Bonnie Suchman’s WHAT REMAINS IS HOPE is a poignant and emotionally resonant novel that follows the lives of four Jewish cousins through the tumultuous years surrounding the Second World War. Spanning from 1930 to 1996, the novel pays a gentle homage to the families whose lives were deeply upended by the war and serves as a powerful reminder of the resilience, memory, and quiet hope carried by those who survived it.

At the center of the book are Gertrud, Bettina, Trudi, and Gustav—Heppenheimer cousins raised together during the early years of pre-war Germany. Each of them experiences, in their own different ways, the sweeping changes brought by the emerging Nazi rule across Europe and the lasting impact it had on the Jewish community.

The story opens with a much older Bettina in Frankfurt, 1996. After decades away from Germany, she, along with her cousins, returns to witness the opening of the Holocaust memorial in Frankfurt and to honor a long, overdue promise. As Bettina walks through the city, she reminisces on the bittersweet memories the four cousins had shared and grieves for the one who couldn’t be present for this reunion.

From there, the novel shifts back in time, tracing the lives of the cousins from their childhood in the early 1930s through the rise of the Nazi movement, Jewish oppression, and the horrors of the Holocaust.

The reader witnesses how the bond between the Heppenheimer cousins grows through both humble and pivotal moments of their lives: regular meetups at Café Goldschmidt, shared family secrets, marriages, pregnancies, first loves, child loss, deportations, migration, and more.

Each character’s perspective and journey explores a different emotional and historical thread of the war. Gertrud, though only half-Jewish, is forced by her mother to keep that part of her identity hidden. The fear of discovery shapes much of her early life, especially after her father—due to his political activities—flees Germany to avoid arrest. In an attempt to protect her son and mother, Bettina moves to Munich in the hopes of being protected under her husband’s name—then flees to France during the first evacuation and doesn’t fully escape the tension as Germany occupies half of the country. Gustav, who perhaps suffers the worst of them all, is deported and imprisoned. He endures the horrors of Auschwitz III, a chapter that carries some of the novel’s most harrowing and heartbreaking moments.

WHAT REMAINS IS HOPE also does well on its historical accuracy, as it’s inspired by true events and based on the history of the Heppenheimer family. It’s worth mentioning this novel is the second in a trilogy, following its predecessor Stumbling Stones. Though it can be read as a standalone, readers may gain deeper context and appreciation by starting with the first book.

With straightforward prose and a cast of strong, compelling characters, Bonnie Suchman’s WHAT REMAINS IS HOPE retells the atrocities of the Holocaust through the intimate, tight bond of family. It is a quiet, moving tribute to love, loss, and the lasting power of hope.

~Tomi Alo for IndieReader