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The Lost Wife

by Alyson Richman (Goodreads Author)

4.23 of 5 stars 4.23 · rating details · 8,503 ratings · 1,448 reviews

A rapturous novel of first love in a time of war-from the celebrated author of The Rhythm of Memory and The Last Van Gogh.

In pre-war Prague, the dreams of two young lovers are shattered when they are separated by the Nazi invasion. Then, decades later, thousands of miles away in New York, there's an inescapable glance of recognition between two strangers...

Providence is...more

Paperback, 352 pages

Published September 6th 2011 by Berkley Trade

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Amazing WWII fiction (some with romance)

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Mar 02, 2013 Noeleen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Rating 3.5

The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman appears to be on everyone’s reading list at the moment and is receiving some great reviews, so I had to bump it up my ‘to be read’ list to see what all the ‘hype’ is about. It tells the story of Lenka and Josef who meet on the threshold of the start of WWII. It is a sad story of true love lost during a most awful time in history. The story alternates between Lenka’s account of her time in the concentration camps and Josef’s time in America. The structur...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Fergie rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of the most beautifully written, moving historical fiction novels I have ever read. The book actually deserves 4 1/2 stars. Alyson Richman evokes magic in her telling of the love story of Lenka and Josef, two Czechoslovakian Jews whose fate is determined by forces beyond their control.
Richman effectively pulls the reader in by creating interesting characters and an equally compelling story. It is hard to fathom what the Jewish population in Europe had to endure during the reign of terror u...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Jeanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-favorite

I am sorry that this love story came to an end. It was more than a love story, it was a love affair of words that show the beauty of our souls. With the verse "I am my beloved and my beloved is mine. Song of Solomon 6:3, it is the main theme of this poetic love story. The verse also signifies the hope one can have having one as a beloved and being one of a beloved. The story is a loose historical fiction of actual events which makes it even more enjoyable to read. It starts in the year 2000 when...more I am sorry that this love story came to an end. It was more than a love story, it was a love affair of words that show the beauty of our souls. With the verse "I am my beloved and my beloved is mine. Song of Solomon 6:3, it is the main theme of this poetic love story. The verse also signifies the hope one can have having one as a beloved and being one of a beloved. The story is a loose historical fiction of actual events which makes it even more enjoyable to read. It starts in the year 2000 when the great grandfather of the groom and the great grand mother of the bride come upon each other and how it is that they know each other. Then the story goes back in time before the war in Prague. The main character of Joseph is a beloved that has found his beloved in Lenka. He is shown to have respect for the women in his life, his mother and sister and how he loves life. Lenka who has a younger sister; and who is loyal to her family. The loyality is tested when she stays in Prague right after her and Joseph are married. Joseph's family has obtained boat tickets to leave the country with his parents and his sister, however, Lenka will not leave without her family. You see the contrast of each one's story in the narration. The narration is told by each one and the longing for the other. The narration is seamless as you see the heartache of of Joseph and Lenka. It tears at your heart, however, it is good to see a love story so pure. I appreciate a love story without vulgarity because it gives a high view of a love relationship and everything else is gravy. And you get plenty of gravy.

The story shows the plight of the Jews and it also touches on the loyality that Lenka's family remain together and not be separated in the concentration camps. Where so many of other families did not stay together. They were seperated by one being sent to another camp, or by death or worse turning on each other. Evil has a way of doing that. It also shows what is evil and when we loose hope which we are created to hope and how hope is the only way we can continue. Hope is the fuel for the soul. I cannot do the justice of the characters or the story of how two people in love continue thru so much heart ache. One thing I also appreciated in this story is the Jewish tradition and what soulful people they are. To be reminded what it means when God given rights are taken away from a certain group of people that they cannot live, cannot work and to live in fear. I am my beloved and my beloved is mine...to see that in the grandchildren of Lenka and Joseph gives hope.(less)

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Jun 30, 2012 Toni rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: czech-republic, historical-fiction, holocaust, multi-cultural

Of the many books with a holocaust theme I have read, this is the first that has centered around the Terezin (Theresienstadt) Concentration Camp, located outside Prague.

The basis of the book is, of course, a romance story, but the heart of the book takes place in Terezin where the Nazi's established a prison camp that was less of a death camp and more of an authentic work camp. Certainly the conditions were every bit as grueling and no less horrifying as Auschwitz and Birkenwald, but there were...more

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Nov 26, 2012 Clare rated it 3 of 5 stars

What kind of a-hole leaves his wife to avoid being captured and imprisoned by Nazis?

The writing is good...

4 likes · like · see review

Mar 19, 2013 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audible, read-in-2013

The cause of my latest book hangover:

An elderly man is sitting at his grandson's rehearsal dinner when suddenly a woman catches his eye from across the room. He goes to her, transfixed, and looks at her like he's seen a ghost. This woman, the grandmother of the bride, does not recognize him but he remembers her. "Lenka", he says, "it's me Josef. Your husband."

And that was all it took to suck me in...

Set against the backdrop of WWII Europe, The Lost Wife tells the story of Lenka and Josef young...more

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Aug 11, 2012 Betty rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had just finished reading The Invisible Bridge and my Kindle died. I had purchased The Lost Wife and put it on hold because I had so many books I wanted to read that I had downloaded on my Kindle. When my Kindle died I began reading The Lost Wife after finishing The Invisible Bridge. WOW both books left such an impression on me. I find out that today 8/11/12 is the 67th Anniversary of the Holocaust - I didn't plan to read these books at this time, but I did and boy they really left a hugh impr...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Romancing the Book rated it 4 of 5 stars

Reviewed by: Robin
Book purchased by Reviewer
Review originally posted at Romancing the Book

Review: This was a very deep and heart-wrenching story of a love between two young people in a world torn apart by war.

Ms. Richman tells us the story of young love through the eyes of those young lovers, Lenka Maisel and Josef Kohn. We follow them from the time they fell in love until the war makes them decide between love and family tearing them apart with each going different directions until years later...more Reviewed by: Robin
Book purchased by Reviewer
Review originally posted at Romancing the Book

Review: This was a very deep and heart-wrenching story of a love between two young people in a world torn apart by war.

Ms. Richman tells us the story of young love through the eyes of those young lovers, Lenka Maisel and Josef Kohn. We follow them from the time they fell in love until the war makes them decide between love and family tearing them apart with each going different directions until years later fate brings them back together again.

Lenka lived in Prague and was from an accomplished family. She was very talented and had just been accepted to a very prestigious Art School. Lenka met whom she thought to be her one true love but would soon learn that life has a way of getting in the way. Lenka had a problem; she lived in Prague, she was Jewish and the Jew’s were on Hitler’s Hit list. All their possessions were confiscated by the Germans. They were soon left with nothing and very little freedom. Not having enough money to purchase passage out of Prague she and Josef marry quickly thinking this will help her to escape what was in store for them.

Josef also came from and accomplished family the difference between the two was that his family had money to buy safe passage out of Prague. Instead of going with Josef, Lenka could not leave her family behind. Instead she chose to stay with them where they were then sent to Terzin and Auschwitz, prison camps. While Josef left with his family to a life elsewhere.

Years go by and each of course marries different people never forgetting their love for each other. As time draws on they soon find that fate once again steps in bringing them together once again. Josef is meeting the grandmother of his grand-daughter in-law for the first time. She seems so familiar. She reminds him of someone. Could it be after all these years he has found his Lenka?

A very compelling story that takes us through the eyes of love, through years ripped apart by war and concentration camps, full circle to finding one another again so many years later, older and wiser.

Ms. Richman paints a picture of the beauty of the countryside but also the horridness of what the war did to that beauty. To the people who lived in that beauty. She writes with such passion that you can smell the stench and see the illness along with the daily life inside the concentration camps. Bringing to life the realness of being torn apart from family, friends and the ones you love. Ms. Richman gave us the hope that sometimes we may have barriers set up for us to take down and learn from but sometimes beautiful things can still come from the depths of the ugliness.

This is a story for anyone who enjoys history and romance. But, don’t start reading without your box of tissues.(less)

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Apr 25, 2013 Jessica Silveira rated it 5 of 5 stars

The book The Lost Wife, by Alyson Richman, captivated me with its charming and brave characters and the way they over come a tragic event in history. The book is about a jewish man and woman falling in love during World War II. Although they try to stay together they are separated but both keep their faith that they will be together after the war.
The story begins in pre-war Prauge where Lenka and Josef meet and fall in love. They never expected things to get as bad as they did, but as they wat...more The book The Lost Wife, by Alyson Richman, captivated me with its charming and brave characters and the way they over come a tragic event in history. The book is about a jewish man and woman falling in love during World War II. Although they try to stay together they are separated but both keep their faith that they will be together after the war.
The story begins in pre-war Prauge where Lenka and Josef meet and fall in love. They never expected things to get as bad as they did, but as they watched the Germans take more and more of their possessions and enforce harsh laws on the Jewish people they began to realize that things were only going to get worse. Josef's family got passports and visas to escape to the United States, but since they were not family they couldn't go together. So Josef convinced Lenka to marry him so she could leave with him and he promised her that her family would be able to come to. The day after they were married Lenka found out that her family could't go with them and decided to stay with them and Josef left with his family promising to come back for her. Josef's parents and sister died on a boat while they were trying to escape but he made it to New York, and Lenka and her family were sent to a small concentration camp named Thereizenstadt.
Lenka and her family faced many hardships in the camp. She was told Josef had died on the boat with the rest of his family but her hope wasn't lost. Her family managed to stay alive until the end of the war when they were sent to Auschwitz. There they saw what true evil was and the only one who survived was Lenka, her parents and little sister were killed. She was saved by an American soldier who she later married. Josef also remarried after her looked for seven years for Lenka once the war was over and found her name on the records that said she was dead.
They never forgot each other even after years and years of pain they hid from their loved ones. As they grew older and their children grew older and their grandchildren grew older they began to look at death with the hope that they will meet again. When fate strikes and after all the years of being apart they see each other once more. Their grand children were marrying each other and after all the years apart they see one another as if they were young again just falling in love.
This book was one of my favorite books i've read. I couldn't put it down and they way it all tied together in the end makes you want to believe in fate and destiny and true love and all that. I recommend this book to people who like tragic love stories with happy endings.(less)

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Apr 03, 2013 Amy added it

Shelves: historical-fiction, pg13

It is rare for me to be indecisive with a book rating, but that is where I stand on this one. Admittedly, historical fiction is not my favorite genre so it has to really blow me away in order to get a good rating from me.

I wanted so badly to love this book after seeing so many top ratings, so I went in with fairly high expectations. Maybe that was part of the problem. I also really like a bit of suspense even if only minimally present, wondering how things will turn out for the main characters....more

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Dec 03, 2012 Trina rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was, by no means, a badly written book. Alyson Richman writes a beautiful, albeit predictable, story about love during the Holocaust. It just did nothing for me, personally. I feel that my time is so limited that I demand and want more from the books that I take the time to read these days. This book was predictable. It was heart-wrenchingly sad. One would expect this from any love story written against the backdrop of war. It could be nothing else by tragic. You know there will be attempts...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Malki rated it 3 of 5 stars

it was too much of a soap opera tale for me to love it. our bookclub had a terrific conversation about the story-- and it is a very fast read ( finished it in a day).
the story begins when two people who lost each other in the holocaust find each other and then goes through their life (sort of) up until that point. The man, they basically chronical his life and the woman ,how she endured the holocaust.
Interesting way of telling the story, but there were many loose ends (of course that is probabl...more

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Sep 20, 2012 Roberta rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Il giorno del matrimonio del nipote Josef riconosce tra gli ospiti una donna che ha fatto parte del suo passato: la moglie Lenka che credeva morta in un campo di concentramento... I ricordi riaffiorano e la mente torna al 1938 a Praga....

Sono stati scritti molti libri sulla seconda guerra mondiale e sulle atrocità del nazismo, ma ogni volta ogni libro ed ogni pagina scritta lasciano il segno... La storia si ispira a fatti realmente accaduti e molti dei personaggi citati sono esistiti veramente....more Il giorno del matrimonio del nipote Josef riconosce tra gli ospiti una donna che ha fatto parte del suo passato: la moglie Lenka che credeva morta in un campo di concentramento... I ricordi riaffiorano e la mente torna al 1938 a Praga....

Sono stati scritti molti libri sulla seconda guerra mondiale e sulle atrocità del nazismo, ma ogni volta ogni libro ed ogni pagina scritta lasciano il segno... La storia si ispira a fatti realmente accaduti e molti dei personaggi citati sono esistiti veramente. Una trama purtroppo veritiera, che non lascia soazio ai se e ai ma, che porta con se i segni di una persecuzione ingiusta, ingiustificata e insensata.
I protagonisti principali sono Josef e Lenka, due studenti ebrei nati e cresciuti a Praga che si innamorano e che quando il nazismo arriva nella loro città decidono di sposarsi, ma per vari motivi finiranno per esser separati e per vari malintesi penseranno d'esser divenuti vedovi...
Lenka è una giovane studentessa d'arte, ama dipingere, ha mille sogni e un amore grande che la lascia senza fiato... Un personaggio in continua evoluzione che si definisce lei stessa all'inizio un pò egoista e superficiale, ma che pagina dopo pagina cresce, diviene donna e anche una guerriera che combatte per la sopravvivenza...
Josef studia medicina, vive le sue perdite e il suo dolore in silenzio, di nascosto... Lui non vivrà le atrocità della guerra in Europa, non conoscerà la deportazione, ma sentirà parlare di ciò che fu inflitto agli ebrei nei campi di concentramento. Da giovane studente di medicina diviene uomo, marito, padre e poi nonno: in ogni istante della sua vita non ha dimenticato i volti dei genitori, della sorellina e soprattutto della tanto amata moglie. Giorno dopo giorno i suoi fantasmi lo hanno accompagnato, non l'hanno mai lasciato solo e hanno continuato a vivere accanto lui...
Attorno a Josef e Lenka ruotano vari personaggi, ognuno ben caratterizzato, ognuno di loro si porta dentro un vuoto incolmabile, ha la pelle segnata da un dolore che non si dimentica e che lascia cicatrici che non smettono di far male...
La storia viene raccontata in prima persona da Josef e Lenka alternativamente: sono i loro ricordi dopo la loro separazione. Josef racconta la sua vita da fuggitivo in America, ricordando la notte che è partito da Liverpool con la sua famiglia, il naufragio e la nuova vita in terra straniera. I ricordi di Lenka sono carichi di dolore, di perdite e di lacrime... Il lettore viene trasportato nel passato, vive con i protagonisti le loro perdite, prova il loro dolore e sente la rabbia salire per ogni morte ingiusta e senza senso, freme e piange con loro, spera pur sapendo già cosa accadde in quegli anni, quante vite vennero spezzate a causa della follia di un uomo...
La Richman descrive ogni luogo, ogni personaggio ed ogni avvenimento con grande minuzia, tanto che durante la lettura chi legge si sente coinvolto a 360°... Lo stile è accurato, il linguaggio è semplice e rendono la lettura scorrevole e mai noiosa. Per gli argomenti trattati e le descrizioni dettagliate il libro lo si legge con calma, a piccole dosi, poichè il coinvolgimento emotivo è totale e si viene completamente travolti dalla storia narrata.(less)

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Aug 31, 2012 Booknblues rated it 4 of 5 stars

Imagine if you will two people being lost to each other in the Holocaust and then coming face to face during their granchildren’s wedding and realizing that they were once married. This is the premise of Alyson Richman’s book The Lost Wife and it based on a story which she heard at a salon while having her hair done. It cannot help but intrigue and unfortunately given the times, it does sound plausible.

This story which begins in Prague is about Lenka, and art student and the daughter of a promin...more Imagine if you will two people being lost to each other in the Holocaust and then coming face to face during their granchildren’s wedding and realizing that they were once married. This is the premise of Alyson Richman’s book The Lost Wife and it based on a story which she heard at a salon while having her hair done. It cannot help but intrigue and unfortunately given the times, it does sound plausible.

This story which begins in Prague is about Lenka, and art student and the daughter of a prominent artisan glassblower and Josef, the son of a doctor and medical student. They fall in love and rush to marry hoping to escape Czechoslovakia before it is attacked by Germans. Something goes horribly wrong and Josef escapes and Lenka and her family go to Terezin, a concentration camp.

When one googles and looks at a picture of Terezin from the air one is struck buy its beauty and the symetry of this fortified 18th century town and so perhaps this is why it was chosen by the Germans as a showcase camp, with a filmstrip of it and a large visit from the Red Cross. Unsurprisingly it was a grand charade, but it did provide some chance for artists and their families to survive the terrors of the Holocaust. Some chance because the conditions were still grueling and 33,000 died their while some 88,000 inhabitants were sent to Auschwitz or other camps.

Richman is a superb researcher traveled to the Czech Republic and interviewed many survivors and so was able to get a feel of the time. She was able to flesh out the population of Terezin and one got the feel of the artists studio there and the kind of people these brave souls were who documented the real camp life under such great threat.

While I was moved by Lenka’s great heroism, I felt detached from Josef’s story and could not quite connect with him. I wish I had because it would have raised the book in my estimation.

Richman was an art history major in college and given her wonderful treatment of Lenka and her art, I find myself wanting to read every book she wrote.(less)

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Aug 27, 2012 Liza Perrat rated it 3 of 5 stars

Lenka and Josef enjoy a pleasant, easy existence in beautiful, pre-WWII Prague until they are separated by the Nazi occupation. The dreams of the young newlyweds are shattered when Josef is forced to flee to the USA while Lenka, unwilling to abandon her family, is transported to the ghetto of Terezin.
Safe in the USA, Josef marries and becomes a successful obstetrician, but clings to the memory of Lenka. Lenka, though, must banish Josef from her mind if she is to live through her atrocious experi...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Mmtimes4 rated it 4 of 5 stars

A rapturous new novel of first love in a time of war-from the celebrated author of The Last Van Gogh.
In pre-war Prague, the dreams of two young lovers are shattered when they are separated by the Nazi invasion. Then, decades later, thousands of miles away in New York, there's an inescapable glance of recognition between two strangers. Providence is giving Lenka and Josef one more chance. From the glamorous ease of life in Prague before the Occupation, to the horrors of Nazi Europe, The Lost Wif...more

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Jul 13, 2012 Rebecca Foss rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book! The Lost Wife is incredibly well written and engaging. I could not put this book down. Alyson Richman managed to take us on a journey of two families, linked by one couple, during the 1930′s and 40′s. Josef and Lenka had the world before them in pre-war Prague until the Nazi invasion separated them as Lenka refused to leave without her parents and sister. What I found incredibly captivating was how the story was told from both Josef and Lenka’s point of view.

Lenka’s captivity...more

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Jun 16, 2012 Bowerbird rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is very moving. Although we know the end before the book really begins, the story is held together by the love Lenka and Josef have for each other. Lenka the teenager, an art student, meets and marries Josef only to be parted as the political situation worsens for Jews. From this point they tell their stories separately as Josef arrives in America and pursues his career as a doctor while Lenka remains with her family in Prague, only to be sent to Terezin a ghetto for Jewish people. The...more

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Jun 14, 2012 Charissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

Great book! Josef and Lenka meet and fall in love in Czechoslovakia and marry weeks before Hitler invades. Josef and his family obtain visas and leave before the danger hits, but Lenka, although her husband has obtained one for her, refuses to leave her family (who have no visas and must face the approaching darkness). She insists that Josef leave and work to obtain her and her family's visas in America. But with the Nazi's takeover days after he leaves, Lenka and her family (Jews) are transport...more

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Jun 14, 2012 Talia Carner rated it 4 of 5 stars

Richman’s writing is rich. The prose carries the reader through a world of emotions and descriptions of events that could only be created by the Holocaust.

Growing up in Israel as the generation following this horrific time, I had been “Holocaust-out,” and for a long time have been avoiding reading more such stories. Yet, in the last few years I became intrigued by stories of Terezin, the showcase concentration camp which the Nazis created for publicity purposes and made films showing the comfo...more Richman’s writing is rich. The prose carries the reader through a world of emotions and descriptions of events that could only be created by the Holocaust.

Growing up in Israel as the generation following this horrific time, I had been “Holocaust-out,” and for a long time have been avoiding reading more such stories. Yet, in the last few years I became intrigued by stories of Terezin, the showcase concentration camp which the Nazis created for publicity purposes and made films showing the comfortable conditions, complete with outdoor cafés (that were shut down and their customers stripped of their fancy clothes to be sent back, starving, to the barracks.) Rich Jews actually paid for their own transport to go there, hoping for a better fate. Alyson Richman did a great job describing the technical department where plans for the Terezin camp were designed, and the artists—many real-world Jewish artists who eventually perished—who toiled there while using their talent to secretly document scenes of the camp and smuggle them out.

But I was particularly drawn in by the woven story of Josef who had left on time as he made a new life for himself in the new world. Believing that Lenka was dead, he remarried and lived an emotional double life with Amalia, both of them haunted by ghosts of the past, both understanding that the other had an inner life that could never be exposed to the light. The descriptions of this marriage were simply excellent, and I applaud the author for her sensitivity.

The premise of the novel, the accidental meeting of Josef and Lenka—both presuming each other dead for sixty years— at their grandchildren’s wedding, it touching and, unfortunately, realistic. As the novel weaves through the two characters’ separate lives in the intervening years, I was expecting some new twist at the end, since their meeting was already revealed in the first chapter. But that did not happen. The last scene, picking up on the opening scene in the book, just lets the story fizzle. I also found the two characters to be too perfectly goody good. No flaws, no anger, never a harsh word going between a character and his or her friends, family or acquaintances. Everyone loved one another to perfection. There is not even hatred or rage toward the Nazis—at the time when Lenka watches the atrocities and suffers starvation and harsh treatment, and loses her friends and family members. Being numb by cold, fear and hunger does not explain the absence of emotions toward her tormentors at the time of the event or in the many decades that followed.

That said, the very fact that I read the novel to the end is an indication that I trusted the author that her story would have a payoff. It did, in the large sense, as I spent time with the book, learned about Terezin, spent time with the artists there, and followed the characters’ attempts to make sense of the incomprehensible.

(less)

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Jun 02, 2012 Maharet rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: maharet-s-favorite-books

Nel mondo esistono due tipi di donne,quelle luminose fuori e quelle luminose dentro;alle prime serve il luccichio di un brillante per splendere,mentre alle altre basta la luce dell'anima

-"Hai gli occhi spalancati.Mi pare che potrei saltarci dentro e mettermi comodo."
A quel punto scoppiai a ridere."Sei il bnvenuto.Ti faccio pure un caffè."
-"E mi metti anche un disco?Non so,qualcosa di Duke Ellington."
-"Se vuoi"lo stuzzicai.
-"E poi balli con me Lenka?"Adesso la sua voce era piena di luce e al...more

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May 18, 2012 Becky rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

The Lost Wife, at least at first glance, does not appear to be your traditional Holocaust novel. True, both hero and heroine are Jewish. True, over half of the novel is about what happened to them as a result of the Nazis invading their country and bringing the war all too close to home. But the way this story is told sets it a bit apart. For one, the framework of the story is NOT chronological. It begins and ends on the very same day, it begins with a reunion decades in the making. It begins wi...more The Lost Wife, at least at first glance, does not appear to be your traditional Holocaust novel. True, both hero and heroine are Jewish. True, over half of the novel is about what happened to them as a result of the Nazis invading their country and bringing the war all too close to home. But the way this story is told sets it a bit apart. For one, the framework of the story is NOT chronological. It begins and ends on the very same day, it begins with a reunion decades in the making. It begins with the grandfather of the groom meeting the grandmother of the bride and realizing their shared past. Their tragically-brief past.

Lenka, the heroine, perhaps has the greater task. Her narrative focuses on the past, for the most part. From her childhood to her teen years to her relationship with a young man, Josef. It covers the happy years, the anxious years, the joyful moments, the heartbreaking moments. Her time with Josef does seem brief--their marriage consisting of mere weeks when it was meant to last a lifetime. But war has a way of wrecking things.

Josef, the hero, balances out Lenka's story. His role in the novel is to relate to readers the post-war present. The focus is on his life in America. The war has cost him much, much, much more than just a wife. And so he does have to find a way to go on, and that includes marrying someone (another broken person forever changed and haunted by war, by what might have been, what should have been) and having a family. We catch glimpses of his home life through the decades. We see him as a husband, a father, a grandfather, a friend. He has never forgotten Lenka. Never.

Though the novel does jump around in time, I didn't find it confusing. I cared about both stories, though, I perhaps cared about hers a bit more. Both Josef and Lenka endured losses--great losses--and both witnessed things that were traumatic, I think her story is more compelling because of the duration. We see Lenka in two concentration camps. And we endure with Lenka. Or at least that is how it felt to me.

The way this story is told does take a good bit of suspense out of it, but I didn't mind because to me it was all about the journey. (less)

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Mar 24, 2012 Vivian Valvano rated it 2 of 5 stars

Read for one of my book groups (library) as the April selection b/c it has been designated as the Long Island Reads Book - libraries throughout Long Island encouraging the reading and discussion of the same book. It is essentially a holocaust novel, and I read everything I can on the holocaust. This novel, unfortunately, is written in such a sophomoric style, and the prime element of the plot is given away within its opening pages. I can understand its being chosen for Long Island Reads; that pr...more

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Mar 15, 2012 Christy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wow, what can I say about this book...Wow. A heart wrenching story filled with true love. It is hard to imagine the life that many lived during WWII. This is a beautifully written story of a young Jewish girl who falls in love, but due to her devotion of her family stays behind until he can get passports for her sister and parents. Through his journey to the US, she discovers that he has been killed. The reports were wrong, and though he attempts to contact her it is too late and she has been se...more

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Feb 28, 2012 Janeal rated it 4 of 5 stars

Can you tell I have been on vacation? I have read 3 1/2 books in the last week. It has been awesome! Anyway, this was a great book. A very interesting idea and quite the love story. Lots of books I have read lately are helping me to be grateful for my life. I get so cynical about this country and the political process and the flaws in the government systems sometimes. I think that is why reading is so good for me. When I read a book about a black woman in the 1960's or a couple during the Holoca...more

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Feb 23, 2012 Jade Keller rated it 2 of 5 stars

I really LOVED the premise of the book and the characters were very real and endearing. But stylewise, there were several parts where the tense slipped from past to present tense mid-scene and it was really distracting. And seriously, how did such an elementary mistake slip past editorial? Or if it was intentional...then...why? And with Lenka's storyline, I kind of got frustrated with the extended focus on her time in the concentration camp. I feel a bit bad saying that, but it seemed to me that...more

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Oct 10, 2011 Lisa Christen rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a good book. And I mean a REALLY GOOD book. You had better read it.

Recently I read another book that dealt with an individual losing track of someone during WWII. It was such a sadly written book which made me sad all day long. It really dragged me down. This book was different. It also dealt with a sad subject, but it was so well written and I was pulled into the pages and came to really care about the two main characters. I wanted to know what was happening to them. This author has a w...more

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Sep 27, 2011 Sue Seligman rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of historical fiction, particularly Holocaust books

This is a Holocaust historical novel based on a true story about the Terezin work camp in Czechoslovakia. The main characters, Lenka, an aspiring art student, and her husband Josef, are fictional, but the events that are the backdrop of their story are true. We are introduced to the two former lovers at the rehearsal dinner of the grandchildren; Josef and Lenka had been separated due to the cruel twist of fate due to the events of the war, and each had presumed that the other had been killed. As...more

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Sep 18, 2011 Amy Lignor rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have to say this is a truly beautiful love story that takes place during the final “happy” and “calm” moments before Europe exploded into war.

Lenka, a young student studying art in Prague; and Josef, another student studying medicine, who is also the brother of Lenka’s best friend, fall in love. They are married and look forward to a lovely quality of life together with no problems in the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, the Nazi’s arrive and invade most of Europe, and this once happy and bl...more I have to say this is a truly beautiful love story that takes place during the final “happy” and “calm” moments before Europe exploded into war.

Lenka, a young student studying art in Prague; and Josef, another student studying medicine, who is also the brother of Lenka’s best friend, fall in love. They are married and look forward to a lovely quality of life together with no problems in the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, the Nazi’s arrive and invade most of Europe, and this once happy and blissful couple are torn apart by the war.

Josef, his parents, and sister are able to escape Prague and go to England, but Lenka refuses to leave her family behind and stays in Prague. Josef offers Lenka a sincere promise that she and her family will soon join him, if it’s the last thing he does. This is not to be, however, as the Nazi’s invade the country and Lenka and her family are sent to the ghetto of Terezin.

Giving up, Josef and his family leave England behind and head for America, when a German U-Boat sinks their ship and Josef is the only one of his family left alive. As time moves slowly forward, Josef eventually becomes a doctor in New York, marries, and has two children, but never forgets the wife he left behind; a wife, he completely believes, has been a casualty of the hideous war.
But Lenka is very much alive, and is also the only survivor in her family. Getting through the war, she eventually ends up in the United States married to a former Army officer. Years later and many miles away from Europe, there is an unforeseen meeting in New York - a moment of recognition that may just give Josef and Lenka another chance.

This is a very moving story. Beginning with true love and going through tragedy and eventually survival, Lenka and Josef’s story will make you weep for a couple that started out so wonderfully, just to go through the horrific heartbreak of one of the most horrible experiences of the 20th Century. A straight ‘A’ across the board(less)

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Sep 03, 2011 Bookaholics rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
Historical Romance -Sept. 6th, 2011
4 1/2 stars

Growing up in Prague in the 1930s, Lenka has a joyful childhood surrounded by family and friends. Everything changed though with the coming of the war. Lenka’s family is Jewish. And suddenly their future seems bleak and uncertain with the impeding arrival of the Nazis. Just days before the invasion of the Germans, Lenka and her first love, a medical student, Josef, decided to get married quickly. Josef and his family pl...more

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About Alyson Richman

Alyson Richman is the author of "The Mask Carver's Son," "The Rhythm of Memory (formerly published as Swedish Tango)," The Last Van Gogh," and the national best-seller, "The Lost Wife." She loves to travel, cook, ride her yellow bicycle, and do ballet. She currently lives in New York with her husband and two children. Her novel, "Dragonfly" will be published in 2014 by Berkley/Penguin.

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“He laughs. And in his laugh I hear bliss. I hear feet dancing, the rush of skirts twirling. The sound of children.
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You hear in the person you're destined to love the sound of those yet to be born.” — 20 people liked it

“You hear in the person you're destined to love the sound of those yet to be born.” — 9 people liked it

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