Book Reviews
Beanland is particularly good at conjuring… the historical moment… as American Jews try to save relatives in an increasingly untenable Nazi Germany. We see cruel obstacles to immigration, and the growing chasm between European Jews and their increasingly prosperous American counterparts.…The [America] dream is not without costs, and the dreamers are not immune to tragedy.
New York Times Book Review
In less than ten pages, I… allow[ed] Beanland's storytelling ability to overpower me.… What's remarkable is not how quickly the book hooked me, but how it held my attention during and after reading. After spending a pleasant afternoon flying through the first 96 pages, I woke up at 3 a.m. thinking about the plot. I simply couldn't put it out of my head. I finished in two days.… I felt awe.
USA Today
Beanland beautifully handles the depiction of loss and rebuilding life without a loved one, describing moments that are by turns painful and moving. The thick emotional tension will please fans of character-driven historicals.
Publishers Weekly
As the secrets threaten to spill and heartbreak blankets them, the [Adler] family must unite to face a future without Florence.… [A] richly drawn debut family saga based on the story of an ancestor of the author's. —Laura Jones, Indiana State Lib., Indianapolis
Library Journal
The novel's events take place in the shadow of the approaching Holocaust, but the author fails to engage meaningfully with it…. [H]er half-baked approach is an "add-Holocaust-and-stir" effect that lacks emotional verisimilitude.… A unique if occasionally overreaching novel.
Kirkus Reviews
Florence Adler Swims Forever… foreshadows… the coming catastrophe of the Holocaust.… [A] satisfying historical family drama.
BookPage