The Puzzle King

by Betsy Carter

Here's a memorable tale of two unlikely the lively, beautiful Flora and her husband, the brooding, studious Simon, two immigrants, both sent to America by their families to find a better life. An improbable match, they meet in New York City and fall in love. Simon-inventor of the jigsaw puzzle-eventually makes his fortune. Now wealthy, Flora and Simon become obsessed with rescuing those they left behind in Europe, loved ones whose fates will be determined by growing anti-Semitism on both sides of the Atlantic.The Puzzle King explores a fascinating moment in history with a cast of characters who endure with dignity, grace, and hope for the future.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, World War II, War, Literary Fiction, Book Club

352 pages, Paperback

First published August 18, 2009

About the author

I am the author of the novel, Swim to Me, which was published in August 2007 by Algonquin Books who also published, The Orange Blossom Special in 2005. My memoir Nothing to Fall Back On was a national bestseller. I write for O: The Oprah magazine, Good Housekeeping, New York, Glamour and Hallmark, among others.
I was a reporter at Newsweek for nine years, and then served as the Editorial Director of Esquire magazine. I was the founding editor-in-chief of New York Woman as well as My Generation Magazine. I was also the Executive Editor of Harper’s Bazaar and editor-in-chief of New Woman magazine. I live in New York City. My novel, The Puzzle King, will be published by Algonquin Books in the fall of 2009.

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up The Puzzle King hoping for a good read. I wasn't expecting it to make an impact on me, but it did. I was sorry when I saw I was near the end. I wanted the story to keep going; I wanted to read more about the characters. But the ending was just right. And some of the discussion questions at the back of the book ask the reader to suppose what happened to some of the characters after the story ended.

The real-life backstory is just as interesting as the fiction. The author grew up hearing that her great-uncle had invented the game of Monopoly. When she researched her great-uncle, she found it wasn't true. But he had been the person who figured out how to make jigsaw puzzles cheap enough to produce so everyone could afford them.

He was also Jewish, and he and his wife had family in Europe at the time of Hitler's reign. At a time when people were having trouble leaving Germany, and some of the Jews in Germany were unable to understand what was happening, he brought over hundreds of Jews to the United States, including the author's parents.

By the time she started her research, most of the main characters in her story had died, including her own parents. Like so many of us, she wished she'd interviewed her parents before they died. She wove a beautiful story around what she knew. Highly recommended.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a bit disappointed in this book. Good subject, interesting characters...but the writing needed a bit more polishing for me. I wanted the author to go into much more depth, in particular about Simon's family left behind in Lithuania. I found it hard to believe that Simon, with so much wealth, wouldn't go back on his own, back to his roots in Europe. To try, on his own, to find some information about his family...to see where he came from, what molded him into the man he had become. That one little thing bothered me a lot :) I know i gave a bit away there...but if you're going to read this book, you might as well know going in that Simon never finds resolution. And this bit of information won't make a difference in what you get out of the book.

I'm not sure i'll try another book by this author. This was a good book, but as another reviewer writes...it fell below my expectations.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author has turned a tale based on her own family history. The story spans forty years and two continents and tells the story of the immigrant experience and the years leading to the Holocaust. Alone and homesick, Simon manages to acquire an education, marry the beautiful Flora and become a millionaire businessman. The portrayal of Germany in the 1920s and 30s is especially poignant and gives an honest depiction of the seeds of Naziism taking root. The Puzzle King was an enjoyable and well written rags to riches story.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Puzzle King is the story of a few of the fortunate who escaped from Germany to America before the start of World War II. Simon, and the sisters Flora, and Seema all are sent to America as young children, leaving their families behind in Germany. Their success as immigrants is extraordinary as their find their place in the new country, work hard, and prosper. Yet always hanging over them is the question of what happened to the families they left behind. This is a new perspective on WWII, that of the ones who made it out, yet are still stuck looking back.

Betsy Carter writes beautiful, wise, funny characters that I could really empathize with. The sisters, Flora and Seema, in particular are flawed, but likable nonetheless. The plot is an interesting one, an angle I have not read before. Unfortunately the story is choppy, fully fleshed out in parts, then skimming over more important points, leaving out crucial details. We get little information about Simon's search for his own family, about his sudden success as an artist, and about the courtship between he and Flora. I like Betsy Carter's writing style and I think she tried to accomplish something really ambitious with this book.

[Cinnamon · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read this in book club and everyone loved it, which is rare. The comment everyone made was that although it is set in the time of Nazi Germany, this is not a book about the holocaust. So, do not let that theme dissuade you from reading this book.

It is a story of overcoming the odds, and it is heartwarming. It is also a page turner. One of my favorite things about some authors, Betsy is a great story teller. I often recommend this book.

**Partial spoiler alert** One criticism, this is based on a true story and the author mentions the changes she made in the end notes. We thought the real life ending was actually better than the one she chose.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another I found in my journal that I had read last year but hadn't added to Goodreads. I read this when I was sick and just rushed through it. There are a couple of problematic things to me: mainly that someone finds the last name Phelps unusual. It seems if not a super common name, at least an ordinary enough one. And a big part of blurb describes the female main character (sorry, I read this a long time ago and don't remember most of the names) who goes to Nazi Germany to get her family out as a big part of the novel, but it's not really, which was disappointing. I don't know if that's really the author's fault, though, or just the way it was marketed.

I find the idea of a puzzle inventor extremely fascinating, and the setting of early 20th-century NYC and upstate New York come wonderfully alive under Carter. The writing is lovely, and the story is so interesting - just not quite the book I was hoping for.

I do recommend it, though!

[Danielle Olenych · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story

This was an Interesting story about Simon how he ended up in America getting discovered for his talent, making a wonderful life for him and his wife and feeling the need to do something more with all the money he has earned for the Jewish Community in the US and overseas than just keep it and using his fortune along with his lovely wife to help the German Jews during that desperate time flee to safer ground.

[Becky Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable. At first I thought it was another WWII novel it is, but it is so much more. It is more an immigrant story with a lot of relevance for today. The story is based on the author’s relatives journey from Lithuanian and Germany to the US in the early 1900s. It ends at the beginning of the Second World War as what the Nazi’s are doing becomes known to those in our country. A friend recommended and gifted this book to me, thinking I would like it. She was right!

[Karie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because of the title. I was a little disappointed that jigsaw puzzles were barely mentioned until 3/4 of the way in to the story. It seemed the story was more about the sisters than the Puzzle King. As a story about immigrants it was good.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting journey that I enjoyed being on. My only complaint (which is why I gave it 4*) is that it ended so abruptly. I won't leave a spoiler, but will say that I would have liked to have seen the it played out a little further. All of a sudden it was over. But I would still recommend it. I'd be interested in others' opinions.

[Rebecca T · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5 Interesting subject and characters for sure. I enjoyed reading about this time period that I don’t know much about. I didn’t get quite as invested as I would’ve liked so I can’t quite give it the full 4.

[Heatherterrybell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book from the beginning. It was so real and historical but the characters became friends to me and it was just a wonderful read. I savored it really and I'm not one to savor books.

[Jane Foos Biskup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful story with a surprising yet beautiful ending!

[Yvonne Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing story with such depth-

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. Especially once Flora and her family were introduced. Second book i have read by Betsy Carter and they have both been 4/5 stars for me.

[Jacquelyn R Mate · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic!!!

Liked all of this book….couldn’t put it down. Great story…and true. I was sorry to reach the end…..great read and well written.

[Jinny · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars rounded up. Good book, I enjoyed it. It’s about the situation of Jews from WWI up to the start of WWII and one person’s efforts get as many out of Germany.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

NOTE: I actually gave this book 4 1/2 stars.

I ADORED this book. Those of you that read by review of Songbird Under A German Moon know that I unfortunately sort of missed out on World War II history. This is one of the many reasons for which I absolutely adore books that give me a glimpse of what it was like. In Betsy Carter's gripping tale of love and family and heartache, that is exactly what she does. She brings Jewish characters to life in the times leading up to war. She breathes life into faceless characters who were previously no more than a name. She brings Judaism in America and Germany alive in a time when the focus was on death.

Betsy Carter did an amazing job of showing what it must have been like to be a Jewish living in America at the time, trying to remember their roots and their families back in Europe but at the same time trying to become American and to take advantage of the opportunities that being American brought to them. How does one balance such things in a such a time, when these interests are clearly conflicting? It is clear that extensive research went into the writing of this book, and it seems like she covered all of the bases. Both the story and the style were engaging, and I found that I learned a lot from a book that, ultimately, I found I couldn't put down.

Simon Phelps and Flora Grossman are two European born Jewish Americans, and when they meet, it seems as if things are meant to be. The love and history and life they share is nothing short of beautiful. These two people really existed, and Simon Phelps really was the puzzle king, but after that there is no way of knowing their true stories. I like to believe that there story is at least something like the story of these two amazingly strong, caring people in the book. The stories of their families are just as engaging.

The only real problem I had with this book, and the reason I didn't give it 5 stars, is that it ended too soon. Towards the end, it sped up too quickly and then suddenly ended, when there were still things that I wanted to know. What happened to Flora's family, to her sister Seema and to her niece and everyone else. These people had become important to me, and they seemed to have no real endings.

Despite that, this book struck me, and when, in the end, I learned that Simon and Flora Phelps nee Grossman existed and were actually related to the author of this book, I almost started crying. I needed to call everyone I know and tell them about this wonderful, touching story. It is, without a doubt, one I won't be forgetting for a long time to come.

[Alyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

My impression of The Puzzle King was that it was going to be a story about the rescue of Jews from Germany during World War II. Surprisingly the description from the front flap of the book of Flora standing in line at the consulate in Germany appears very late in the book.

The character that the reader first encounters is a nine-year-old boy named Simon who is leaving his family in Vilna in order to immigrate to the United States. He is unaccompanied on his trip and has no one to meet him or take care of him in the United States. He is entirely on his own.

As the mother of an eight-year-old boy, the story of Simon's solo immigration to the United States was shocking. It is almost unthinkable to me how a mother could let a child of such a young age go out on his own to make a place for himself in a new country. Yet this was not an uncommon occurence in that era. I kept thinking of Simon's mother, and how impossible her situation must have been in order for her to willingly send her son to a new country.

After reading about Simon's initial experiences in the United States, the reader learns about Flora's youth and her immigration to the U.S. with her sister. At least in her case she had an aunt and uncle to watch over her, but even then it seemed as if she and her sister made their own decisions.

As the book progresses, the narrative switches back and forth between Simon and Flora's point of view as they age. There are occasional chapters that continue the story from the points of view of other relatives, such as that of Flora's sister or her niece.

The Puzzle King will show the reader what life was like for immigrants, especially Jewish immigrants, in New York in the early 1900s. I liked how the author explored the different ways that the characters addressed their Jewish heritage: from embracing their indentities to changing their names and taking on the role of a Gentile.

I really enjoyed reading about the lives of Simon, Flora, and their relatives. I did feel like the story had just started to pick up the pace when it ended rather abruptly. If Betsy Carter ever writes a book about the further experiences of her relatives that were rescued from Germany I would definitely read it.

[Lorri · Rating 4 out of 5]

he Puzzle King, by Betsy Carter is a well-written novel, based on Clark’s ancestors and family legends.

The novel opens in March 1936, in Stuttgart, Germany, where a woman named Flora stood in line waiting to see the consul. The story line then moves to 1892, and back and forth through the decades between 1892 and 1936. The main characters in The Puzzle King are Simon Phelps, and Flora Grossman.

Their lives have strange twists, as each one of them emigrates to America. Simon, a Jewish boy, is sent by his mother from Vilna, Lithuania to New York City in 1892, at the age of nine in order to build a new life for himself, and eventually for his family. She promised him that once he was established with a house, she and his siblings would join him. The void of familial loss was ever present throughout his life.

Flora, from a Jewish family, emigrated from Germany with her sister Seema, to Mount Kisco, New York, where they stayed with relatives of her mother. The two sisters left behind their mother and their sister, Margot. Flora and Seema came of age in America, each one assimilating and adjusting in different manners.

Betsy Carter has brought us a story that is heartfelt, poignant, and one with the presence of constant yearning, yearning for those left behind, and yearning for the smells, tastes, warm touches and the comforting sights of what once was. As immigrants, and assimilating into a new environment and way of life, Simon and Flora’s positive experiences never overpowered those desires and voids in their lives. Those longings encompass the pages.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a compelling read. The characters are wonderful; Edith is hope and life, Seema is vibrance and danger, Flora is sturdy and solid, Margot is beautiful and fragile and Simon is serious and haunted.

Told over the course of 30 years, the story chronicles the lives of Simon and Flora beginning when Simon's mother sent him to America to escape the ethnic cleansing in Lithuania. Flora and Seema, sent to America from Germany, enter the story gently and then become larger than life as their lives take very different turns. Simon and Flora's romance is told beautifully and simply allowing the reader to feel their love and passion for each other. Seema's conflicted life is told with compassion leaving the reader wanting to protect her from herself.

The story moves between Flora and Simon's life in New York as Simon struggles with his success and the overriding guilt and saddness he feels for leaving his family and the troubled life of Flora's sister, Margot, who remained in Germany to care for her mother. When the two come together in the last half of the story, the reader is taken into the realities of Nazi Germany as Hitler is rising to power. I've ready many stories about this period in history and found this one captured the fear and saddness of that time without being graphic or maudlin. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys interesting characters and a well crafted story.

[Deon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Puzzle King by Betsy Carter is a touching story about the courage to put oneself on the line to help in the face of overwhelming evil..Simon Phelps made sense of the world with his drawings.  His mother has a tough time raising her children in Eastern Europe. She scrapes together enough to send 9 year old Simon to the United States.  He is to work hard, become successful, and then send for his family.  The first part he achieves, but he never finds his family again.  Imagine a 9 year old child in a foreign country, unable to speak the language, but determined to succeed.  It was a rough start.  Flora’s family is middle class German.  After the death of her father she moves along with her sister to live with their aunt and uncle in the US.  Simon and Flora have a sweet romance, life is good to them.  But a dark shadow is crossing Europe; Simon recognizes the face of evil.  Betsy Carter based her story on relatives who rescued hundreds of Jews from Hitler’s Germany

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was a quick, easy read, with deep characters and a historical point of view I have not yet come across, despite my recent discovery of period novels and series such as Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs. I feel disappointed because I expected some type of climactic Holocaust entanglement, and the story is a much more linear, emotional history of a diverted crisis. While it still doesn't fully explain the passion that prevents German Jews from racing to America, it was a wonderful diversion from action-packed, shallow characters that many recent fan fiction series seem to embrace. America today is a lot different than it was those 100+ years ago, but I still believe we could do with a little less materialism and a little more drive - the type of drive that our ancestors felt, that allowed us to be where we are today.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great love story, a great family story based on legends heard by the author from her relatives, and also a look at people in the US and Germany at the beginning of World War II.

Characters are not always what they seem and it is not until the end of the book that we see that. People who appear frivolous may not be so and may be capable of great courage. People who appear ungenerous may be the most generous of creatures who are unobtrusive in the ways that they help others.

At times the story seemed a big disjointed but I loved this book for its lovely story and look forward to reading others Carter has written.

[Cornmaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice historical novel based on the author's relative revolving around the effort to get German Jews out of the country before Hitler really went nuts. The author spends a lot of time setting up familial relationships, and character establishment, and little on the actual efforts because she had very little factual evidence, but I think it works. It gives the reader an excellent picture of Hitler's rise to power and what American Jews and German Jews believed in the years leading up to WWII. The level of denial was unreal, and I think actual history bears that out. At least Einstein had the good sense to get out early.

[Glenda Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far, it is absolutely spell binding. Carter's writing is so incredibly picturesque that I actually feel like I am there. I cried in the first five pages. That has never happened to me before. I sometimes cry, but not in the first few pages!

Now that I have finished the book I have to say that it was totally enjoyable and very engrossing. This was one of the best books I've read in years. Ms. Carter's language is rich in visual metaphor, and the plot is fascinating from beginning to end. I looked forward to sitting down to read the book every day. It brought tears to my eyes and deep joy to my heart. One of my new favorite books!

[Eva Popovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Betsy Carter's books have all been enjoyable, but this one is special, I think. It is historical fiction and the subject is a facet of the holocaust story that I was unfamiliar with, the Jewish families and groups in the United States who helped German jews to emigrate from Germany at the beginning of World War II. It is an emotional story of one of those families and the heartbreaks they experience, those family members on both sides of the ocean. The other reviews of this book have covered the wide range of subjects in this book, but I just wanted to add mine in an effort to praise Ms. Carter for this fine book. Highly recommend.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first book by Betsy Carter and I enjoyed it. It is a story of Jewish immigrants from Europe before World War II and their efforts to bring the rest of their families from Germany to America. Although it is not a memoir it does come from some of Ms. Carter's family history. I was confused by the actions of some of the characters and did not feel that they were realistic - but who knows how I would act in the same situations. Overall I enjoyed the book and would probably read more by her.

[Maryellen Woodside · Rating 3 out of 5]

Betsy Carter's previous two novels are among my favorites, especially since the setting in both novels was Florida. The Puzzle King is very different. It is historical, spanning the years from 1892 to 1936. It is based on Carter's family stories. Flora Grossman and Simon Phelps are immigrants to America, who fall in love and marry. Somon makes a fortune by inventing the jigsaw puzzle. Both have family members in Germany and want to get them out in the face of Hilter's rising power. The book is a good read, but did not live up to my expectations.