Rachel Sarai's Vineyard (Hardcover)

I believe this to be something special a truly outstanding and moving work, fully worthy of literary awards although as a small press publication it s unlikely to attract the attention of those who decide such things. I must declare an interest in having had the great privilege of working with the author over the last year or so to help polish it up ready for publication. This is a raw and angry novel there are no euphemisms and there is no mincing of words nobody is spared, the unspeakable is spoken, wrongs are not forgiven. In many cases I doubt that they could be. It tells the story of Rachel Sarai, a little girl of around 6 or 7 living with her family in occupied Holland during the closing years of World War II. When Rachel s father is forced to go into hiding she takes over some of his duties in the Resistance, delivering messages and news-sheets and escorting those fleeing persecution to a safe house across the forest. In the course of these activities she must lie, deceive, manipulate, role-play the sweet little child, feign illness, even kill, but never ever reveal what she really knows or what she really feels. Childhood is utterly denied her. Even more appallingly her family life is a microcosm of the evil that rules in the outside world. Resented and shamelessly abused by a mother who regrets her very existence and fails to protect her from being raped in her own bed, the young Rachel Sarai is forced to witness a bloody amateur abortion, and humiliated, belittled and loaded with guilt at every opportunity. Only the unconditional love of someone else during these years rescues her from total despair. Her weak and physically very vulnerable father is unable to do anything to control the demonic woman of the house , who finally discovers a way to manipulate the absolute evil of Hitler s occupying army and the ideology that drives it to serve her own domestic agenda. It is a story that, right up to the Epilogue, frankly leaves the reader shocked and gasping is there really as much evil as this in the world that we all share? Is there any hope for the human race if it is true? But after this immensely harrowing journey the novel manages to end on a life-affirming and redemptive note. After the seeming obliteration of a long bleak winter, tender new life comes to the slashed and trampled vineyard. Although this is not primarily a Holocaust novel, you could if you wished see Rachel Sarai s story as an allegory not just of the Holocaust but of all the attempts throughout the centuries to destroy Judaism and rob the Jewish people of their roots. But those roots do not die easily. When you start to read Rachel Sarai s Vineyard, which is something I strongly urge you to do, set aside some free hours, because it is a book that you will not easily put down before the final page. Be prepared also for a change in the way that you see your fellow men andwomen and the world around you. Read it in the summer, to a background of children s voices playing in the park, when the sun is shining and high enough in the sky to drive the shadows away. --David Gardiner in Gold Dust Magazine

This is a novel in the first person. The eponymous heroine tells her story as an adult, going to the funeral of the woman who brought her up. During this traumatic time she remembers her childhood in wartime occupied Holland. She was a child living through two wars, one in which she took messages for the resistance and guided Jews to a point where they could be helped to escape via Sweden, and one withing her own family. This latter war has left her seeking answers.