The Lost Letter

April 17, 2017
Cantor uses a mysterious Austrian stamp of an edelweiss hidden within a church steeple as the subject of her affecting new novel, which unfolds in dual story lines. For what reason was the flower added, after Hitler annexed Austria, to a stamp already in circulation? Why, as Katie Nelson discovers decades later, did her increasingly senile father seek out the stamp, still affixed to an unopened letter? Furthermore, what explains his outburst upon learning that Katie took his collection to appraiser Benjamin Grossman? It’s all about the symbolism of the edelweiss, “an expression of love proof of unusual daring,” and a gentile artist named Kristoff, who lived with his mentor, renowned Jewish engraver Frederick Faber. The Faber family’s Judaism, like the intense faith of Katie’s father, stands in stark contrast to her secular lifestyle in 1989 Los Angeles. As Katie and Benjamin methodically trace the stamp’s history and the letter’s intended recipient, the Berlin Wall is being pulled down. Its destruction is a metaphor for the barriers that fall in the story, walls erected within families and built on secrets, barriers created for emotional self-preservation. Cantor (The Hours Count) integrates her historical research well and effectively harnesses the story’s emotional resonance, slowly building tension before resolving the mystery and converging the two story lines.

Allyson Ryan and George Newbern alternate narrating this story, set in Nazi-occupied Austria and in California 50 years later. In 1989, Katie discovers an unsent, unopened Nazi-era letter from Austria in her elderly father's stamp collection, setting her on quest to find the recipient. In 1938, Kristoff, an apprentice to a Jewish stamp engraver, falls in love with his boss's daughter, who is involved with the Nazi resistance. Listeners will forgive the unevenly accented dialogue and inconsistent portrayals as they become invested in Ryan's and Newbern's animated performances, which stress the emotional impact of the two storylines, the mystery of the letter, and the surprising connection between Katie and Kristoff. Betsy Stuxness and Jennifer Rubins read two small sections from the viewpoints of Austrian sisters. C.B.L. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine