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Send for Me
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An achingly beautiful work of historical fiction that moves between Germany on the eve of World War II and present day Wisconsin, unspooling a thread of love, longing, and the ceaseless push and pull of family
Annelise is a dreamer: imagining her future while working at her parents' popular bakery in Feldenheim, Germany, anticipating all the delicious possibilities yet ...more
Annelise is a dreamer: imagining her future while working at her parents' popular bakery in Feldenheim, Germany, anticipating all the delicious possibilities yet ...more
Hardcover, 272 pages
Published
February 2nd 2021
by Knopf Publishing Group
(first published February 2021)
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You know the blueprint by now. WWII historical fiction. Alternating timelines that weave between characters in war-torn Europe and their grandchild(ren) in the present. Said grandchild stumbles upon something that makes her want to connect more with that lineage.
And there you have the basic structure of Lauren Fox’s Send for Me. A notable deviation from the norm is that the earlier time period is not quite war-torn Europe, but rather Germany just prior to the war. We follow young Annelise as sh ...more
And there you have the basic structure of Lauren Fox’s Send for Me. A notable deviation from the norm is that the earlier time period is not quite war-torn Europe, but rather Germany just prior to the war. We follow young Annelise as sh ...more
Having enjoyed “Days of Awe”, by Lauren Fox, years ago, I always knew I wanted to read more of her books.
So....when I saw this new release “Send For Me”....(with it’s beautiful book cover)...a short novel (217 pages), I read it quickly in 2 sittings.
It’s a quiet book ...character driven ....( a style I often love)....and I ‘did’ enjoy this novel...( in fact some parts were so truthfully forthright - especially shackles, restraints, and linkage between mother and daughter)....that I felt as tho ...more
So....when I saw this new release “Send For Me”....(with it’s beautiful book cover)...a short novel (217 pages), I read it quickly in 2 sittings.
It’s a quiet book ...character driven ....( a style I often love)....and I ‘did’ enjoy this novel...( in fact some parts were so truthfully forthright - especially shackles, restraints, and linkage between mother and daughter)....that I felt as tho ...more
From a bakery in Germany, to a town in Wisconsin, this novel follows three generations of mothers and daughters. Annelise never wanted to leave Germany with her daughter and husband, leaving her mother and father behind, but as friends turn to enemies, Jewish businesses forced to close, unable to freely walk down the street, they have little choice. It is the opening days of Jewish persecution before WWII and they are lucky enough to get visas to leave, hoping to bring her parents over at a late
...more
Klara, Annelise, Ruth and Clare are four generations of women who are bound together by love of family and the trauma that was created when the family’s once happy life, which began in Germany, was forever changed by the onslaught of anti-Semitism. Annelise, the central character of Send for Me, worked alongside her parents in their thriving bakery. She was a typical young woman. She dreamed of a happy life and had no reason not to expect it. Yet over time, the people she once viewed as neighbor
...more
An epic wrapped up in prose dipped in poetry. What Lauren Fox has created here is phenomenal; she has packed a history of generational loss and renewal into an emotional, fast-faced, lyrical drama. This book will move you, teach you, undo you, and repair you. It's brilliant!
...more
This story is a bit different from all the other historical fiction books I have read about World War II and the Holocaust. Set in dual timelines, we first meet Anneliese, a young girl growing up in Germany in the late 1930's. We see more of what happened before the camps; how the Nazi's slowly closed the noose around the Jews' necks by first kicking them out of schools and closing their businesses. Anneliese and her husband, Walter, are lucky enough to emigrate to America. But, at the cost of l
...more
I had the privilege of reading an advanced copy of SEND FOR ME, and am still reeling from its brilliance and emotional resonance. A powerful intergenerational story that deftly explores the trauma of leaving family behind during the insidious rise of Nazi Germany, SEND FOR ME follows the life of Annelise, who grows up working at her Jewish parents' bakery. Soon after she marries and has a daughter, the dangers in Germany begin to reveal themselves. The three of them have the chance to emigrate t
...more
Lucky me, I was able to read an ARC of SEND FOR ME and was absolutely enthralled. Touching and so beautifully written. I think it's her best.
...more
Send For Me follows three generations of a Jewish family in Germany prior to WWII. Its about the bonds between mothers and daughters and the sacrifices made to keep their families safe. And the longing for the life you left behind as you move to a new country hoping to make a new life.
Based on her grandmothers letters, Lauren Fox has written a timeless and heartbreaking story threaded with love and family and war. Loved it.
What a great choice for book clubs.
Based on her grandmothers letters, Lauren Fox has written a timeless and heartbreaking story threaded with love and family and war. Loved it.
What a great choice for book clubs.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A quick, easy read of a Jewish family torn apart during WWII. The abrupt ending reduced this to three stars for me,
A quick, easy read of a Jewish family torn apart during WWII. The abrupt ending reduced this to three stars for me,
3.5 stars.
I still refer to Michigan as “back home” even though it’s not, at least not in the technical sense. Michigan hasn’t been my home for some time, nor will it ever be again. And yet I imagine I’ll continue to refer to it as such long into the future. Maybe forever.
To be fair, I was born there. Spent the first three decades of my life bouncing around a handful of its cities. My entire immediate family – and the majority of my extended one – still reside there. Hell, I still passionately r ...more
I still refer to Michigan as “back home” even though it’s not, at least not in the technical sense. Michigan hasn’t been my home for some time, nor will it ever be again. And yet I imagine I’ll continue to refer to it as such long into the future. Maybe forever.
To be fair, I was born there. Spent the first three decades of my life bouncing around a handful of its cities. My entire immediate family – and the majority of my extended one – still reside there. Hell, I still passionately r ...more
A side of WWII history rarely told. I rarely choose historical fiction but when I do I always enjoy it and I loved this book.
We meet Annelise who works at her parents bakery in Germany before the war. She falls in love with Walter and they have a child together, Ruth. Soon danger begins all around them and Walter and Annelise escape to Wisconsin.
Later we meet Ruth’s daughter, Clare who finds letters from her grandmother and is searching for love and belonging.
I enjoyed Clare’s story the most ...more
We meet Annelise who works at her parents bakery in Germany before the war. She falls in love with Walter and they have a child together, Ruth. Soon danger begins all around them and Walter and Annelise escape to Wisconsin.
Later we meet Ruth’s daughter, Clare who finds letters from her grandmother and is searching for love and belonging.
I enjoyed Clare’s story the most ...more
Such a beautifully written book that left me feeling so sad about the Jewish community just prior to World War ll. The escape of families to America, leaving their mothers and fathers with hopes to get them visas so they could be together again. The letters across the ocean would give them hope that it would happen, but years were going by. Analeise and her mother, Klara, were intertwined near and far, heart and soul as were Ruth and Clare! This story is so tender hearted and keeps you enthralle
...more
Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was another emotional historical fiction detailing the loss and heartbreak of the Holocaust. Instead of focusing on the concentration camps, as a lot of World War II books do, this focused on emigrating to the US, and having to leave all their friends and family behind in a war torn country, which was a nice change of pace.
I enjoyed this book. I loved to read the little snippets of the le ...more
This was another emotional historical fiction detailing the loss and heartbreak of the Holocaust. Instead of focusing on the concentration camps, as a lot of World War II books do, this focused on emigrating to the US, and having to leave all their friends and family behind in a war torn country, which was a nice change of pace.
I enjoyed this book. I loved to read the little snippets of the le ...more
I was lucky to read an advance copy of this gorgeous, poignant novel and can't recommend it enough. Anyone familiar with Fox's writing will recognize the precision of her writing. Her sentences are so gorgeous that I find myself stopping to underline or just catch my breath, yet I don't want to stop because I'm under the spell of the story, one that is bigger and more sweeping than her previous novels, from WWII to the present. She deftly reveals the complex and lasting effects of trauma, especi
...more
I can't help but compare "Send for Me" to Sarah Wildman's "Paper Love." Both are based on a cache of letters found by grandchildren that connect a beloved grandparent from someone left behind in Germany who they could not save from the Nazis. These are heartbreaking stories, the guilt burden carried by the survivor and their inability to keep their promise, but how the grandparents responded is quite different. Wildman's grandfather stopped responding to his fiancee when he realized there was no
...more
This book was so beautiful, so searing, that I often had to put the book down for a moment just to sit with my feelings. But then I had to return to this deeply compelling story and now that I've finished it, I want to read it again. We know the broad strokes of the history but reading this book lets you not only live inside that history, but through the emotional space of its characters. It is an intimate book about relationships and families, loss and rescue, and tells a story that feels etern
...more
Sweet story about the impact of Nazi Germany on 3 generations of a Jewish family. It was hard to differentiate characters so I put together a family tree. It helped but the reader shouldn’t have to do that.
Feb 11, 2021
Courtney | Novel Maven
rated it
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Trigger warning: antisemitism
"How come the Germans want them gone, but make it impossible for them to leave?"
Annelise dreams of better things than working in her parents' bakery for the rest of her life. Even a husband and children, whenever they arrive, will not save her -- she will always end up back in the bakery when her children are old enough.
But then Annelise's life becomes more difficult. A life-long friend shuns her, a brick hurls through her window, and customers desert the bakery. Alt ...more
"How come the Germans want them gone, but make it impossible for them to leave?"
Annelise dreams of better things than working in her parents' bakery for the rest of her life. Even a husband and children, whenever they arrive, will not save her -- she will always end up back in the bakery when her children are old enough.
But then Annelise's life becomes more difficult. A life-long friend shuns her, a brick hurls through her window, and customers desert the bakery. Alt ...more
I don't love historical fiction, and I tend to stray away from any World War II books (you know, the ones with the woman walking away from the reader and a plane in the sky?) but against all odds, I decided to read this one. I am so glad I did. The story flip flops between the early stages of the war in Germany and modern-day Wisconsin and spans generations of women. It's poetic (but not overly so) and it is very easy to fall in love with Annalise and Clare. My only complaints are I didn't reall
...more
The premise of the story was good. The story jumped around and then abruptly ended. I want to like the book, but it is so unfinished.
Beautifully written yet heartrending, Send for Me tells the story of several generations of a German family who flee the clutches of Nazism and then desperately try (and fail) to bring the rest of the family to safety in America. Based on letters the author found among her family's possessions, this story captures the deep emotions of fear and failure entangled with loyalty and loss. We first meet Annelise as a reluctant participant in her family's bakery business, something she continues to do
...more
Send for Me, I read this book because I really was so captivated by the Blurb and the reviews I was reading all around. as a fan of WW2 books, I was ready to immerse myself in the world of Send for me.
This is the story of Annelise, her granddaughter Clare found some letters about her grandmother's past, something that will change her life forever. Immerse in Annelise story we get to find out what happened during those days, Annelise was working with her family in a bakery trying to survive like ...more
This is the story of Annelise, her granddaughter Clare found some letters about her grandmother's past, something that will change her life forever. Immerse in Annelise story we get to find out what happened during those days, Annelise was working with her family in a bakery trying to survive like ...more
For most of this book, the non-linear timeline of this book really threw me. There are quite a few members of the family that are discussed and it was a bit of a challenge to place them all in my head: this is who’s daughter? What’s this one’s relationship to the main characters?
The story is a tale about immigrants I think at its heart. What it’s like leaving everything you know and the repercussions for those who do and their children. It follows a German Jewish mother Klara and her daughter A ...more
It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great and that’s pretty much all I have to say. 🤷🏻🤷🏻🤷🏻
It’s a WWII book. You know the story. And it’s just missing the magical writing quality/great characters that so many other WWII books have.
It’s a WWII book. You know the story. And it’s just missing the magical writing quality/great characters that so many other WWII books have.
This is on the low end of four stars. I enjoyed this story about WWII for the most part. Definitely told in a different way than I’m used to (no actual conversations). I liked it because it was different but felt no connection to the actual story. I also, didn’t like the abrupt ending.
⭐️2.5 rounded up to 3.
This story had great potential, but unfortunately the constantly changing POVs (with no indication that it was changing) made this feel choppy and confusing. I had a hard time connecting to the characters because of this and had to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what generation I was in and who was talking. An year or location indicator at the beggining of each chapter/section would have helped so much.
Also it was pretty short so I didn’t have much time to becom ...more
This story had great potential, but unfortunately the constantly changing POVs (with no indication that it was changing) made this feel choppy and confusing. I had a hard time connecting to the characters because of this and had to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what generation I was in and who was talking. An year or location indicator at the beggining of each chapter/section would have helped so much.
Also it was pretty short so I didn’t have much time to becom ...more
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I really wanted to like this novel, but it never grabbed ahold of me. I didn’t care for the author’s writing style and found the story to be boring for the majority of the book. The characters were very flat and didn’t really invoke any type of feeling from me, whether it be dislike, sympathy or support. Overall, I was just really disappointed with the novel and probably would not recommend.
Confusing
I kept going back in the book, thinking I had missed something. For me it was disorienting. I had wanted to really like it, but it was to confusing, I may try and reread it at a later time.
I kept going back in the book, thinking I had missed something. For me it was disorienting. I had wanted to really like it, but it was to confusing, I may try and reread it at a later time.
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