Blog Archives
Forgiven: A Novel
Forgiven tells the story of the Covo family as they face overlapping crises that test faith, morality, and love. Nicky Covo, a Holocaust survivor and aging psychiatrist, is sued for malpractice after a former patient’s suicide. His wife, Helen, grieves her dying daughter. His daughter, Kayla, wrestles with schizophrenia, creative paralysis, and religious doubt. His son, Max, struggles under career pressure. And hovering above them all is Sister Theodora, Nicky’s sister and a nun in Greece, who tries to heal her fractured family through faith. Across continents and faiths, the book explores guilt, forgiveness, and the ways suffering reshapes belief.
Reading this book felt like stepping into a storm of emotion. I admired the quiet power in the writing. The prose is unhurried but charged with feeling. I liked how the story moved between the ordinary and the sacred, between New York apartments and Greek monasteries. The characters felt raw, sometimes painfully so, and I often found myself wincing at their honesty. Nicky’s battle with disbelief hit hard. His bitterness toward God made sense, and his eventual return to faith felt earned. Kayla, though fragile, had a haunting beauty in the way she sought meaning through music. The dialogue felt real, especially in its awkwardness, and I appreciated that the author didn’t clean up the messiness of family life.
There were moments when the narrative lingers on introspection or theological debate. Yet, I can’t say I minded much. There’s a rhythm to the book. The writing is filled with quiet compassion, and by the end, I felt changed. Forgiveness here isn’t cheap. It’s painful, slow, and human. That truth stayed with me.
Forgiven reminded me of the emotional depth and moral searching found in Marilynne Robinson’s novels, especially Gilead, with its quiet struggle between faith and doubt wrapped in the tenderness of family love. I’d recommend Forgiven to readers who like stories that sit heavy in the heart. It’s for those who’ve doubted, who’ve loved someone they couldn’t save, or who’ve wondered where God goes when life falls apart. It’s not a light read, but it’s a good one.
Pages: 337 | ASIN : B0FHXML7BD
That Such Men Lived
That Such Men Lived tells the story of Johannes Schmitt, a young German Jew whose life is torn apart on Kristallnacht and who is thrust into the chaos of World War II. From the loss of his father to the pain of leaving his mother behind, Johannes’s journey takes him from Europe to America and eventually back again into the war that claimed everything he knew. The book blends historical events with a deeply personal narrative, capturing the fear, the anger, and the small rays of hope that kept people alive during the darkest of times.
I liked the writing style. It’s vivid without being overworked, and it has a rhythm that keeps pulling you forward. The dialogue feels alive, like conversations overheard rather than scripted, and that makes the heartbreak hit even harder. There are moments where I found myself smiling at the playful teasing between characters, only to be gutted pages later by violence or loss. That unpredictability gave the story weight. The author doesn’t shy away from horror, but he doesn’t revel in it either. It’s honest, sometimes painfully so, but never gratuitous.
This is an emotional novel. I felt Johannes’s fear of being powerless, his shame at leaving loved ones behind, and his stubborn determination to carry on anyway. I related to his anger, too, that blend of grief and fury at injustice that has nowhere to go. Some passages made me put the book down just to breathe. Others I read twice because they carried a beauty that didn’t quite sink in the first time. The author doesn’t just tell you what happened, he makes you feel it, and that’s the kind of storytelling I admire most.
I’d say this book is for readers who want more than dates and battles in their World War II stories. It’s for people who care about the human side, the quiet moments in kitchens and churches and letters home, as much as the grand sweep of history. If you’re drawn to novels that are raw and heartfelt, that let you walk in someone else’s shoes, this is a book you shouldn’t miss.
Pages: 374 | ASIN : B0FP3W98J6
To Save a Life
To Save a Life is a historical novel set in early 1900s New York, chronicling the intersecting journeys of Malka Kaminsky and Yaakov Rogovin—two young Jewish immigrants who have fled trauma, violence, and constraint in Eastern Europe. Malka escapes an arranged marriage in Grodno, stealing her dowry in the process, while Yaakov leaves Valozyn, carrying the weight of a haunted past. As they struggle to carve out lives of meaning and agency in the Lower East Side’s chaotic tenements and sweatshops, they find themselves drawn together in a tentative alliance that flirts with hope, love, and the idea of starting anew in a land that promises much but delivers on its own terms.
This book left me both emotionally shaken and deeply moved. Zuckerman’s writing is textured and rich, never rushing, always letting the weight of the moment hang in the air. His depiction of early 20th-century immigrant life doesn’t glamorize struggle—it holds it close, like a bruise you can’t ignore. The scenes of factory labor and violent crackdowns on striking workers burned bright with tension. And yet, it’s the quieter moments—Malka rolling noodles, Yaakov pressing coats while humming a tune—that linger. They feel relatable. I also loved how layered the characters are. Malka’s shame, rage, and tenderness are all tightly wound; Yaakov hides behind music and wit, but you can sense his wounds pulsing underneath. They’re both survivors, just barely hanging on, and their tentative trust feels earned, not forced.
At times, the novel slows a little more than I’d like, especially in some of the reflective passages. But even then, there’s something refreshing about the patience of Zuckerman’s prose. He lets his characters breathe. I found myself unexpectedly teary during the scenes where Malka reflects on the home she fled. There’s a raw honesty to those passages that hit hard. And the subtle Jewish references—Mishnah, Shabbos, old-world customs clashing with American hustle—ground the story with authenticity without weighing it down.
This novel isn’t just for lovers of historical fiction. It’s for anyone who’s ever felt like a stranger in their own skin or tried to build a new life out of broken pieces. Readers who cherish character-driven stories, especially those rooted in immigrant narratives and quiet acts of rebellion, will find a lot to hold on to here. To Save a Life is tender, brutal, and hopeful in equal measure—a heartfelt reminder that surviving is one thing, but daring to live is something else entirely.
Pages: 286 | ASIN : B0F2X1RB6F
LITERARY TITAN 