Lore is an orphaned girl who is adopted by a rich family in Berlin. The family has a younger, biologial daughter, Caroline. Story takes place starting at the beginning of WWII. Caroline is beautiful and has fallen in love with boy from her neighborhood. The boy's father is big in the Nazi party, but the boy does not hold the same political views. The parents can see what is coming in Germany and send the girls to Switzerland to stay with friends until they can get out of Germany.They never come to Switzerland, so the girls go to the U.S. Lore never seems as likeable as a character as Caroline. Lore is not attractive and does not speak English. She has to work hard to learn the language and take up her old profession of nursing. Caroline discovers she is pregnant and Lore tell her that the boyfriend has dumped her and joined the Nazi party. It seems like in the story that things come much easier to Caroline and Lore is just along as the "old maid aunt." Neither one are very happy in life. There are many twists to the story as it continues through 3 generations of this family.
Generational story of woman. Caroline Hartzinger fled wartime Europe with a shattered life and a devastating secret. Pregnant and unwed, she arrived in America in 1939. Joel Hirsch offered marriage and respectability, hoping one day to earn her love, if not the passion she felt for a man whose memory still haunted them both. With Joel, Caroline built a new life, determined to bury the past—until her daughter Eve brought Caroline's carefully crafted world crashing down again, driven by a rage to learn the truth....Legacy of secrets...It was Eve's turn now, a legacy that tainted her life and risked generations to come. But with it came a gift—a new sister, young enough to be her own daughter, then a truth that would finally break the hold of the past....
What do You think about Legacy Of Silence (1999)?
The contrived double-twist ending pretty much ruined a good story. One twist was moving and the other was the awful ruining of a character. By the way, I said that this review contained spoilers because sometimes knowing there's a twist is a spoiler. Hear that, M. Night Shyamalan?
—Judy
Belva Plain is such an engaging writer- I loved her "Evergreen" which to me is a classic...she writes in a way that is so effortless to read- the kind of books with such engaging and interesting character you cant put them down! She makes her characters people you can identify with and you develop feelings for them and you cant wait to see what happens to them! I really enjoy her work....This book was even better in the end as it comes full circle and proving even in families people never really know eachother- and you never really know what motivates people or what they are truly thinking....thoroughly enjoyable!
—ANGELA
tThis is the story of two sisters who escape from Nazi Germany in 1939. Their parents don't survive. Caroline is beautiful, and pregnant with a missing lover. Lore is adopted and not so attractive. They eventually immigrate to the US to begin new lives, but their past haunts them when a love interest comes between them.
—Kathaileen
