About the Book:
First-time novelist Deby Eisenberg hits the ground running with PICTURES OF THE PAST, an epic family and historical saga, sweeping through Chicago, Paris and Berlin, reliving events from pre-World War II Europe, but beginning in contemporary times. An Impressionist painting, hanging for decades in the Art Institute of Chicago and donated by the charismatic philanthropist Taylor Woodmere, is challenged by an elderly woman as a Nazi theft.
Mary Lignor of Book Pleasures says, “This novel is one of the most intriguing and beautiful books that I have ever read. The ending of this book will touch your heart… The writing is first class.”
Taylor’s story takes the reader to 1937. Sent to Paris on family business, he reluctantly leaves his girlfriend, Emily, a spoiled debutante from Newport, Rhode Island. But once in Europe, he immediately falls in love – first with an Henri Lebasque painting, and then with the enchanting Sarah Berger of Berlin. After Taylor returns home, the Berger family becomes trapped in the Nazi web, and any attempts for the new lovers to be reunited are thwarted.
Interwoven with this narrative is the story of Rachel Gold, a beautiful and bright Chicago girl caught up in the times of the late 1960’s. Pregnant and abandoned by her boyfriend Court Woodmere, Taylor’s son, she moves to New York to live with her aunt, a Holocaust survivor. Years later, as the controversy surrounding the provenance of the painting becomes public, Rachel’s grown son is disturbed by his inexplicable familiarity with the work of art. And it is only Taylor Woodmere who can unravel the complicated puzzle of their lives.
As a Book Club leader for the past sixteen years, Eisenberg came to understand the kinds of stories that grabbed her group and she challenged herself to write a novel that her avid readers could not put down and would love to discuss.
The result was PICTURES OF THE PAST.
About the Author:
As the leader of an established Chicago area Book Club, Deby Eisenberg challenged herself to write a novel that her avid readers could not put down and would love to discuss. With a Masters Degree from the University of Chicago, she is a former English teacher and journalist. Inspired by so many wonderful books and formidable authors, and drawing on her love of literary research, art, architecture, Jewish history, and travel in the United States and Europe, she tried to envision a multi-generational love story that would inform as well as entertain, that would broaden the mind and open the heart. Deby and her husband Michael, an obstetrician-gynecologist, live in Riverwoods, Illinois. They have three grown children and two grandchildren.
My Opinion:
This was a very arresting book. It very expertly wove together the stories of parents and children tied together by WWII and an Impressionist painting that may or may not be stolen. The story begins with an investigation into a painting seen at the Chicago Institute of Art by a survivor of the Holocaust who insists that it could not belong to the family that donated it - she had seen it hanging in the home of Jewish friends in Berlin before Hitler did his worst.
From that point on the story weaves back and forth between three periods in time and various members of the two families explaining their pasts and their present. At no time does the moving around in time get confusing - it is done so seamlessly. Nor do you lose track of any of the myriad of characters; they all have such a powerful presence it's hard to forget them from chapter to chapter.
I was truly enthralled with the characters and with this story. It's really more of a love story, not a war story and it is the different tales of love and sacrifice that drive the novel forward. Once I started reading I had a very hard time putting it down. It's a book that deserves a second reading.
You can purchase Pictures of the Past at Amazon.com
Disclosure: I received a copy of Pictures of the Past from Pump Up Your Book Promotions gratis. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by my receipt of the free book. I received no monetary compensation for this post.
