Just what book am I trying to review? And how do I want to do this review? For starters, when you begin you don't want to lay it down. It is one of those books. I am talking about ELENA, The Girl with the Piano.
The 'click to look inside' does not work here.
Elena is 12 years old when the story begins. She lives with her parents and grandparents in Leningrad Russia. This city is being bombarded constantly by the German air force.
Elena has been taking piano lessons for as long as she can remember. Her dream - to go to America someday and play in Carnegie Hall.
The apartment house she and her family live in has been mostly destroyed, along with her precious piano. They are living in one room in the basement.
To help Elena keep her fingers limber, her Mother and Grandmother, using many scraps of material, fashioned by hand a cloth keyboard. Elena would dream of being in the great concert hall, she would play on her cloth "piano" while humming or singing.
Her story spans 5 long years of being captured by the Germans, being in several different concentration camps, being raped and having a baby girl to care for (at age 14), and becoming friends with the most unlikely people. It tells of hunger, hard work, never knowing what tomorrow will bring.
Through it all she keeps her "piano" with her, hiding it in her clothing, practicing whenever she has a chance. Finally liberation, and the chance she and her parents have of going to America where she has an Uncle, who will take them in.
Through all this Elena has held on to her dream. Read the book. The ending is definitely not what you expected, but somehow makes perfect sense. The book is Available from DOUBLE EDGE PRESS, Scenery Hill Pa., and also can be found on AMAZON.
You won't be sorry you did.
Have a wonderful Easter, remember what Easter is really about, and God Bless.
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