The Things We Cherished
Pam Jenoff, 2010
Doubleday
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780307742421
Summary
Charlotte Gold is shocked when her ex-fiance Brian appears on the doorstep of her law office with a troubling case. Roger Dykmans, a wealthy financier and the brother of a Holocaust hero, has been accused of World War II-era war crimes, including the betrayal of his brother and the Jews he tried to save. All Charlotte needs to do is travel to Munich and help Brian’s estranged brother Jack prove Roger’s innocence.
Despite her misgivings, Charlotte agrees, but the case is soon hindered by the client himself. Roger refuses to help with his own defense, revealing only that proof of his innocence lies inside an intricate timepiece last seen in Nazi Germany.
As Jack and Charlotte track the anniversary clock through the past century, they learn of Roger’s love for his brother’s Jewish wife, Magda, and the tragic decisions he had to make to save her—all the while fighting a growing attraction of their own. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
• Education—B.A., George Washington University; M.A., Cambridge University; J.D., University of Pennsylvania
• Currently—lives in Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Pam Jenoff was born in Maryland and raised outside Philadelphia. She attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Cambridge University in England.
Upon receiving her master's in history from Cambridge, she accepted an appointment as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army. The position provided a unique opportunity to witness and participate in operations at the most senior levels of government, including helping the families of the Pan Am Flight 103 victims secure their memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, observing recovery efforts at the site of the Oklahoma City bombing and attending ceremonies to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of World War II at sites such as Bastogne and Corregidor.
Following her work at the Pentagon, Pam moved to the State Department. In 1996 she was assigned to the U.S. Consulate in Krakow, Poland. It was during this period that Pam developed her expertise in Polish-Jewish relations and the Holocaust. Working on matters such as preservation of Auschwitz and the restitution of Jewish property in Poland, Pam developed close relations with the surviving Jewish community.
Pam left the Foreign Service in 1998 to attend law school and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. She worked for several years as a labor and employment attorney both at a firm and in-house in Philadelphia and now teaches law school at Rutgers.
Pam is the author of The Kommandant's Girl, which was an international bestseller and nominated for a Quill award, as well as The Diplomat's Wife, The Ambassador's Daughter, Almost Home, A Hidden Affair and The Things We Cherished.
She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and three children. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Opens a provocative window onto the continuing effort to bring Nazi war criminals to justice, and the complexities involved in making legal and moral judgments decades later.... At once a historical mystery, a legal thriller, and a romance.
Philadelphia Inquirer
A bittersweet story of loves old and new, of men and women trying to survive in perilous times.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Provocative.... A story of human emotion, physical necessity, love and hate. The author conveys the pain of a period none can forget, and the feelings we have that can be all too painful.
Baltimore Jewish Times
[U]ndeniable intrigue.
Jewish Chronicle
Jenoff weaves an intriguing and intelligent story with a delicacy that is captivating.
Kate Furnivall - author of The Russian Concubine
Unlike much romantic historical suspense, this is quiet and credible—even the surprise twists—further cementing Jenoff's reputation for adeptly using the harsh realities of WWII Europe as a context for a timeless love story.
Publishers Weekly
A powerful novel rich in period detail, The Things We Cherished is a fascinating contemporary and historical drama, a unique glimpse into a disappearing world, and a reminder that past and present often come together in unexpected ways.
Booklist
A skillfully rendered tale of undying love, unthinkable loss and the relentless grip of the past on the present.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Why do you think Charlotte agreed to help Brian and take on the case? Do you agree with her decision?
2. Do you think the ends that Roger was seeking (saving Magda and her daughter) justified the means of his choices and actions? Did you find him likeable despite these choices?
3. What do you think drew Roger and Magda together so powerfully? How did their dynamic change throughout the book?
4. What do you think Magda really wanted?
5. What role does the clock play throughout the book? Are there commonalities in the way it touches people’s lives? Differences?
6. The relationships between the brothers in the book (Brian and Jack, Sol and Jake, Roger and Hans) are fraught with both affection and acrimony. What is it about sibling relationships that makes them so complex? Is it different when the siblings are the same sex versus the opposite?
7. Charlotte initially dislikes Jack. When does she begin to feel differently about him? What conflicts develop between them, and are they things that can be overcome? Is the fact that they’re both attorneys an advantage or a detriment to their romantic relationship?
8. How do you think Charlotte’s personal and professional lives influenced one another at the beginning of the book? Did that change?
9. With whom in the book does Charlotte most closely identify/relate? Why?
10. were you surprised at the way in which Johann, the farmer, went on to live his life after Rebecca died? How so?
11. Which character in the book was most tested by circumstance? Which was most transformed?
12. Did you think the events in the characters’ lives were driven by fate? Chance?
13. What do you think of Sol's perception that he was the lucky one because he got to remain in Berlin after Jake was forced to flee?
14. Where do you think Charlotte winds up one month after the end of the book? One year? Five years?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)