A wonderful story that weaves together Tudor England, the Holocaust, and 911 into a story about a young Jewish woman, Jill, a curator at a Holocaust Museum, who must break the news of her relationship with a non-Jew to her deeply loved Holocaust-survivor grandmother. Then, a 500-year-old book is donated to the Holocaust Museum by a survivor who writes that it had been passed down through the centuries to the oldest daughter in each generation, but which seems to have been written by the oldest daughter of the Catholic saint, Sir Thomas More. What did a book written by a 16th century Catholic woman have to do with the Jews? When the Catholic Church learns about the book and claims it was probably stolen from the Vatican archives, Jill doesn't have much time to trace its origins. Very sad stories, but it ends with hope for the future. I thought the writing in this book was really interesting. The combination of 16th century England, WW2 and present day Manhattan was somehow weaved all together in a very believable way. The holocaust story portrayed was heartbreaking and I thought the author did an excellent job in showing how easy it is to become invested and entwined with someone's personal narrative, while at the same time separating oneself from the awful history. The story of Margaret More was eye opening, and while it was fictional, it felt very real, especially knowing a bit of Tudor history. I must admit, that most of what I know about King Henry VIII is from other historical fiction novels and the HBO series, however I felt lucky that I had an understanding of the marriage of King Henry and Katharine of Arragon in order to really understand Margaret's manuscript.In some ways, I felt a little too close to the story, being of Jewish descent in Manhattan. It was quite relevant for me since dating within the faith has always been a matter of such importance and controversy. I did have a few questions about the story itself, specifically with why Chava's descendents did not all read the manuscript. Could they not all read the English? Did I miss something? Chava mentions that her mother died during childbirth, but at one point Jill mentions that she lived another 10 years. Overall, the deep family struggle Jill had over the importance of marrying within the faith and the discovery over their true Jewish heritage was quite poignant.
What do You think about The Bookseller's Sonnets (2010)?
Very interesting. Not at all what I expected. Nice to read a different kind of story.
—ellie
