ‘everywoman’ who struggles for freedom. She embodies the male dominated female, who could not escape from her oppressors; namely her father, her uncle and subsequently her husband.
Having been mentally and physically abused by her male oppressors, Grace did not understand the meaning of ‘love’ which she confused with sex.
During the post war period there was very little help or support for abused women and it was extremely difficult for Grace to rise beyond feelings of subordination and inferiority.
There are links between the characters of Zoshia and Grace who both fight for survival in a personal and more than personal way. They are from different backgrounds and faith but both facing life’s challenges – head on. The two protagonists are searching to find happiness from the depths of sadness. They are often passive as they try climb above their blankets of suffering and yet they find the courage to deal actively with their traumatic experiences. Although their weaknesses are often buried, strength is resurrected into action, despite their memories of past experiences often constricting their emotions.
This novel deals with the inner lives of women making the reader sense their emotions and encapsulates the reality of life, using traumatic experiences to express feelings and thoughts.
Bound by the Scars We Share is realism as a fictional art form.
A book for survivors everywhere
“Zoshia’s heart was beating as if she was running in a race. This was a race for life and she prayed for salvation. They weren’t going to die, and she defied fate to allow this to happen to these innocent children. She wanted them all to live. They were so young and did not deserve to have their lives exterminated in this way.”
“The disintegration of a young human life was clearly evident to see. She was a woman ensnared. Grace lived her days, weeks, months and years in utter fear and trepidation from which there seemed to be no escape.”
In 1930’s Antwerp, having fled a pre-war Poland with her family, Zoshia, a young Jewish girl, battles to survive intense persecution from the Nazis and endangers her own life to help save others.
During the war years, Grace, a young teenager, suffers severe personal abuse at the hands of her family in Lyme Regis, England and bravely tries to overcome the repercussions.
As adults, both Zoshia and Grace face personal struggles as they try to recover from traumatic pasts.
This tale of two women, from different backgrounds, juxtaposes both of their lives as they each journey through the decades, overcoming tragedy and trauma, from World War II onwards. The narrative chronicles the injurious plight of women in an age of gender inequality, demonstrates the disastrous effects of war, human cruelty and exploitation, and dynamically showcases the power of female friendship.
Reviews
This novel is the poignant story of the lives of two women. Zoshia is a young Jewish woman who experienced the horrors of the Nazi regime in Occupied Europe. Grace is a young English woman whose life has been blighted by a controlling father.
As a member of the French Resistance, Zoshia shows herself to be selfless and courageous. After the War she found contentment and freedom but despite a happy marriage, she was tormented by the terrors and fears emanating from Nazi persecution.
Grace’s life is also traumatic. The tyranny she suffered in childhood is augmented by the physical and mental abuse inflicted by a sadistic husband.
Both women despite their tribulations make their own personal triumphs.
In a twist of fate the women meet. They experience an instant connection. Their spirits somehow recognize that they are bound by the scares they share.
A compelling read.
Mary Finnigan
I loved this book. A compelling tale of two very different women’s lives against the backdrop of WW”, post – war Europe, and England. The writer sensitively conveys the triumph of the human spirit, even when subjected to extreme cruelty and oppression, and the potential for empathy and understanding, even the loneliest of personal journeys. Beautifully written by a gifted poet as well as a powerful novelist.
Agnes Eve
Beautiful story of two different female lives, the scars laid bear and ultimately together. Great debut novel, I really enjoyed it😊
Catherine
What a beautifully written book. Two very moving stories written in parallel; I love how the narrative weaves effortlessly back and forth between the two women as they fight for survival in different ways. Fantastic. Would thoroughly recommend this.
Sam
What an extraordinary read. Gripping and very moving. The parallels of the characters make you want to read more! Great book and highly recommended.
Natalie F.
A wonderful read, the characters who have lived such different lives somehow manage to converge and have so much in common, it is moving and engaging and the courage of these women is displayed so well.
I read it in one stretch and was left wanting more.
A superb debut which I would thoroughly recommend.
Laraine S
This is an incredible, richly-written debut novel about two compelling female characters growing up in very different settings, and yet both living through personal hardships and affected by the Second World War in their own ways. A wonderful read.
Francesca Specter
This is a poignant story about women but a universal one also about the struggle for freedom and identity. Two lives run parallel but are beautifully and powerfully intertwined, showing the bonds and indeed the scars that can bind us all.
Amazon Customer
What a great story. So moving knowing it’s based on true life. It touches on the sadness and suffering which many Jews suffered – unknown by many- during WW2.
I started this book and finished it on the same day as the stories of both characters are such a compelling read.
Dorothy Stuart
A poignant take on trauma’s long shadow, different forms of oppression, and female strength within two entwined lives.
Helen Highwater
Set in 1930’s Poland. This gripping story was life! I am really starting to get into these types of genres!
This book was so beautifully written I couldn’t stop reading it! I actually This book was so beautifully written I couldn’t stop reading it!
Such an amazing book to read!
NetGalley review
This book is beautifully written with two very moving stories that are written in parallel with each other. The author seamlessly interweaves the narrative between them with absolutely no confusion for the reader. Well written, characters developed well I would highly recommend.
NetGalley review
Excellent book and so powerful. Highly recommend a read!
Michelle Delany