Displaced

August 1, 2017

British-occupied Palestine, 1946. Lilya Wasserfall, a member of the Jewish underground resistance movement, is tasked by Elias Lind to find his scientist brother Raphael, who has finally been declared dead by the British. He was last seen alive in Germany in 1941, but Elias has puzzling proof that the official declaration is wrong. Working as part of the American Joint Distribution Committee, Lilya travels to England to begin her search. The trail takes her to the heart of war-torn Europe: to refugee camps, to devastated cities, even to a former concentration camp. Along the way a story emerges of duplicity, love, and the ravages of war. But someone who does not want her to find out the truth is set on murder to keep her away. German debut author Abarbanell has written an engaging plot-driven tale set during the early years of post-World War II Europe. However, the novel's drawbacks--jagged, confusing flashbacks, unfocused meanderings--will frustrate die-hard spy fiction fans. VERDICT Readers who prefer lighter thrillers and quick reads may find this first novel suitable to their tastes.--Laura Hiatt, Fort Collins, CO

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2017
A post-World War II thriller from an unusual perspective.This debut novel, translated from the German, recounts the misadventures of Lilya Wasserfall as she pursues a dual mission across a shattered Europe. The story opens in Jerusalem, where Lilya, a member of an elevated Haganah combat unit and dedicated to the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, receives her multiple assignments. First, she is to survey and assess the situation of the displaced populations, mostly Jewish, that have inundated Allied territories; in particular she must look out for opportunities to pressure the British to open Palestine to settlement. She is also asked to research the fate of a German Jewish scientist, Raphael Lind, whose death was reported by the British but whose brother, Elias, feels may still be alive. Lilya begins in England and is ambiguously aided by British officials: she's assisted in traveling into Germany, but she also acquires Maj. Terry, who will tail her dutifully. By the time she has transport to the continent she has also uncovered reasons to keep searching for the scientist. She arrives in Bavaria and Camp Fohrenwald, a sprawling refugee camp under the administration of the attractive but enigmatic David Guggenheim. She learns several sharp lessons about the realities of postwar displaced populations, and in these places the novel is usefully informative. An informal appendix provides some of the sources of Abarbanell's research. As Lilya becomes more involved in the displaced person issue, her search for the scientist also heats up, and at various points she finds herself in trouble. Populated with engaging secondary characters and providing a useful service, the novel has several merits. Overall, though, the plotting is a little simplistic, the intrigue surrounding Raphael Lind and the dangers posed to Lilya are not especially compelling, and in the end Lilya herself is a disappointment, neither as independent nor as fierce as one might hope, and her inevitable romance with Guggenheim diminishes her. Well-intentioned and instructive but short of thrills.

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September 25, 2017
German author Abarbanell’s ambitious if flawed first novel, a tale of intrigue, centers on post-WWII Palestine. In 1946, Lilya Tova Wasserfall, a member of an elite unit of the Palmach, the underground army devoted to establishing an independent Jewish state, receives an unusual assignment from her commander regarding the brother of an old friend of his. Elias Lind, a famous author who fought for his native Germany during WWI and later emigrated to Palestine, believes that his brother, Raphael, a Berlin academic, survived the war, but two British Mandate representatives recently informed him that the Nazis murdered Raphael. Lilya is directed to travel to Germany, where, posing as a member of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, she searches for Raphael at one of the large displaced persons camps in Germany set up by the U.S. Army. She is also to look for information that can be used against the British occupiers and further the Zionist cause. Abarbanell does a good job dramatizing the history of the period, but the situations and characters will strike many readers as too familiar.

November 1, 2017
Elated by the success of his first art-based anthology, the intoxicating In Sunlight or in Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper (2016), crime-fiction-master-turned-literary-instigator Block broadened the concept. This time he invited contributors to write stories inspired by an artist of their choosing. Ten of his original troupe have returned, along with six newcomers, and the result is an imaginative collection bristling with surprises. The darkly covetous side of art collecting drives Lee Child's clever, Renoir-focused caper and Nicholas Christopher's magnificent response to a portrait by Gauguin that holds keys to a woman's pre-WWII past. A nude by the Canadian painter Lilias Torrance Newton (Google her!) has a similarly intense effect in Sarah Weinman's hard-boiled tale about taboo love. Revenge is the engine both for Jeffery Deaver's Poe-esque riff on a cave painting and Justin Scott's sardonic take on Clyfford Still. Joyce Carol Oates revels in the creepiness of Balthus, while Gail Levin channels an irascible Georgia O'Keeffe. Block has masterminded another delectably provocative union of art and suspense.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)