Flory

FLORY is the gripping, extraordinary, and surprisingly uplifting story of Flory Van Beek and her miraculous survival of the Holocaust. Complemented by an outstanding performance by narrator Kirsten Potter, the book tells the harrowing story of Flory and her eventual husband Felix's flight from Holland to Argentina, and their return to Holland after German mines sank their ship and severely injured them. Eventually, Flory and Felix were forced into hiding. Potter conveys the stress the Van Beeks felt and highlights the remarkable faith and strength of the many other people who also fought to stay alive. Potter also demonstrates that authenticity and emotion can outweigh a somewhat simplistic writing style, especially during the scene in which Van Beek explains how she eventually received the letter her mother wrote on the train to Auschwitz. D.J.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

March 31, 2008
A Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivor now living in California, Van Beek recalls her harrowing experiences at the mercy of the Nazis. In 1939, fearing a German invasion of Holland, the 18-year-old Van Beek left her Rotterdam family for Argentina with her German-Jewish boyfriend, Felix. But German mines sank their ship; seriously injured, they recuperated in England, but were refused permanent residency there and arrived back in Holland right before the Germans. In the panic of the invasion, Van Beek's aunt and her family attempted suicide, with one cousin succeeding. Anti-Jewish pogroms and deportations escalated, and in 1942 Van Beek, now living with her mother's family in the Dutch town of Amersfoort, received a summons to report to a German work camp. A chance meeting with an altruistic Resistance member resulted in hiding places for the couple and some family members. But Van Beek's mother was deported to Westerbork and a poignant letter that she threw from the train headed to Auschwitz, where she was murdered, managed to reach Van Beek. Although the author's rudimentary writing skills hinder her memoir, this has intrinsic value as a Holocaust survivor testimony.