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There, Where The Pepper Grows
The new novel from the author of the acclaimed The Seduction of Silence.
We are sailing down the Hoogly River, inland towards Calcutta. I am a younger man, and I travel with a group of Polish Jewish refugees. Our lives are cheap and our pockets are empty ... I have two women in my life, and they are both on the same boat: one, a Catholic, whom I have loved since I was a little boy, and another, who is Jewish, whom I have married.
I do not know what the future will hold for any of us. I do not know when we will be able to stop wandering...
This is the story of Benjamin, who fled his native Poland during the Nazi occupation, aiming to fulfil his father's long-held dream of settling in Palestine. But along the way he and his fellow-survivors are stranded in Calcutta, and somehow it becomes inevitable that he will stay...
There, Where the Pepper Grows is the moving story of a family set against the drama of real historical events. It brings East and West together in an unforgettable novel about a search for refuge and a passionate plea for tolerance.
We are sailing down the Hoogly River, inland towards Calcutta. I am a younger man, and I travel with a group of Polish Jewish refugees. Our lives are cheap and our pockets are empty ... I have two women in my life, and they are both on the same boat: one, a Catholic, whom I have loved since I was a little boy, and another, who is Jewish, whom I have married.
I do not know what the future will hold for any of us. I do not know when we will be able to stop wandering...
This is the story of Benjamin, who fled his native Poland during the Nazi occupation, aiming to fulfil his father's long-held dream of settling in Palestine. But along the way he and his fellow-survivors are stranded in Calcutta, and somehow it becomes inevitable that he will stay...
There, Where the Pepper Grows is the moving story of a family set against the drama of real historical events. It brings East and West together in an unforgettable novel about a search for refuge and a passionate plea for tolerance.
361 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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89 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 18, 2013
Very impressive novel. Evocative and moving story and characters. Ambitious in scope; crossing three continents and spanning four generations. I loved the Jewish take on India - I had never heard of that before. This book gave me hope in the human spirit.
December 8, 2023
From a little library swap stand. The stunning cover grabbed my attention and I am glad it did. This highly readable novel set in mid 20th century Poland and Kolkata was a great companion on a recent camping trip.
Initially I thought, do I really want to spend any more time in the world of the Nazis and the Holocaust? I'm almost 60 and all my life it's been thereabouts in films, books, history class, TV programmes and now all over YouTube. I know enough to really not want to know any more. It's horrible,evil,disgusting and makes me ashamed to be of the same species.
Bem Le Hunte mixes up the narrative so that the reader switches between the characters lives in pre and post invasion Poland, and then their subsequent settlement in Kolkata. This was definitely to my favour, as I don't think I would have continued if it had been first half Poland and then Kolkata.
I have been lucky enough to visit Kolkata twice and the author really brought it back to me again with the decaying Raj Era buildings,the sapping heat and the incredible Bengali culture. I can remember trying to visit a synagogue, getting completely lost and being sent by a local to an Armenian Church instead. Maybe that never seen Synagogue was in this book.
So for me a good read. The characters are interesting, the action moves along at a good pace and I got to visit Kolkata again.
Initially I thought, do I really want to spend any more time in the world of the Nazis and the Holocaust? I'm almost 60 and all my life it's been thereabouts in films, books, history class, TV programmes and now all over YouTube. I know enough to really not want to know any more. It's horrible,evil,disgusting and makes me ashamed to be of the same species.
Bem Le Hunte mixes up the narrative so that the reader switches between the characters lives in pre and post invasion Poland, and then their subsequent settlement in Kolkata. This was definitely to my favour, as I don't think I would have continued if it had been first half Poland and then Kolkata.
I have been lucky enough to visit Kolkata twice and the author really brought it back to me again with the decaying Raj Era buildings,the sapping heat and the incredible Bengali culture. I can remember trying to visit a synagogue, getting completely lost and being sent by a local to an Armenian Church instead. Maybe that never seen Synagogue was in this book.
So for me a good read. The characters are interesting, the action moves along at a good pace and I got to visit Kolkata again.
July 30, 2019
#54. There, Where the Pepper Grows by Bem le Hunte. This WW2 story of a Jewish family escaping from Poland and ending up unexpectedly in Calcutta, where they make their home, is largely set in Calcutta with lots of flashbacks to events in Poland and the escape. It's not up there with many other riveting novels set in the same era with similar scenarios, but it does have the added interest of the description of life in India and touches also on the end of British rule and on the trouble between India and Pakistan. Like so many books set at this time, it is largely about human resilience, and the kindness of strangers opposing the cruelty of others. Again we have to ask the question, when will we see that we are all human with the same needs and emotions? ***
July 25, 2023
Good read as you travel across time and countries - Poland, India, US with the author. The characters dip and out of their difficult past of escaping the atrocities during Germanys invasion of Poland and adjusting their new found life in pre independent India. We see Indian independence through the characters eyes and their ability to embrace diversity and remain rooted in India for many years now post independence. Over a period of time the dwindling Jewish community in Kolkata pushed them to the US, as they grow old and grudgingly relocate to stay close to their kids and grandkids.
September 14, 2021
A wonderful story of how a Jewish family from Poland end up in Calcutta to escape
the Nazis ,and their wonderful experiences.
A sad but uplifting story which is well written describing the times and worth
a read .Very enjoyable
the Nazis ,and their wonderful experiences.
A sad but uplifting story which is well written describing the times and worth
a read .Very enjoyable
October 6, 2018
Wonderful story, a celebration of the incredible gift of life
December 17, 2011
As I read this book I could not help being reminded of the old adage “You can have too much of a Good Thing”. Therefore I deducted that obviously “You could have too much of a Bad thing” ever so much more quickly. The Bad Thing I refer to is of course the Jewish Holocaust. My quota of Jewish holocaust books has been exceeded in 2010.
With that in mind I found the book to be a well written, easy to read novel written in an unusual style by a female author through the first person eyes of a male character, Benjamin. I believe the influence of the author softened responses by Benjamin allowing the reader to view his actions in a more sympathetic manner. Here is a man living life as part of an oppressed minority group in one of the most oppressed societies in Europe. His own fellow Poles have very little spare sympathy for the plight of the Jews. Their goal must be to survive the invasion and tyranny of Germany and Russia.
Once again, in this book, we witness the Jews suffering from their insurmountable identity crisis. Does the fact that they have lived for many generations as Poles over-ride their quest to someday return in triumph to the Jewish homeland? Are they loyal Poles or disloyal Jews? If they cannot figure out who they are it is unlikely that their enemies will try to do this favour for them.
Relationships, families and communities are fractured in time of war. People in crisis make decisions they regret for life. Not only is the country in turmoil but Benjamin has embarked on a difficult journey of escape, travelling and living with the woman he was to have married, Ewa, as well as his new wife, Rivka. This is a triage which inevitably must end in disaster. Only extreme poverty and need made the years of this arrangement bearable.
The author has a wealth of personal experience and a beautiful vividness in her descriptions of Calcutta and its citizens. Her novel exposes the fractures suffered by communities made up of Catholics, Jews, Hindus and Muslims. She acknowledges the outrage felt by the Indians at the rule of the British and the unifying jubilation experienced at their withdrawal .
I did enjoy the book and was particularly interested to read the Epilogue and see the author bare her heart to the reader once again through the eyes of Benjamin. This is a book written to reach people of every creed and to give hope to coming generations for a more just future.
Carinya
With that in mind I found the book to be a well written, easy to read novel written in an unusual style by a female author through the first person eyes of a male character, Benjamin. I believe the influence of the author softened responses by Benjamin allowing the reader to view his actions in a more sympathetic manner. Here is a man living life as part of an oppressed minority group in one of the most oppressed societies in Europe. His own fellow Poles have very little spare sympathy for the plight of the Jews. Their goal must be to survive the invasion and tyranny of Germany and Russia.
Once again, in this book, we witness the Jews suffering from their insurmountable identity crisis. Does the fact that they have lived for many generations as Poles over-ride their quest to someday return in triumph to the Jewish homeland? Are they loyal Poles or disloyal Jews? If they cannot figure out who they are it is unlikely that their enemies will try to do this favour for them.
Relationships, families and communities are fractured in time of war. People in crisis make decisions they regret for life. Not only is the country in turmoil but Benjamin has embarked on a difficult journey of escape, travelling and living with the woman he was to have married, Ewa, as well as his new wife, Rivka. This is a triage which inevitably must end in disaster. Only extreme poverty and need made the years of this arrangement bearable.
The author has a wealth of personal experience and a beautiful vividness in her descriptions of Calcutta and its citizens. Her novel exposes the fractures suffered by communities made up of Catholics, Jews, Hindus and Muslims. She acknowledges the outrage felt by the Indians at the rule of the British and the unifying jubilation experienced at their withdrawal .
I did enjoy the book and was particularly interested to read the Epilogue and see the author bare her heart to the reader once again through the eyes of Benjamin. This is a book written to reach people of every creed and to give hope to coming generations for a more just future.
Carinya
January 30, 2015
“There, Where the Pepper Grows” is a wonderful book. As a second novel following on from Bem Le Hunte’s much lauded first book, “The Seduction of Silence” one could have expected a letdown. Perhaps that’s why I let it languish for years unread in my collection of paperbacks.
It is so different from “Silence” despite both books having India in common. This is the story of Benjamin, told in the first person, who comes to India only by accident, along with his wife and young son, when the ship that is supposed to be taking them to Palestine develops engine trouble. Benjamin and his family and their fellow Jewish refugees from Poland are stranded for a time in Calcutta.
What has brought them to this unlikely location? That is the narrative that truly drives the book – Benjamin’s recollections of escaping Warsaw when the Nazis invade Poland.
Many of the incidents in the book are based on those actually experienced by refugees fleeing the Nazis and having to rely on their own wits and the kindness of strangers to get their families to safety.
For readers like myself who have not inherited such dramatic family histories, much of “There, Where the Pepper Grows” comes as a shocking revelation. No matter how many movies, television documentaries or books one reads about the horrors experienced by the Jews and other persecuted minorities during the war, to read an account like this, albeit a fictionalized one, is still a horrifying eye-opening experience.
However, wrapped as it is in the story of memorable characters like Benjamin, his wife Rivka and son Daniel, and Ewa, the woman he loved as a young man and to whom he still feels drawn, the historic truths incorporated in “There, Where the Pepper Grows” become part of an unforgettable tale.
It is so different from “Silence” despite both books having India in common. This is the story of Benjamin, told in the first person, who comes to India only by accident, along with his wife and young son, when the ship that is supposed to be taking them to Palestine develops engine trouble. Benjamin and his family and their fellow Jewish refugees from Poland are stranded for a time in Calcutta.
What has brought them to this unlikely location? That is the narrative that truly drives the book – Benjamin’s recollections of escaping Warsaw when the Nazis invade Poland.
Many of the incidents in the book are based on those actually experienced by refugees fleeing the Nazis and having to rely on their own wits and the kindness of strangers to get their families to safety.
For readers like myself who have not inherited such dramatic family histories, much of “There, Where the Pepper Grows” comes as a shocking revelation. No matter how many movies, television documentaries or books one reads about the horrors experienced by the Jews and other persecuted minorities during the war, to read an account like this, albeit a fictionalized one, is still a horrifying eye-opening experience.
However, wrapped as it is in the story of memorable characters like Benjamin, his wife Rivka and son Daniel, and Ewa, the woman he loved as a young man and to whom he still feels drawn, the historic truths incorporated in “There, Where the Pepper Grows” become part of an unforgettable tale.
December 3, 2008
Bem Le Hunte writes with a great capacity to meld east and west evocatively. The story follows a group of wartime Polish refugees on their way to Palestine who become stranded in Calcutta and elect to stay. They are warmly welcomed into Calcutta's Jewish community and make lasting friendships with the local populace as well. The central theme revolves around the relationship between Benjamin his wife and son and the young woman from his childhood travelling with them. The intricacy of the relationship is revealed slowly and intriguingly.
The story has an ironic relevance now after the Mumbai terrorist attacks. When reading of the deaths of the Rabbi and his wife and of how the Indian nanny saved the child, I pictured the characters in Le Hunte's book. It will be interesting to see how the nanny fares in Israel where she is apparently settling (if the media follows up on the story).
The story is set as much in Poland as it is in Calcutta and switches time frames frequently...it is almost like two separate novels but both are equally engaging. Well worth a read and it reminds a little of Michael Ondatjie.
The story has an ironic relevance now after the Mumbai terrorist attacks. When reading of the deaths of the Rabbi and his wife and of how the Indian nanny saved the child, I pictured the characters in Le Hunte's book. It will be interesting to see how the nanny fares in Israel where she is apparently settling (if the media follows up on the story).
The story is set as much in Poland as it is in Calcutta and switches time frames frequently...it is almost like two separate novels but both are equally engaging. Well worth a read and it reminds a little of Michael Ondatjie.
May 20, 2012
Not a very different book when it comes to holocaust. Nevertheless the book has LOTS of love and its heart in the right place. You would be able to connect wid Benjamin and that's the main reason why we wouldn't get bored even when he literally does nothing and just lives his life. Being an Indian I was really excited in the indian part :P but soon became more intrigued with the polish invasion. Ty to jeffrey archer i do know quite something abt poland and this book just increased my knowledge and respect for them as ppl.
Refugees are not a bad thing after all. What are boundaries and borders anyways?
Refugees are not a bad thing after all. What are boundaries and borders anyways?
July 1, 2013
This book touched my heart...it's a beautifully written story about a families journey from Nazi occupied Poland to India. Such a special book with a powerful message.
August 18, 2014
This is one of the best books I ever read. The story is written with so much love. An inspiring read for everyone.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews