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Laura Doe (1350 KP) rated 56 Days in Books

Aug 20, 2021

56 Days

Catherine Ryan Howard | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry, Thriller

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

4.5 stars rounded down to 4.
Who would’ve thought that a book about lockdown would be something that I’d want to read and thoroughly enjoy just as things are getting back to normal after a year of lockdowns. But that is exactly what this book is!
We follow Oliver and Ciara through their whirlwind romance that’s starting just as COVID-19 is picking up pace in Dublin. They make the decision to move in together so that they can continue with their relationship during lockdown, but both of them are hiding a secret from their past.
The chapters go back and forward on Ciara’s timeline, Oliver’s timeline and then “today” when there are police officers at a scene of a murder. Although it sounds like it might be confusing going back and forth, it really isn’t too confusing and still pretty easy to follow.
There is a twist towards the end, that is sorted of hinted at, which then turns into another twist that I really didn’t see coming and had to read a few sentences a couple of times to realise what had happened. And everything is quite nicely tied up by the end of it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, the only thing I would have changed would have been some of the thought processes behind some of the actions towards the end of the book, but nothing major at all.
Thank you to Readers First for allowing me an advanced read of this book, and to Catherine Ryan Howard for writing it and for it being about something so relatable to us all.

Kudos

Nicole Hadley (380 KP) rated The Sound of Freedom in Books

Jun 18, 2018

The Sound of Freedom by Kathy Kacer is a middle-grade novel about a Jewish family in Krakow, Poland in 1936. Life has become increasingly dangerous, as the violence and persecution of Jews increase. Anna is afraid if they don’t escape soon, something really bad will happen. Her father is a talented clarinetist in the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra. They hear that Bronislaw Huberman is auditioning Jewish musicians from all over Europe for a new orchestra in Palestine. If her father auditions and is accepted, she and her grandmother can leave Poland with her father for a new life in Palestine.

Stories of Jews in the Holocaust have fascinated me since I was a kid. The first book about the Holocaust I read was Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, then later A Diary of Anne Frank, and many more. My interest in the Holocaust is why I requested a copy of this book from NetGalley.

The Sound of Freedom is an introduction to the beginning of the Holocaust for middle-grade students. The story is told through the eyes of Anna, focusing on the growing anti-Semitism she sees going on around her and that eventually happens to her. It is set in 1936, before Germany’s invasion of Poland and as Hitler is rising in power, so the real horrors of the Holocaust have not yet started.

While the story of Anna’s family is fiction, Bronislaw Huberman really was a world-renown violinist and did create the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra to save over a thousand Jews by recruiting them for the newly formed orchestra. Anna’s story is representative of the lives saved by Bronislaw Huberman.

While the story is for middle-grade student, it tells the harsh reality of the what was happening. Readers will be faced with the problems and issues of the era. Some of the families leave the orchestra to go back to their homeland, and Anna is concerned for their safety and the reader is left to wonder what happened to them. The story also mentions the tensions between the Arabs and the Jewish peoples in Palestine. Anna's family may have escaped Poland, but they are faced with issues in Palestine.

I give the story 4.5 stars. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in the time-period. The Sound of Freedom would make an excellent addition to a Holocaust study.

I received an Advanced Readers Copy from Annick Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.