What a harrowing but great book
This book showed displacement so well and was very eye opening.
A great historical fiction book

I loved this novel., it really had me gripped from the first pages.

It's a wonderful portrayal of a devastating time. There is so much hope pre-war that is it heart breaking, and it only gets worse.

The families plight is handled beautifully and it's a novel that will stay with me for some time.

Excellent novel by Eleanor Wassenberg. Kraków 1937 and an impoverished artist is commissioned to paint a portrait of the youngest daughter of a wealthy Jewish family, the Oderfeldts. He considers her to be spoilt and precocious, and the family to have no understanding of the struggles in his daily life, they are oblivious to the dangers of their heritage. Life takes a dramatic turn as the horrors of the Nazi regime are rolled out and the portrait remains at the forefront of the storyline. A real page turner that has stayed with me since reading.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publishers Fourth Estate for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review

When Alicia and her family are forced to flee Krakow to escape the Nazis, they leave behind all their possessions, including Alicia’s most prized object – the portrait her father commissioned of her. As they move from country to country, desperate to find safety, their once luxurious life in Krakow seems like a memory of another world. But Alicia never forgets the painting and what it represents, and after the war, she resolves to find the artist and recover what is hers.

This book is a tale of love, loss, suffering, survival and the bonds of family. It is an important and poignant account of a period of history we should never be allowed to forget. I found myself completely engrossed by both the story and the writing, and brokenhearted by the tragic nature of events, but they also show us that there can be hope even in the darkest of times - and it can be the strangest of things that give us solace and bring us back together.

Oh I really loved this book - it was a slow burner to begin with, as the author laid the foundations of all of the interpersonal relationships. However, when I finished the book I just sat with it for a little while to gather my thoughts and feelings.

The first section is pre-Second World War and it deals with the wealthy Oderfelt family, and the events after they hire a young artist, Jozef, to do a painting of their youngest daughter Alicia. Alicia is somewhat spoiled and her older sister Karolina is hidden in the shade of her younger sister. While Jozef paints Alicia, he is privvy to the goings on in the Oderfelt household as tensions across Europe rise and the Jewish Oderfelts begin to understand the danger that they may be in. How Jozef reacts to different situations is interesting, and some of the things he overhears or sees, in terms of Anti-Semitism, are truly shocking and disgusting.

The next part of the book follows members of the family, and Jozef, as they flee, spend time in concentration camps and lose their loved ones.

What really pulled at my emotions was the fact that we are omniscient readers and can see when there are missed opportunities for the family to reunite, or for Jozef to find Karolina again.

The whole plot just reminded me that, not only was the war itself tragic, but the impact afterwards was felt for many years and generations. I felt this deep sadness at the end as things could have gone so much better for our characters had events been even just slightly different.

I agree with some reviewers in that a lot of time was spent on the initial section of the book but, for me, this is what contributed to my emotional reaction to subsequent events.

Thanks to Fourth Estate and Netaglley for access to this eARC.

I loved this sweeping family story set in Poland and elsewhere during World War 2, following the well to do Oderfeldt family. The early part of the novel establishes their life prior to the war, largely following the process of a commissioned portrait of the youngest daughter, Alicia. Later we see their fall from grace and their exile from Krakow as Polish Jews.

The story is beautifully written - I love well-researched and well-written historical fiction, and this ticked every box for me: interesting, educational, entertaining, and beautifully done. I also liked that while a lot of fiction relating to the wars can be graphic and brutal, this novel focused instead more on familial connection and the impact of war on relationships.

After reading "Foxlowe" by the same author, I was excited to read her subsequent novel, and I wasn't disappointed - I think it's safe to say I'd read Eleanor Wasserberg's shopping lists at this point!

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for granting me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I feel it's of utmost importance for the reader to know this novel is based on a true story. In my view this info will help the reader enjoy the book more than he/she would otherwise. This is due to the characters being a bunch of snobs that the average reader will find impossible to identify with. The first half of the book is therefore not very gripping. The Lwow bit is dry and the same story one has read in countless other books covering the Holocaust. Only the last 30% of the book finally brings some emotions and some originality: in the form of Jews being sent to Russian work camps instead of the ever present German concentration camps. The horrifying experience aboard the trains and in camps will finally allow the reader to feel sorry for this characters, with the ending enhancing further the tragic reality of the Holocaust.

This book was atmospheric, but all the descriptions made it also very slow going. I didn't find it very original too, so I'm afraid it wasn't for me.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

This was a mixed bag. I liked the original idea but this book did not really deliver what i wanted. The story was too slow and took forever to get going. The characters were just a little bit 2-d for me and i did not really care for them. This has potential but it just did not deliver it for me.

A rather unsettling read with so many unfortunate twists of fate. The book is full of atmospheric descriptive writing.

The Light at the End of the Day is set in Poland during WWII and focuses on Jewish family and their experiences during the war. I really liked this book especially how the author used different view points and jumps in time to tell this brilliant story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC