Review: Touching the Wire

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Auschwitz 1944 and a transport of Hungarian Jews has arrived. A young mother steps down from a cattle wagon as Walt, a doctor, steps forward to intercept her. 'Say you are well. Say you can work and are not pregnant. Give the baby to your grandmother, and tell her she must stand to the left. with the children. You must stand to the right.'

'My grandmother isn't well. I'm a nurse. I can look after her and little Mary.'

A guard strode past. 'Together afterwards.'

He nodded, compounding the conspiracy of silence. 'Together afterwards.'

The old lady held out her arms for the baby. 'Go Miriam. God be with you.'

He had no way to tell her he'd saved her life: no right to tell her to abandon hope.

IAN book of the Year 2019.

Readers Favorite Gold Medal 2019

'One of the most profoundly affecting books you'll read.' The woman and Children of Auschwitz and a man who tried to save them. A fictional tale inspired by a terrible truth. A story of courage, cowardice, faith, hope and love. Could you forgive this?

Genre: historical & contemporary fiction/romance

Publication date: August 2021

Mature content: yes

Review:  Touching the Wire is not an easy book to read. At first, the plot sounds really confusing, with Walt going back and forth between the present and his memories of Auschwitz with little to no transition between them. As the story moves along, you start getting glimpses of a larger image, but only at the end things will be fully explained - and even then I had some unanswered questions.

In addition to this complicated plot, the subject in itself Is obviously not easy. This is certainly not a book for the easily impressionable - as unfortunately the human mind can be pushed to the both extremes of good and evil. 

In the end, it’s a fairly original story, with a fairly original plot - told in two parts. The first follows mostly the story of Walt/Chuck and Miriam at the concentration camp (with, as I mentioned before, a lot of going back and forth between the past and the present). The second part of the book encompasses another love story - between Charlotte, one of Walt's granddaughters, and Adam, as they both struggle to uncover Walt's secrets.

   

I wish some of the characters were a bit more well developed. Robin (Charlotte's soon-to-be ex) is depicted as a truly despicable person, in a way I found exaggerated in places. And Charlotte disappointed me when I she switched between Adam and Robin without self-respect or respect for the men. 

Overall, while I don’t consider it an amazing book, mostly for what I said above, I still think it’s very much worth reading, even if you can’t condone or agree with the choices of some of the characters.

Happy readings!

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