Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
#vienna
review
andrew61
The Exiles Return: A Novel | Elisabeth de Waal
post image
Pickpick

This excellent story centres on 3 people returning to Vienna Post ww2 for a new life. Pr Adler confronts nazi suspicion in his old lab in a brilliant scene. Kanakis is a rich exile who wants to buy property + surround himself in admirers. Resi is a beautiful teenager sent to family. Compelling read.
@quietjenn @Tamra @CarolynM @sisilia @Caryl @daena @elkeOriginal @Gissy @Aimeesue @Bookbuyingaddict @julieclair @willaful @LeahBergen #persephoneclub

Tamra Adler‘s story was compelling and I felt drawn into his quest to create a new life post exile. (edited) 2d
Itchyfeetreader Oh - this sounds like something I would like but am trying so hard to clear the years of stress book buying trolley this year ! 2d
LeahBergen Great review, Andrew! And I like to see your shelf of Persephones peeping out from the background. 😄 2d
Cathythoughts Great review… I‘m finding it compelling too. 2d
44 likes1 stack add4 comments
blurb
Cathythoughts
The Exiles Return: A Novel | Elisabeth de Waal
post image

Finally started on train trip to Dublin. Also Kuno Adler is on his train to Vienna. Loving it so far , beautiful writing and story. #Persephoneclub

kspenmoll This sounds like a wonderful compliment to a book I just finished 3d
Cathythoughts @kspenmoll It surely does 😁❤️ 3d
andrew61 Enjoy your trip Cathy, and the book. I enjoyed it immensely. 3d
See All 18 Comments
CarolynM Enjoy the book, and Dublin😘 3d
sarahbarnes Enjoy! 💕 3d
Lesliereadsalot Have the best time. My two best friends and I went to Dublin a few years ago to go on the Game of Thrones tour. So much fun! 3d
Tamra Have a wonderful trip - sounds perfect, book on a train! 😘 3d
marleed Barry‘s tea always makes me smile. My sister (RIP) sold Barry‘s tea in her Irish store in Butte, Montana and sung its praises. Same sister reused a single tea bag (of any variety) all day long and I teased her she did not drink tea so much as tea infused water. I brought a large box of Barry‘s home with me. I drink my tea very strong so I loved Barry‘s but I‘m pretty sure she must have reused the same tea bag for a week🤣 3d
Cathythoughts @Lesliereadsalot sounds great ! Thankyou x 3d
Cathythoughts @sarahbarnes Thanks Sarah x 3d
Cathythoughts @Tamra Book on train is my very favorite 🥰📚 3d
Cathythoughts @marleed I love Barry‘s tea. It has to be Barry‘s , nothing else will do. Reusing the tea bag is a very good idea, I‘m just too lazy 😁 3d
Cathythoughts @andrew61 Thanks Andrew. I‘m really enjoying the book. 3d
Cathythoughts @CarolynM Thanks Carolyn , I am x 3d
LeahBergen Have fun in Dublin, Cathy, and I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did. 😘 2d
AnnCrystal Dublin 💖💖💖. 2d
Cathythoughts @AnnCrystal ❤️❤️❤️ 2d
Cathythoughts @LeahBergen Thanks Leah, I have a feeling I will enjoy it immensely ❤️ 2d
50 likes18 comments
review
CarolynM
The Exiles Return: A Novel | Elisabeth de Waal
post image
Pickpick

From the very start, this book told me where it was going. Even so, I was surprised when it got there. I knew nothing about life in post WWII Vienna and found this aspect of it fascinating. I enjoyed Resi‘s story, but she was such an ephemeral character I didn‘t feel a lot for her. I felt much more connected to Professor Adler & his efforts to make a new life in his old home. #PersephoneClub

LeahBergen That was exactly how I felt about the characters, too, and found I was much more interested in Resi‘s family and friends. On a side note, I really love this bookmark and endpapers. 😆 4d
Cathythoughts Great review Carolyn, I‘m hoping to start tomorrow 👍🏻♥️ 4d
Tamra I too really enjoyed Adler‘s character. 😊 3d
57 likes3 comments
review
kspenmoll
post image
Pickpick

This book is part author‘s memoir,intermingled with discussions & interviews with her grandmother,Helga, archival material from Nazi &Jewish organizations,family mementos,letters,files,& journals her father kept.She writes,”For…Helga, remembering has become a sport– race against oblivion”(21).The author‘s great grandparents & one son perished in a concentration camp.The other son Hans,hides in plain site with his later adopted grandfather,Pepi.⬇️

kspenmoll ⬆️ in Vienna. After the war, Hans & his wife Helga become physicians & try life in the United States with his family, but after a year they return to their beloved Vienna, as they miss family,culture,the language & the city.The author experiences the same reaction after spending a year as a NYC reporter.She too misses the family closeness & weekly dinners,the city‘s culture & home to her family for generations.So she goes back to Vienna & her⬇️ (edited) 5d
kspenmoll ⬆️ Grandmother‘s home.With her grandmother she tours places of meaning to Helga:old homes sites,some since bombed out & rebuilt, Theresienstadt concentration camp,which her grandmother survived,Terezin,the small town where the camp was located & she saw its people watching them farm,the Aspang train station from which most Viennese were deported.Like many Jewish people, her family were not religious, but viewed themselves as Viennese Austrians. (edited) 5d
tpixie @kspenmoll this sounds very interesting. I have a historical fiction novel on my TBR about that camp 5d
kspenmoll @tpixie that book sounds fascinating! 5d
tpixie @kspenmoll I did enjoy it. More great research by this author. 5d
52 likes1 stack add5 comments
review
LeahBergen
The Exiles Return: A Novel | Elisabeth de Waal
post image
Pickpick

This was a fascinating look at post-WWII Austria, a time of which I knew very little about before reading this novel. We follow three exiles on their return to Vienna from America and try to figure out how their lives will intersect to explain the “accidental” death described in the prologue. So good!

#PersephoneClub

andrew61 I finished it last night and would love to be having a discussion about it. Pr Alder and Nina was an outcome which was very moving but as for poor Resi , what can I say. Another great persephone read. 6d
LeahBergen @andrew61 I was very happy with the Alder and Nina outcome (and that little peek into their future together!) but poor Resi is right! What do you think of Kanakis‘ grief at the end? I was moved enough to think he really felt for her and she wasn‘t a complete “marriage of convenience”. I hope? 6d
andrew61 Yes, it was curious. Kanakis seemed to want Resi as a trophy, a beautiful curio like the shepherdess, and that would allow him to then hide his attraction to young men like Bimbo. I think he may have been upset in the way he would have been if the shepherdess had been dropped at the loss of a beautiful object. The book continually emphasises Resi's beauty. 6d
See All 13 Comments
andrew61 I thought the confrontation between Adler and Krieger was particularly dramatic. Krieger's admission of his activities in the war was shocking and Adler was remarkable in his response. I also liked the three sisters who were princesses. I will add Vienna to my list of places to visit. 6d
Cathythoughts Great review Leah. I must start soon , then I can read the spoiler too 👍🏻😁 6d
CarolynM Great review. It‘s not something I know anything about either. I‘m just about to start Part 2. I‘ll come back to your spoiler comment when I finish🙂 6d
LeahBergen @andrew61 I definitely think you‘re right about the trophy aspect of his affection for her (look at how excited he was to think of dressing her). And that whole Adler/Krieger confrontation was so powerful! 5d
LeahBergen @andrew61 I kind of wish I had three Austrian princess aunts 😆😆 5d
LeahBergen @Cathythoughts @CarolynM I tried to not give too much of the plot away in my review 😆 5d
Bookbuyingaddict Hi 👋 all great reviews and loving 🥰 following along however I‘m giving this particular one a miss but will join back in with the next 😀happy reading 📖 folks ❤️ 5d
LeahBergen @Bookbuyingaddict No worries! We‘ll see you for the next one! 😘 4d
CarolynM @LeahBergen @andrew61 I agree with you about why Kanakis wanted Resi but I think he would have been kind to her & they would have had a life that suited them both. I think he was grieving what might have been as well as the loss of beauty. I would have liked more about Professor Adler & how he felt about the changes in the people & the city. The circumstances of the fading aristocracy as represented by the 3 princesses interested me too. 4d
LeahBergen @CarolynM I thought the same thing about Kanakis and was (weirdly!) rooting for them. 4d
64 likes3 stack adds13 comments
blurb
andrew61
The Exiles Return: A Novel | Elisabeth de Waal
post image

I am enjoying our latest foray into the persephone catalogue + so far this is an interesting tale of several individuals returning to Vienna post ww2. This was a very powerful scene in which Pr Adler is confronted by Dr Krieger + ends up justifying himself. Very powerful+ required a reflective pause
@quietjenn @Tamra @CarolynM @sisilia @Caryl @daena @elkeOriginal @Gissy @Aimeesue @Bookbuyingaddict @julieclair @willaful @LeahBergen #persephoneclub

LeahBergen That passage stopped me in my tracks, too! 6d
11 likes1 comment
blurb
kspenmoll
post image

Starting this before dinner. Have had this on my shelf several years. “
“Why would you return to a city that tried to murder you?” ( cover,Kirkus Review).Anna, the author of this book,is the granddaughter of two Jewish doctors who came to the U.S in the early 1950s. Her grandfather lost his entire family in a concentration camp,while her grandmother was a concentration camp survivor. #porchlife

AnnCrystal Grand porch view 💕🌸🌱💝. 1w
47 likes1 stack add1 comment
quote
Tamra
The Exiles Return: A Novel | Elisabeth de Waal
This post contains spoilers
show me
post image

My favorite paragraph & single line in the whole novel! Pg. 168
#PersephoneClub

LeahBergen This whole interaction was so powerful! 6d
7 likes1 comment
review
Tamra
The Exiles Return: A Novel | Elisabeth de Waal
post image
Pickpick

I‘m so glad the de Waals family allowed her novels to be published posthumously. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and circumstance of this one, which were unique enough to keep me engaged. It also went off in surprising directions! Makes me wonder whether this could have been published in the 1950‘s. 🤔 #PersephoneClub

Tamra There were a couple of too abrupt transitions and sadly the Adler - Grein thread was too hastily tied. I wanted more on that storyline, it just ended rather early on! 2w
LeahBergen I‘m just about to start it so I‘ll come back to comment! 😄 2w
andrew61 Great review. I'll probably start next week. Will be interesting, it's a while since I read hare with the Amber eyes which focused a lot on lost lives from war. 2w
See All 10 Comments
Tamra @LeahBergen 👏🏾 2w
Tamra @andrew61 I will have to add that to the TBR! 2w
CarolynM I‘m hoping to get started on this one in the next day or two. I‘ll come back for your spoiler comment when I‘ve finished. 2w
Tamra @CarolynM 😁 It‘s my favorite paragraph of the novel. 2w
Cathythoughts I need to start this. Finishing off my IRL bookclub book first …. 2w
Tamra @Cathythoughts I hope you like it! It‘s not flawless, but I was invested in the characters and didn‘t want it to end actually. 2w
LeahBergen I was surprised at some of the content, too! And I agree, more on Adler would have been great. I knew so little about this time period and found myself fascinated by Vienna (I must visit one day!) 6d
47 likes2 stack adds10 comments
blurb
xicanti
Madensky Square | Eva Ibbotson
post image

I still have to sew all the ends in and block the thing, but here‘s a preview of the hexagonal spirals blanket I made for my cousin‘s baby.

I get to do this tedious work while I listen to MADENSKY SQUARE, my last unread adult Eva Ibbotson novel! I‘m so, so glad my library finally subscribed to the bookish bits of Hoopla so I can experience it at long last. It‘s amazing so far. Ibbotson had such love for people, and for Vienna. #audioknitting

Eggbeater It's beautiful! Great work! 😍 2w
Lindy 😍 2w
Ruthiella Beautiful. 😍 2w
dabbe 🤩🤩🤩 2w
33 likes1 stack add5 comments