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Daughters of the Occupation by Shelly Sanders

What's It About?

Daughters of the Occupation (HarperCollins) by Shelly Sanders is one of the most authentic and profound works of historical fiction I have ever read about World War II and the Holocaust. It is inspired by true events that provide a powerful lesson and a compellingly uplifting story of a fictional family who managed to narrowly escape genocide in Latvia; trauma and collective survivors’ guilt remained long after they established a new life in America. Two distinct voices — 24-year-old Chicago-born, all-American and Christian-raised girl Sarah Byrne and her estranged Latvian Jewish grandmother, Miriam Talan — narrate alternating chapters.

Daughters of the Occupation (HarperCollins) by Shelly Sanders is one of the most authentic and profound works of historical fiction I have ever read about World War II and the Holocaust. It is inspired by true events that provide a powerful lesson and a compellingly uplifting story of a fictional family who managed to narrowly escape genocide in Latvia; trauma and collective survivors’ guilt remained long after they established a new life in America. Two distinct voices — 24-year-old Chicago-born, all-American and Christian-raised girl Sarah Byrne and her estranged Latvian Jewish grandmother, Miriam Talan — narrate alternating chapters.

FROM WWII LATVIA TO 1975 CHICAGO

The novel begins in Riga on June 17, 1940, the day the Soviets invaded and began their occupation of Latvia. Miriam and her husband Max are headed to the hospital for the imminent birth of their second child when they collide with a truck as the result of an enormous traffic jam. Hours later, Miriam awakens with no memory of giving birth, but the couple and nine-year-old daughter Ilana joyfully welcome baby Moses, whom they call Monya. Their tranquil family life swiftly comes to an end, however, as the Soviet government decrees Jews are to be called “Hebrews” and widespread propaganda actively encourages anti-Semitism among Latvians. Within months, the Soviets seize the Talan family’s business as well as their assets, jewelry and home. People begin to disappear. Hitler would violate the German-Soviet non-aggression pact in early 1941, and the German military occupation of Latvia would be complete by mid-July. With these turn of events, the Latvian Holocaust had begun in earnest.

From here, Daughters of the Occupation moves ahead to a snowy day in early November 1975. In a Chicago funeral parlor, Paul Byrne, his daughter Sarah and a handful of mourners have gathered for the burial services of 44-year-old Ilana Talan Byrne. The presence of Miriam, whom Sarah has not seen in nearly a decade, in a nearby pew comes as a surprise to most; she and her daughter had long been estranged, Ilana having rejected Judaism and, with it, her family heritage. Before her abrupt departure, Miriam stuns the congregation by interrupting the service, castigating Paul for arranging a protestant funeral and reciting the Hebrew prayers for the dead.

UNEARTHING LONG-HELD FAMILY SECRETS

After the funeral, Sarah finds a few old photographs in a locked drawer, one of which, she suspects, shows her grandparents with two children. She cannot read the language scribbled on its back and resolves to reestablish contact with her grandmother to gather answers. She gradually woos Miriam with regular visits to her home in suburban Skokie, bringing food gifts and conversation. After falling ill, a hospitalized Miriam blurts out something about finding her son left behind in Riga. At last, Sarah learns her grandmother’s greatest secret: she gave her children to their gentile housekeeper in order to save them.

Over the course of several months, and despite enormous obstacles and great personal risk at the hands of the Soviets, Sarah plans a secret trip to Latvia, determined to find her long-lost Uncle Monya. The readers will be on edge as her perilous quest unfolds, uncovering buried secrets about her family’s history and all that her grandmother endured to survive while keeping herself and her children alive.

Through alternating narratives, the novel easily transitions from its setting in the mid-1970s and the WWII years with the German occupation of Latvia followed by the subsequent takeover by the Soviet Union. Miriam spares no horrific detail of the abuses she experienced. It’s a graphic, brutal account of the atrocities, and those readers who require trigger warnings should take note. However, anyone interested in World War II history and truthful accounts of the Holocaust in Latvia will be riveted by this thoroughly researched, well-documented and starkly realistic novel. The author relied on extensive first-person accounts and narration from survivors to build a substantial work of fiction.

ILLUMINATING A DARK CHAPTER IN HISTORY

Little was written about the Latvian Holocaust by its decimated Jewish survivors and eyewitnesses until after the Soviet Union’s occupation and control ended in 1991. The Soviets forbade any mention of the Holocaust in the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania postwar. This history was actively suppressed, and remembrances, prayer services, markers or memorials were not permitted. The location of city ghettos and sites of mass murders, such as the Rumbula forest massacre where 26,000 Jewish people were killed, were not identified nor maintained. Before the war, Latvia had approximately 90,000 Jewish citizens with the largest concentration (over 43,000) residing in Riga; it is estimated that over 70,000 were killed outright, died in labor camps or from starvation or disease. By 1942, it was estimated there were about 3500 Jews remaining in Latvia and fewer still remained by the war’s end. 

Sanders has dedicated Daughters of the Occupation “to the Jews in Latvia murdered in the Holocaust.” Among those killed were all 33 members of her great uncle Jossel Talan’s family. Her immediate family survived because her great-grandfather, Jossel’s brother, and his wife had been exiled to Siberia decades earlier. They eventually made their way to Shanghai and then to America. Their banishment was a lifesaver for future generations. Book Clubs that have read and discussed Tatiana De Rosnay’s Sarah’s Key or Irene Némirovsky’s Suite Française will welcome the opportunity to read this novel. Sanders has honored her relatives with the brilliant Daughters of the Occupation and shed light on this dark chapter of history.

Daughters of the Occupation by Shelly Sanders
Genre: Fiction, Historical
Author: Shelly Sanders
Publisher: HarperLuxe
ISBN: 9780063242300
Linda Hitchcock

Linda Hitchcock is a native Virginian who relocated to a small farm in rural Kentucky with her beloved husband, John, 14 years ago. She’s a lifelong, voracious reader and a library advocate who volunteers with her local Friends of the Library organization as well as the Friends of Kentucky Library board. She’s a member of the National Book Critic’s Circle, Glasgow Musicale and DAR. Linda began her writing career as a technical and business writer for a major West Coast-based bank and later worked in the real estate marketing and advertising sphere. She writes weekly book reviews for her local county library and Glasgow Daily Times and has contributed to Bowling Green Living Magazine, BookBrowse.com, BookTrib.com, the Barren County Progress newspaper and SOKY Happenings among other publications. She also serves as a volunteer publicist for several community organizations. In addition to reading and writing, Linda enjoys cooking, baking, flower and vegetable gardening, and in non-pandemic times, attending as many cultural events and author talks as time permits.

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