The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this release from 

the publisher in exchange for an honest review

"In 1941, during humanity’s darkest hour, three unforgettable young women must act with courage and love to survive"⁠
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Alice Hoffman has written some of my favorite novels (The Dovekeepers, Practical Magic, The Rules of Magic, The Museum of Extraordinary Things) but I was a bit apprehensive going into her latest release The World That We Knew (releasing 9/24/19) because I just wasn't sure what I was in for with a story about Nazis and a golem. I also didn't love her last novel, Faithful, so I cleared my mind and went into this story looking to judge it on its own merits. It only took a few chapters and Hoffman had me under her spell again with a story about the best and worst of humanity, all woven together with a ribbon of magic realism.⁠
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁠
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Summary:⁠
In Berlin, at the time when the world changed, Hanni Kohn knows she must send her twelve-year-old daughter away to save her from the Nazi regime. She finds her way to a renowned rabbi, but it’s his daughter, Ettie, who offers hope of salvation when she creates a mystical Jewish creature, a rare and unusual golem, who is sworn to protect Lea. Once Ava is brought to life, she and Lea and Ettie become eternally entwined, their paths fated to cross, their fortunes linked. Lea and Ava travel from Paris, where Lea meets her soulmate, to a convent in western France known for its silver roses; from a school in a mountaintop village where three thousand Jews were saved. Meanwhile, Ettie is in hiding, waiting to become the fighter she’s destined to be.⁠